FAR AWAY and CLOSE
John Chamberlain, Hanne Darboven, Jasper Johns, Robert Morris, Mike and Doug Starn, Lawrence Weiner
Castelli Gallery, New York
September 29 – November 23, 2022
Castelli Gallery presents FAR AWAY and CLOSE, a group exhibition with works by John Chamberlain, Hanne Darboven, Jasper Johns, Robert Morris, Mike and Doug Starn, and Lawrence Weiner.
The works in the exhibition are realized in a variety of sizes and mediums. Yet, a shared interest in the concept of location, intended both as physical space and a space of mind is what brings them together.
Lawrence Weiner’s Untitled, 1999, a set of six works on paper, showcase the use of tangible space and direction; while the reoccurring phrase, “Caught by ships passing in the night” resonates a feeling of being lost in the metaphorical space. If the work reminds us of movement in space, Hanne Darboven 12 months with Postcards from Today of Horses, 1982, consisting of 12 framed pages of months from the 1982 calendar, remind us of movement in time. Additionally, Hanne Darboven’s collage shows her use of the word heute (“now”) seen across her oeuvre, which she proceeds to cross out, leaving the viewer unsure of the place in time.
A group of John Chamberlain’s collages from View from the Cockpit series show an improbable landscape, at the horizon, as improbable is the landscape in the Mike and Doug Starn photo-collage The No Mind Not Thinks solstil, 2013 and the drawing by Robert Morris 10 Mirrors in a Landscape, 1997. These abstract horizon lines portray an uncertainty in place as it relates to space and time.
Another work by Robert Morris, 1934 Mid-West Dust Storm, 2010, consisting of a drawing made of Epoxy on three aluminum panels, depicts a terrifying sand storm in the Mid-West, something dating from the time he was a child. This memory of things past reappears in two Untitled drawings by Jasper Johns, in which the artist is including the floorplan of the house where he spent part of his childhood and a reference to the four seasons. In both instances, these recalls in memory showcase the artists’ location at a specific time and place which allows them to return to them through drawing.
A location can be far away from us, or close. Above all, a location can be a place in the mind, and as such change constantly. Robert Morris Untitled (Location), 1963-1973, contains four mechanisms that requires the installer to manually change the distance depending on where the work is placed on the wall. By creating a work that has the ability to change depending on the space, it evokes a sense of no absolute location.
By bringing together this group of works, the exhibition hopes to bring attention to the similarities between physical space and time when compared to the figurative concept of space of mind.
CASTELLI GALLERY
24 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
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