By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view Artwork by Marcel Duchamp: © Succession Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2014
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view Artwork by Alighiero Boetti: © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome
By Proxy 2014 Installation view Artwork by Alighiero Boetti: © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
By Proxy 2014 Installation view
SOL LEWITT
Wall Drawing #283, 1976
Red, yellow, and blue crayon
Dimensions variable
JCG7530
Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
OLIVER LARIC
Yuanmingyuan Columns, 2014
7 3D-printed polyamide columns
Dimensions variable
JCG7506
Installation view at Entrée, Bergen, Norway.
Photo: Bent René Synnevåg. Image courtesy of the artist and Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin
SOL LEWITT Wall Drawing #283 (detail), 1976 Red, yellow, and blue crayon Dimensions variable Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
SOL LEWITT Wall Drawing #283 (detail), 1976 Red, yellow, and blue crayon Dimensions variable Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
SOL LEWITT Wall Drawing #283 (detail), 1976 Red, yellow, and blue crayon Dimensions variable Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
JOHN CAGE
River Rocks and Smoke, 4/12/90, #11, 1990
Watercolor on Waterford cold press 260 lb. paper prepared with fire and smoke
26.5 x 39.5 in.
67.3 x 100.3 cm
JCG7489
Courtesy of Margarete Roeder Gallery and the John Cage Trust
JOHN CAGE
River Rocks and Smoke, 4/13/90, #19, 1990
Watercolor on Arches cold press paper prepared with fire and smoke
52.5 x 15 in.
133.3 x 38.1 cm
JCG7489
Courtesy of Margarete Roeder Gallery and the John Cage Trust
JOHN CAGE
River Rocks and Smoke, 4/13/90, #3, 1990
Watercolor on Arches cold press paper prepared with fire and smoke
52.5 x 15 in
133.3 x 38.1 cm
JCG7491
Courtesy of Margarete Roeder Gallery and the John Cage Trust
WADE GUYTON
Untitled, 2007
Epson UltraChrome inkjet on linen
84 x 69 in.
213.4 x 175.3 cm
JCG7526
Image courtesy of Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
LEE MINGWEI
Through Master's Eyes, 2014
Case-bound accordion book with thirteen color plates
16 x 11 x 2 1/2 in.
40.6 x 27.9 x 6.3 cm
JCG7522.EX
YOKO ONO
Play It By Trust (Roskilde Version), 1966/2002
Wood chairs, table, and chess pieces
Each Chair: 18 x 16 x 54 in. (45.72 x 40.64 x 137.16 cm)
Table: 30 x 36 x 29 in. (76.2 x 91.44 x 73.66 cm)
JCG7528.X
Installation view at Roskilde, Denmark. Photo: Flemming Rasmussen. Image courtesy of the artist
FRANCIS ALŸS
Titere, 1997
Mixed media
52 x 48 in.
132.1 x 121.9 cm
JCG3550
JON RAFMAN
Eshamy Loop, Whittier, United States, 2013
Archival pigment print mounted on dibond
40 x 64 in.
101.6 x 162.6 cm
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
JCG7497.1
Courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
JOHN RAFMAN
69 Avenue Winston Churchill, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, 2009
Archival pigment print mounted on dibond
40 x 64 inches
101.6 x 162.6 cm
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
JCG7495
Courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
JON RAFMAN
Rua Monte Castelo Duque de Caxias Brasil, 2010
Archival pigment print mounted on dibond
40 x 64 inches
101.6 x 162.6 cm
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
JCG7496
Courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
JON RAFMAN
932 Loma Larga, Santa Catarina, NL, México, 2009
Archival pigment print mounted on dibond
40 x 64 inches
101.6 x 162.6 cm
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
JCG7494
Courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
MARIAH ROBERTSON
247, 2014
Unique chemical treatment on RA-4 paper
96 x 72 inches
243.8 x 182.9 cm
JCG7519
Courtesy of the artist and American Contemporary, New York
SIEBREN VERSTEEG
Clearcache33_11600x16000_00016, 2014
Algorithmically generated image printed on canvas
74 x 55 inches
188 x 139.7 cm
JCG7520
Courtesy of the artist
SIEBREN VERSTEEG
LIKE, 2014
Internet connected computer program with real-time recursive image searching output to 46" LED monitor
42 x 25 inches
106.7 x 63.5 cm
Edition of 5
JCG7521
Courtesy of the artist
SIEBREN VERSTEEG
LIKE, 2014
Internet connected computer program with real-time recursive image searching output to 46" LED monitor
42 x 25 inches
106.7 x 63.5 cm
Edition of 5
JCG7521
Courtesy of the artist
XU ZHEN
Light Source -- Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter, 2014
Oil on canvas
33.8 x 38.6 inches
86 x 98 cm
JCG7492
Image courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York / Shanghai
XU ZHEN
Eternity-Aphrodite of Knidos, Tang Dynasty Sitting Buddha, 2014
Glass fiber-reinforced concrete, marble grains, sandstone grains, mineral pigments, steel
139.7 x 35.8 x 35.8 inches
355 x 91 x 91 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7402
Image courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York / Shanghai
SOL LEWITT
Wall Drawing #59, 1970
Black pencil
120 x 120 in.
304.8 x 304.8 cm
JCG7529
Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
SOL LEWITT Wall Drawing #59 (detail), 1970 Black pencil 120 x 120 in. (304.8 x 304.8 cm) Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
OLIVER LARIC, Yuanmingyuan Columns, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin.
By Proxy is an exhibition of the instances when an idea needs more than just an artist to take form.
Marcel Duchamp called it "aesthetic osmosis", the process by which an artist, through an artwork, transfers responsibility and agency to a viewer. A viewer's position — where they're coming from — shaped the final meaning of many of Duchamp's works. His revolutionary idea gave viewers authority to complete the process he had started. His objects, "through the change from inert matter into a work of art", were evidence of the strength of this shared enterprise.
In the century since, production, outsourcing, interaction and appropriation have
become mainstream modes of artistic expression; the shared enterprise has become a
fragmented contract between the artist and other factors, not simply between the artist and the viewer. An artwork's form and meaning take shape outside the artist's hands in countless ways: in context, fabrication, tools, reproduction.
By Proxy is an exhibition in which technology, other artisans, context, chance and culture have a role in the making of the work. The exhibition takes an interest in the primacy of an idea, the possibilities of that idea as it moves through its making, and the resulting object. It pays tribute to the purity of good ideas and the inherent peculiarity and magic of every collaboration, with the proof in the pudding.
The exhibition will include artists incorporating work from the past century to the present day. Artists include Francis Alÿs, Alighiero Boetti, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Wade Guyton, Oliver Laric, Lee Mingwei, Sol LeWitt, Yoko Ono, Jon Rafman, Mariah Robertson, Siebren Versteeg, and Xu Zhen.
XU ZHEN, produced by MadeIn Company, Eternity-‐‑Aphrodite of Knidos, Tang Dynasty Sitting Buddha, 2014
BY PROXY
November 20 – January 31, 2015
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 20, 6 – 8 PM
James Cohan Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition entitled By Proxy, opening on November 20th, 2014 and running through January 31st, 2015.
Marcel Duchamp called it "aesthetic osmosis," the process by which an artist transfers responsibility to a viewer, empowering them to complete the work out in the world. This idea, of art as shared enterprise, is the theme of this exhibition. Here, the word proxy encompasses the tools and techniques that complete artworks away from the artist’s hand. This exhibition is concerned with those tools and techniques, the effects they can have, and the instances when an idea calls for more than just the artist to take form.
Production, outsourcing, interactivity and appropriation have become increasingly mainstream modes of artistic expression over the past 100 years. The shared enterprise, in which the artist somehow cedes responsibility for the final work, now takes many forms: from fabrication and machines to chance, games, relational practice and the increasingly fertile landscape of the internet. By Proxy includes Marcel Duchamp’s assisted readymade With Hidden Noise, a ball of string with an unknown object rattling inside it; embroidery works by Alighiero Boetti; three drawings from John Cage’s 1990 series River Rocks and Smoke, in which chance operations are performed by smoke settling in the fibers of the paper; Oliver Laric’s Yuanmingyuan Columns, a new work created with 3D scans of Chinese cultural artifacts ensconced in Bergen, Norway; Yoko Ono’s seminal chess set and war allegory Play it By Trust; and a work from Xu Zhen’s recent Eternity series, which juxtaposes the East and West by mounting headless replicas of key Hellenistic and Buddhist sculptures neck to neck.
The exhibition will incorporate work from the past century to the present day. Participating artists are Francis Alÿs, Alighiero Boetti, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Wade Guyton, Oliver Laric, Lee Mingwei, Sol LeWitt, Yoko Ono, Jon Rafman, Mariah Robertson, Siebren Versteeg and Xu Zhen. A full color, 24-page brochure with an accompanying text will be available for free at the gallery.
For press inquiries, please contact Jane Cohan at jane@jamescohan.com or 212-714-9500.
