Special Projects

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center is proud to present new Special Projects on January 29, 2004, including works by Christian Holstad, Justin Lowe, Tracy Nakayama, Gary Rough and David Shapiro. Special Projects are selected individually, without attention to a theme in order to reflect the extraordinary energy and variety of practices among young artists working in New York City and abroad.

Christian Holstad: Innocent Killers (2004) Floor 2, Gallery S201. Selected by P.S.1 Assistant Curator Amy Smith Stewart.

For P.S.1, Christian Holstad (b.1972, Anaheim, California) will present a new site-specific installation. Innocent Killers (2004) is informed by the artist's Eraserheads, an ongoing series of drawings based on daily newspaper clippings, where Holstad has erased out the image and drawn over it. Recently, Holstad has been interested in depictions of microphones, as they are typically found in mass media imagery and can be interpreted as a signifier for communication / miscommunication. In his latest Eraserheads, Holstad removes the entire image except for the microphone and then adds a blank background or buzzing flies. Innocent Killers represents a deflated set for communication and consists of a microphone soft sculpture, a podium and sound component. The work of Christian Holstad takes the form of drawings, collages, sculptures, installations, costumes, performances and videos. Holstad invests in his entire process an infectious sense of sincerity and delight, playing equally on ideas of innocence, otherness and isolation, and bids the viewer to take part in a meditative discovery and recovery of the familiar turned inside out and upside down again.

Born in 1972 in Anaheim, California, Christian Holstad now resides in New York. He has studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and was in residence at John Michael Kohler Arts Program in 2000. In 2004, Holstad's work will appear in the Whitney Biennial (2004) in New York and in a solo exhibition Move Towards the Light at Daniel Reich Gallery, New York. His recent solo exhibitions include a double show titled; sonnenaufgang (sunrises) and Sonnenuntergang (sunsets) (2003), Aurel Scheibler Gallery and Daniel Schmidt Gallery, Cologne, Germany; The Birth of Princess Middlefinger (2003), Prague Biennial, Prague; Life Is a Gift (2002), Daniel Reich Gallery, New York; and The Self Esteem Salon: The Baptism Series (2002), jointly with Chris Verene, Deitch Projects, New York and Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. Selected group exhibitions include My people were fair and had cum in their hair (but now their content to spray stars from their boughs) (2003), curated by Bob Nickas, Team Gallery, New York; Today's Man (2003), John Connelly Presents, New York; The Birdman Returns (2003), curated by Daniel Reich, D'Amelio Terras, New York; Group Show (2003), curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, Grant/Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA; Surreal Estate (2003), Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York; Bathroom Group Show (2002), Daniel Reich Gallery, New York; Two for the Road (2002), with Delia R. Gonzalez and Gavin R. Bussom, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York; and A Gringo! (1998), Mexico City, Mexico.

Justin Lowe: Passage (2004) Basement Vault, Selected by P.S.1 Curatorial Advisor Bob Nickas

P.S.1 presents a new site-specific installation by New York-based artist Justin Lowe (b. 1976, Dayton, Ohio). The project's central feature is a Chevy van, which has been modified by the artist in order to maximize its possibilities as a site for intimate social interactions. The three divided interior spaces comprise a sort of adolescent utopian hideout, replete with parquet flooring, a handmade rug, video projections and music. Visitors are encouraged to enter and traverse these interior spaces, and to stop and relax within the artwork. This leisurely engagement with both the customized van and the accompanying conversation pit offers a non-conventional museum experience, as the installation endeavors to increase participants' comfort and catalyze interaction both with itself and with other visitors.

Justin Lowe lives and works in New York. He has studied at the Hampshire College and will graduate with a MFA at Columbia University in New York. Selected solo exhibitions include Cabinessence (2002), Louis Boston Department Store, Boston, MA and Mod 80 (1999), Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. Selected group exhibitions include Game Over (2003), Grimm+ Rosenfeld, Munich, Germany; Club in the Shadow (2003), curated by Jutta Koether and Kim Gordon, Kenny Schachter Contemporary, New York, NY; The Melvins (2003), curated by Robert Nickas, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY; 2003 First Year MFA Show, curated by Lia Gangiatano, Columbia University Wallach Art Gallery, New York, NY and Gen Art Summer Art Fair (2002), curated by Jay Sanders, New York, NY.Tracy Nakayama: Message To Love (2004)

Floor 2, Gallery S204, Selected by P.S.1 Assistant Curator Amy Smith Stewart

Brooklyn based artist Tracy Nakayama (b. 1974, Honolulu, Hawaii) will present a new series of works on paper. Nakayama creates sensual works that explore the camp aesthetic of 1970s erotic imagery and recall the loose illustrations in the classic sex manual “The Joy of Sex.” The sepia toned portraits of her liberated anonymous icons appear free in their open and frank sexuality. Her heroes and heroines convey a sense of innocence and playfulness and bask in a utopian never land of sexual exploration. These works evoke a simple and nostalgic look back to a recent, freer past and beckon the viewer to re-examine their own ideas of pleasure and sexual autonomy. Nakayama gives the viewer a chance to share a fleeting, but triumphant moment epitomized by a simple need to fulfill a very personal desire.

Originally from Hawaii, Tracy Nakayama has studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA and, most recently, at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She currently lives in New York. She has had solo exhibitions at Daniel Silverstein Gallery, New York (2003); Acuna Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles (2002; and Voges + Deissen, Frankfurt, Germany (2001). Selected group exhibitions include Kult48 Klubhouse (2003), Deitch Brooklyn, New York; Teenage Rebel: The Bedroom Show (2003), Galerie du Jour Agnes B., Paris, France; United Bamboo (2003), Tokyo, Japan; Lust and Leisure (2003), Voges + Partner, Frankfurt, Germany; 100 Artists make 100 T-shirts (2003), Daniel Silverstein Gallery, New York; K48 - Now Playing (2003), D'amelio Terras, New York; Bad Girls (2003), Ikon Ltd., Santa Monica, CA; What Are You Growing in Your Garden? (2003), ATM Gallery, New York; New York Fucking City (2003), Southfirst: Art, Brooklyn, NY; Erotica (2002), Riva, New York; Wonderland (2002), Gallery Aeroplastics, Brussels, Belgium; Face Value (2002), White Columns, New York.Gary Rough: Who is everything (2004)

Floor 2, Gallery S202, Selected by P.S.1 Curator Jimena Blazquez Opens March 11, 2004

For P.S.1 Scottish artist Gary Rough (b. 1972, Glasgow) presents a constellation of neons titled Who is everything. The viewer, entering a dark room, is surrounded by neon signs whose light light emanates from behind, creating an interesting interplay of light and shadow. The signs are inspired by New York neon imagery such as a tooth, scissors, and many other forms which typically promote commercial enterprise on New York streets. Breaking away from traditional methods of presenting neon, Rough utilizes the light and shadow effect to create a romantic and poetic atmosphere out of banal mercantile signage. Because none of the images Rough selected have a definitive meaning, the viewer is impelled to interpret them in many different ways. Thus changing the viewer’s reaction from passive to active, Rough challenges the daily visual bombardment of street advertising.

Gary Rough was born in Glasgow and currently lives in New York. He received a Master’s Degree from the Glasgow School of Arts, and then studied at the Horshule de Kunst in Berlin. He has had solo exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (2003), In Mobile Home, London (2002) and Jacob Fabricus in Copenhagen (1999). He represented Scotland at “Copenhagen’s 1996 European city of culture” (1996). Group exhibitions include Zonomap, 50th Venice Biennial (2003), The distance between you and me, Lisson gallery, London (2003), I could be Happy, Gagosian Gallery, London (2003), and the Tirana Biennial, Albania (2001).

David Shapiro: Nickel Bags (September, 1991-December 31, 2003) Floor 2, Gallery S203 Selected by P.S.1 Curator Jimena Blazquez and P.S.1 Assistant Curator Amy Smith Stewart. For P.S.1, Brooklyn based artist and filmmaker David Shapiro (b. 1966, New York) presents "New York City, September, 1991 - December 31, 2003," from his ongoing series Nickel Bags. The installation is comprised of over 5,000 found objects the artist has collected over the last twelve years. Each day Shapiro handpicks three abandoned objects off New York City streets and then seals them in miniature zip lock bags. Movie tickets, headlight shards; a cigarette butt with a lipstick trace; a bullet; a tooth - from the most banal to the most personal - together these artifacts formulate an extraordinary visual diary. Pinned directly to the wall, these intriguing objects form a dynamic and colorful grid that bears testament to the transitory nature of our contemporary existence. David Shapiro was born in New York where he currently lives and works. He has studied at Hunter College, and the State University of New York, Albany. Selected recent solo shows include Consumed (2003), Eyewash at Jack the Pelican, New York; 100,000 Holes (2002), LiebmanMagnan, New York; and Nickel Bags (2000), Lavanderia Fundacio, Barcelona. Shapiro co-directed the award winning feature documentary "Keep The River On Your Right" (2000) with his sister Laurie Gwen Shapiro, about the artist and writer Tobias Schneebaum. Selected group shows include Emerging (2003), Matthew Marks, New York; New Documentaries (2002), Museum of Modern Art, New York; Critic as Guest (2002), White Box, New York; Your Utopia (1999), Momenta, Brooklyn; and Wild/Hybro-Video (1998), Exit Art, New York. Pressetext

Special Projects
Arbeiten von Christian Holstad, Justin Lowe, Tracy Nakayama, Gary Rough und David Shapiro
Kurator: Bob Nickas