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Altman
Siegel is pleased to present a group show of conceptual sculpture by
three
exceptional young artists.
The
exhibition includes the work of Zarouhie Abdalian, Matt Sheridan Smith, and
the
collaborative team Keller/Kosmas (Aids 3-d).
The works in this show are made from simple materials, which the
artists
use in subversive ways to make cogent political commentary on the state
of
current cultural issues including terrorism, environmentalism, and immanent
catastrophe.
Zarouhie
Abdalian's work generally concentrates on ideas surrounding
landscape,
particularly unstable landscape in flux or in the state of collapse.
Working
fluidly between drawing, video, and installation, Abdalian
investigates
landscape as both the material site in which the viewer is located and as
an
index of the historical accumulation of images circumscribing the site itself.
Using quotidian and minimal materials,
she
creates elegant sculptures and site specific installations.
Originally
from New Orleans, Abdalian (b. 1982) lives and works in Oakland, CA
and
recently received her MFA from CCA. Her work has been exhibited in
numerous
group exhibitions, including Painted
Over/Under: Part 2, curated by Jens Hoffmann, LACE, Los Angeles, and
SC13, curated by Chris Fitzpatrick
and
Post Brothers at SFADM, San Francisco.
Forthcoming exhibitions include Untitled
(12th Istanbul
Biennial),
2011 curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann.
Matt Sheridan Smith manipulates a variety of mediums to
address
notions of authorship, originality, and value.
Considering the precarious relationships between language and
objects,
Smith attempts to reveal the poetic effects of seemingly banal content
or
conventions. In a piece
recently
commissioned by the New York Public Art Fund, Smith created
temporary
inflatable sculptures representing the commodity futures traded on the New
York
Stock Exchange, wool, coffee, wheat, and canola seeds. This installation
staged
a playful allegory of the uncertainty of today's financial system,
and
referenced our desire for valuation and control with an
increasingly
unpredictable future.
Smith
often creates temporary and fluid installations designed for the exchange
of
ideas between artist and viewer.
Matt Sheridan Smith (b. 1980) lives and works
in
New York City. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions
at
Lisa Cooley, NY, Sculpture Center, NY, The Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis,
Western
Bridge, Seattle, Karma International, Zurich, Fundação Calouste
Gulbenkian,
Lisbon,
and Kaufmann Repetto, Milan.
Keller/Kosmas
(Aids 3-d) approach their
practice
with levity and ambiguity, effectively confronting and subverting timely
issues
that make up the zeitgeist of contemporary culture. The collaborative duo
work easily
across
mediums, both physical and technological, as much of their early
practice
exists only online. In this
exhibition
the pair presents custom designed solar panels (with a certified carbon
neutral
footprint) that convert not the energy of the sun but the energy of the
audience,
and in a larger sense address the crisis in confidence facing the future of
our
consumer culture.
Daniel Keller, (b.
1986) and Nik Kosmas (b.
1985)
currently live and work in Berlin, Germany.
Recent exhibitions include Andreas Melas, Athens,
Seventeen
Gallery, London, Gentili Apri, Berlin, The
Generational: Younger Than Jesus, The New Museum of Contemporary Art,
NYC
and upcoming shows at T293, Naples, Memery:
Imitation, Memory and Internet Culture, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA.
For
more
information, please contact the gallery at 415-576-9300 or info@altmansiegel.com.
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