I have finally landed in Roswell, NM to start my year long artist-in-residence program.
This has been a busy two weeks. I was offered a solo exhibit at Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, NM. Instead of doing the easy thing and bringing some work, I drove down and spent 5 days creating work and 2 days installing it.
It was fantastic. I always experience a profound sense of growth with geographic change. Welcome to the first solo show I have done in quite a while that does not reference weaponry, patterning, or have any overt phallic references.
“Fulfilling the Void” at the Runnels Gallery opened Sept. 4th with a closing reception on Sept. 28th, 2012. The exhibit is an installation centered around the redaction of memory and the associated vacancy of identity. Partially influenced by the FBI and CIA handling of the Roswell UFO incident, the exhibit pulls from conspiracy theory in order to contain a mysterious phenomena. The Installation will progress through 3 phases. Phase 1 video [link] Phase 2 video [link]
As soon as “Fulfilling the Void” opened I drove to Dallas, collected and refurbished the RJP Gallery Kit 2.0, and went to San Antonio for 2 more exhibits on the 7th and 8th. (The RJP Nomadic Gallery is a project I co-founded and have been working on for 5 years.) Focussing on the process of art handling and shipping as contextually relevant to a truck gallery, the shows address the influence of typically invisible labors. Both of these events were funded through a Kickstarter campaign by Lullwood Group and Blue Star Contemporary.
“Dark Matter” utilizes the RJP Nomadic Gallery as a platform of transparency to discuss the typically invisible process of art shipping and installation while highlighting the tangential influence of art handling and museum practices upon fine art. Held at the Blue Star Contemporary on Friday, September 7th the performance/exhibit reflects notions from Gregory Sholette’s book “Dark Matter” reflecting the plight of the art world’s hidden 99% supporting the top 1% by entangling grass-roots efforts, functional design as philosophy, and the impact of art market labor on aesthetic influence.
“Cr(e)ate” offers an arts performance embracing the art of shipping crate as both functionally designed unit and modernist inspired art object. Allowing traditional art labor and art handling to be repositioned as performance art for the public, the RJP members created five iterations from the crates provided by San Antonio artists. A crate based video piece was displayed within the RJP Nomadic Gallery during the performance.
After these events I drove back to New Mexico, but had to stay in Portales a couple days for an NPR interview and University publication interview on “Fulfilling the Void”.
At the end of the month, Sept. 29th, the NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER will open Sculpture in So Many Words: Text Pieces 1960-1980, featuring The Art Foundation‘s oversized book “Fountainhead.” (I am one of four members of The Art Foundation.) I don’t know if I will make that opening due to all my recent travelling, but if you are in the Dallas area please stop by and check it out.
While in Roswell, once I finally star making work, I will be posting to a separate website: Ryder in Roswell. You can subscribe if you wish to stay updated.
