Rashid Johnson
New Growth
March 8–July 7, 2013
Opening: Friday, March 8, 6–8pm
featuring a performance by Kahil El’Zabar &
Hamiet Bluiett
Ballroom Marfa
108 E San Antonio St
Marfa, TX 79843
T 432 729 3600
F 432 729 3606
info [at] ballroommarfa.org
Ballroom Marfa is proud to announce the opening of New Growth, a solo exhibition of new work by Rashid Johnson, on March 8. Johnson combines both personally and historically loaded material, such as shea butter and black soap with objects such as LP covers and books in complex installations that confound the uniformity of collective identity and multicultural representation. Beginning with the question, “What would happen if Sun Ra, George Washington Carver and Robert Smithson started a community together in the desert?” New Growth’s playful scrutiny intertwines cosmology, escapism and irrigation in a re-contextualization of the lines between past, present and future in Marfa’s desert setting.
In keeping with Ballroom Marfa’s mission, New Growth will feature newly commissioned work including a large-scale sculpture and video—both produced during the artist’s stay in Marfa, as well as paintings, works in wood, and islands of sculptural installation.
To inaugurate New Growth, Ballroom Marfa will host a weekend of festivities, including an opening on Friday, March 8, from 6 to 8pm. The reception also features a performance by multi-instrumentalist legend Kahil El’Zabar and saxophone master Hamiet Bluiett, whose musical style ranges from avant-garde to bee-bop. Directly following the opening reception is a community dinner at the Capri. There will be an exhibition walk-through with Johnson on Saturday, March 9, at 11am.
All events are free and open to the public.
New Growth has been made possible through the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; the Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston; Texas Commission on the Arts; Foundation for Contemporary Arts; Meyer Levy Charitable Foundation, and Hauser & Wirth Gallery, with generous contributions by Ballroom Marfa members.
Ballroom Marfa is a dynamic, contemporary cultural arts space that provides a lively intellectual environment where varied perspectives and issues are explored through visual arts, film, music, and performance. As an advocate for the freedom of artistic expression, Ballroom Marfa’s mission is to serve international, national, regional, and local arts communities and support the work of both emerging and recognized artists working in all media.
Ballroom Marfa is particularly interested in helping artists and curators achieve projects that have significant cultural impact but would be impossible to realize in a traditional gallery or museum setting.
Ballroom Marfa is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
For more information, please contact: info@ballroommarfa.org
or visit our website www.ballroommarfa.org
