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Image of ALEXANDRA BIRCKEN's “Wärmegitter” 2011

ALEXANDRA BIRCKEN “Wärmegitter” 2011 Wool, aluminum frame 87 x 55 x 2 in. (219.7 x 139.7 x 5.1 cm)

Image of WALEAD BESHTY's 20-inch Copper (FedEx® Medium Kraft Box ©2004 FEDEX 155143 REV), Standard Overnight, Los Angeles-New York trk#798399701913, May 15-16, 2012 2012

WALEAD BESHTY 20-inch Copper (FedEx® Medium Kraft Box ©2004 FEDEX 155143 REV), Standard Overnight, Los Angeles-New York trk#798399701913, May 15-16, 2012 2012 Polished copper, accrued FedEx shipping and tracking labels 20 x 20 x 12 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 30.5 cm)

Image of SARAH BRAMAN's Slowpoke 2012

SARAH BRAMAN Slowpoke 2012 Aluminum, paint, and Plexiglas 43 x 54 x 22 in. (109.2 x 137.2 x 55.9 cm)

Image of WOLFGANG BREUER's Untitled 2009

WOLFGANG BREUER Untitled 2009 Leaves, tape 16 3/8 X 10 5/8 in. (41.5 X 27 cm)

Image of TOM BURR's his personal effects (white v-neck, two) 2012

TOM BURR his personal effects (white v-neck, two) 2012 Men’s v-neck t-shirt, upholstery tacks and wood 15 x 15 in. (38.1 x 38.1 cm)

Image of ERNST CARAMELLE's Untitled 1991

ERNST CARAMELLE Untitled 1991 Paper exposed to the sun Paper: 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.8 cm)

Image of ANDY COOLQUITT's LW4EAAEMH 2012

ANDY COOLQUITT LW4EAAEMH 2012 Metal, wire, epoxy, and light bulbs 110 X 5 X 5 in. (279.4 X 12.7 X 12.7 cm)

Image of PAUL COWAN's Untitled 2012

PAUL COWAN Untitled 2012 Canvas, fishing lure 20 x 17 in. (50.8 x 43.2 cm)

Image of N. DASH's Untitled 2012

N. DASH Untitled 2012 Fiber, silver gelatin print Framed: 19 ½ x 23 ½ in. (49.5 x 59.7 cm)

Image of TONY FEHER's Painting 2007

TONY FEHER Painting 2007 Oil stain on plywood 17 3/8 X 11 5/8 in. (44.13 X 29.53 cm)

Image of MICHEL FRANÇOIS's Untitled 2012

MICHEL FRANÇOIS Untitled 2012 Paper Approx. 8 x 12 feet (240 x 360 cm)

Image of JOE FYFE's Comme le pays 2012

JOE FYFE Comme le pays 2012 Found vinyl objects and canvas, gauze, and cord 67 x 26 x 10 in. (233 x 1.7 x 26 cm)

Image of KIM GORDON's Northampton Wreath 2012

KIM GORDON Northampton Wreath 2012 Enamel spray paint on canvas 36 X 24 in. (91.44 X 60.96 cm)

Image of RICHARD HAWKINS's Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?) 2012

RICHARD HAWKINS Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?) 2012 Rubber mask, painted paper, paper clips and shoebox Mask: Dimensions variable Shoebox: 8 ½ x 10 x 3 ½ in. (22 x 25.4 x 8.9 cm)

Image of DAVID HAMMONS's KOOLAID DRAWING 2004

DAVID HAMMONS KOOLAID DRAWING 2004 Koolaid and pencil on paper 43 29 in. (109.22 x 73.66 cm)

Detail of RICHARD HAWKINS's Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?), 2012

RICHARD HAWKINS Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?) (detail) 2012 Rubber mask, painted paper, paper clips and shoebox Mask: Dimensions variable Shoebox: 8 ½ x 10 x 3 ½ in. (22 x 25.4 x 8.9 cm)

Image of ANN CATHRIN's NOVEMBER HØIBO Untitled #06 2012

ANN CATHRIN NOVEMBER HØIBO Untitled #06 2012 Bronze cast of instant noodles 4 x 3 ¾ x 1 ¼ in. (10 x 9.5 x 3 cm) Unique

Image of BILL JENKINS's Bed with Rope and Fence, 2012

BILL JENKINS Bed with Rope and Fence 2012 Bed with rope and fence 52 x 73 x 9 in. (132.1 x 185.4 x 22.9 cm)

Detail of BILL JENKINS's Bed with Rope and Fence, 2012

BILL JENKINS Bed with Rope and Fence (detail) 2012 Bed with rope and fence 52 x 73 x 9 in. (132.1 x 185.4 x 22.9 cm)

Image of SERGEJ JENSEN's Untitled (Binary One) 2005

SERGEJ JENSEN Untitled (Binary One) 2005 Money on canvas 47 ¼ x 45 ¼ inches (120 x 115 cm)

Image of UDOMSAK KRISANAMIS's Acid Rain, 1996

UDOMSAK KRISANAMIS Acid Rain 1996 Ink and collage on blanket 60 X 60 in. (152.4 X 152.4 cm)

Image of JASON LOEBS's Autophantography 2012

JASON LOEBS Autophantography 2012 Kodak Ultra Endura Color Emulsion Paper / 30 in. x 164 ft. roll Overall: 45 x 35 x 18 in. (114.3 x 88.9 x 45.72 cm)

Image of AGNES LUX's #91-L 2012

AGNES LUX #91-L 2012 Graphite on postcards 82 5/8 X 52 1/2 in. (210 X 133.5 cm)

Image of DAVID MORENO's Television Noise #10 2006

DAVID MORENO Television Noise #10 2006 Silver gelatin print 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.96 cm)

Image of VIRGINIA OVERTON's Untitled (Mirror) 2011

VIRGINIA OVERTON Untitled (Mirror) 2011 Wood, fluorescent lights, acrylic mirror 36 X 23 X 6 in. (91.44 X 58.42 X 15.24 cm)

Image of MANFRED PERNICE's diary – 04.05.04 2008

MANFRED PERNICE diary – 04.05.04 2008 Particleboard, Formica, and oil-based enamel Double Hexagonal platform – 29 ½ x 79 x 45 in. (74.9 x 200.7 x 114.3 cm) Polygonal Platform – 16 ½ x 40 ½ x 45 in. (41.4 x 102.9 x 114.3 cm) Object – 27 5/8 x 16 ½ (diameter) in. (69.2 x 41.9 cm)

Image of JUDITH SCOTT's Untitled 2004

JUDITH SCOTT Untitled 2004 Mixed media 23 x 19 x 16 in. (58.4 x 48.3 x 40.6 cm)

Image of NANCY SHAVER's Fanny, 2011

NANCY SHAVER Fanny 2011 Scrap metal, found upholstery board, upholstery fabric, canvas, glue, paper, house paint, acrylic paint 66 x 27 x 20 in. (167.6 x 68.6 x 50.8 cm)

Image of GEDI SIBONY's The Two Simple Green Threes, 2012

GEDI SIBONY The Two Simple Green Threes 2012 Dropcloth 137 X 95 in. (347.98 X 241.3 cm)

Image of JOSH SMITH's Untitled 2009

JOSH SMITH Untitled 2009 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 60.96 cm)

Image of MICHAEL E. SMITH's Untitled 2012

MICHAEL E. SMITH Untitled 2012 Metal, plastic 19 ¼ x 3 x 15 ½ in. (48.9 x 7.6 x 39.4 cm)

Image of SHINIQUE SMITH's Bale Variant No. 0022, 2012

SHINIQUE SMITH Bale Variant No. 0022 2012 Mixed media 90 x 30 x 30 in. (228.6 x 76.2 x 76.2 cm)

Image of AL TAYLOR's Untitled: (Rinse), 1988

AL TAYLOR Untitled: (Rinse) 1988 Wooden broomsticks with enamel paint & metal mounted on Formica laminate with latex paint 92 x 9 ½ x 39 in. (233.7 x 24.1 x 99.1 cm)

Image of BILL WALTON's Wisteria (metal, Wisteria, Leaf Paint) n.d.

BILL WALTON Wisteria (metal, Wisteria, Leaf Paint) n.d. Metal, Wisteria, and leaf paint 4 x 1 ¾ x 1 ¼ in. (10.2 x 4.4 x 3.2 cm)

Image of ANDY WARHOL's Oxidation Painting 1978

ANDY WARHOL Oxidation Painting 1978 Copper metallic pigment mixed with mixed media on canvas - twelve panels 48 X 49 1/2 in. (121.92 X 125.73 cm)

Image of HANNAH WILKE's S.O.S. – Starification Object Series (#2) 1975

HANNAH WILKE S.O.S. – Starification Object Series (#2) 1975 Chewing gum on rice paper, mounted on rag board 33 ¾ x 25 ½ x 2 ½ in. (85.7 x 64.8 x 6.4 cm)

Image of PHILADELPHIA WIREMAN's Untitled (wire, rubberbands, McDonald’s pin) c. 1970-5

PHILADELPHIA WIREMAN Untitled (wire, rubberbands, McDonald’s pin) c. 1970-5 Wire, found objects 3 ¾ x 1 ¾ x 1 ¾ in. (9.5 x 4.4 x x 4.4 cm)

Image of B. WURTZ's Untitled 2010

B. WURTZ Untitled 2010 Collage and acrylic on paper, thread, string, plastic lid 48 x 30 ¼ in. (121.9 x 76.8 cm)

Press Release

Walead Beshty, Alexandra Bircken, Sarah Braman, Wolfgang Breuer, Tom Burr, Ernst Caramelle, Andy Coolquitt, Paul Cowan, N. Dash, Tony Feher, Michel François, Joe Fyfe, Kim Gordon, David Hammons, Richard Hawkins, Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Bill Jenkins, Sergej Jensen, Udomsak Krisanamis, Jason Loebs, Agnes Lux, David Moreno, Virginia Overton, Manfred Pernice, Judith Scott, Nancy Shaver, Gedi Sibony, Michael E. Smith, Josh Smith, Shinique Smith, Al Taylor, Bill Walton, Andy Warhol, Hannah Wilke, Philadelphia Wireman, B. Wurtz, Amy Yao

James Cohan Gallery is pleased to present Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday, an exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs, the Director of White Columns, New York. The exhibition will open on Friday, June 1, from 6 – 8 PM and will run through Friday, July 27, 2012.

In a statement about the exhibition Higgs has written:

Four years ago I was invited to Berlin to present a proposal for what would have been the 6th Berlin Biennale. (My proposal wasn’t accepted - the honors went to curator Kathrin Rhomberg, whose exhibition, “what is waiting out there”, eventually opened in June 2010.) The project I proposed had the working title Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday and sought, in its most fundamental sense, to consider the complex entanglements between non-representational art and everyday life.

This exhibition at James Cohan Gallery seeks to develop these earlier ideas around what I termed “vernacular” or “everyday” abstraction: that is artistic practices that actively privilege and operate in the grey area between an essentially non-representational image/object and the use of quotidian materials and processes.

Collectively the works in
Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday seem most interested in the point at which the self-contained rationality of earlier modernist abstraction is ruptured. This sense of “rupture” – both physically and psychologically - is perhaps the prevailing aesthetic attitude that unites the otherwise highly idiosyncratic artists – and art works – brought together in Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday. In the work of all these artists traces of our material culture are transformed, or perhaps more accurately, re-purposed into something that is simultaneously familiar and strange.

For additional information, please contact Jane Cohan at jane@jamescohan.com or by telephone at 212.714.9500.

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