Lawrence Weiner / Li Ran as part of
BNLMTL 2014: L’avenir (looking forward)
October 9–December 7, 2014
Opening: Thursday, October 9th at 5pm
Fonderie Darling
745 Ottawa street
Montreal Quebec
H3C 1R8 Canada
T +1 514 392 1554
info [at] fonderiedarling.org
Lawrence Weiner
An Abridgement of an Abutment to on Near or About the Arctic Circle, 1969
Lawrence Weiner participates in public and private projects and exhibitions, maintaining that art is the empirical fact of the relationships of objects to objects in relation to human beings, and not dependent upon historical precedent for either use or legitimacy. A number of artists participating in BNLMTL 2014 reference key moments of 1960s social activism, as a means to reflect on what is to come. In the case of Weiner, the Biennale curators selected three works by him, one of which is presented here at the Darling Foundry. Conceived in 1969 and realized in the Canadian Arctic during a period renowned for the development of dematerialized art practices, this work coincides with social activism in North America, particularly in Montréal, concerning the activities of the Québec Liberation Front. In addition to their historical context, Weiner’s works also address the Arctic, both as a territory and as a symbol, a region whose precariousness is also taken up by other artists in the Biennale. Most of Weiner’s propositions need not be carried out, yet in this case he travelled with Lucy Lippard to Inuvik, where he leaned a cigarette pack against a dirt mound, dammed a stream, and fired a rifle at a rock: impermanent interventions in a harsh and sublime landscape. Born in 1942 in the Bronx, New York, Lawrence Weiner lives in New York and Amsterdam. Considered to be one of the pillars of Conceptual Art, since the 1960s, he has participated in several international exhibitions.
Li Ran
Before Indulgence, After Freedom, 2013
Li Ran uses a variety of media, including video, performance, painting, installation and writing, to investigate how art has been produced and framed by modern history. In Before Indulgence, After Freedom (2013), a roving, hand-held camera records lingering close-ups of young men talking of life and art, a rambling and fragmented conversation that suggests the sequence of confession, repentance, retrospection, declaration and deduction that goes into creating an artwork. Mismatched chairs, microphones, light stands and cables foreground the casual studio environment. The title of the piece describes the young men’s situation in Beijing today—after freedom but before indulgence—where money talks and political connections are crucial. Chinese politics and living standards are neither easy nor fair. Young and educated, they speak of Nietzsche, Hegel and Heidegger as everyday living characters. But a romantic strain also appears: swans in love, natural timidity and the beloved woman. Still young, they seek to self-actualize while confronting a future without evident answers; always remembering a single slip can cause a lasting sorrow. Born in Hubei, China, in 1986, Li Ran is a visual artist who currently lives and works in Beijing.
Karen Kraven
Razzle Dazzle Sis Boom Bah
October 9–December 7, 2014
Opening: Thursday, October 9, 5pm
Curator: Nicholas Brown
Karen Kraven’s work is realized through an intuitive studio and research practice. Gleaning materials and subject matter through attention to the science fiction and coincidence in the everyday, Kraven’s work utilizes the formalism and aesthetics of installation to explore objects and images like the meandering links of an Internet search. For this new exhibition, Razzle Dazzle Sis Boom Bah, Karen Kraven has created an installation of works inspired by decoys and fakes in the world of horse racing, hunting and fishing. The Moiré effect is a secondary visual pattern and everyday phenomenon produced when two identical patterns are superimposed, creating a wavy-watery image. On television, this undesirable effect can often be seen when someone is wearing a striped T-shirt. The exhibition is an installation made up of sculpture and photography that explores the illusions found in dollar bills, fishing nets, duck decoys, and Kentucky Derby hats.
Kraven received her MFA from Concordia University in Montreal. A longtime resident at the Darling Foundry, she is the recipient of the Dale & Nick Tedeschi Fellowship. Recently, Kraven presented her work in Montreal at Centre Clark and she is represented by Parisian Laundry.
Nicholas Brown is a Canadian curator recently based in New York. In 2012, he was awarded the Darling Foundry’s Residence of the Americas, sponsored by the Conseil des Arts de Montréal, during which he was able to connect with several local artists.
At the Darling Foundry’s initiative, the exhibition Razzle Dazzle Sis Boom Bah will travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art in Portland, USA in 2015.
More information here.