Installation shot, Sit-In at SEPTEMBER, 2018
SIT-IN
SEPTEMBER
SARAH BRAMAN , JANE BUSTIN, NICOLE CHERUBINI, LIZ COLLINS, FRANCESCA DIMATTIO, DEVON DIKEOU, BARBARA GALLUCCI, KATE GILMORE, MARY HEILMANN, JESSICA JACKSON HUTCHINS, LALEH KHORRAMIAN, HANNAH LEVY LAUREL, SARA GREENBERGER RAFFERTY, NAKADATE, JESSI REAVES, NANCY SHAVER, AGATHE SNOW, KIANJA STROBERT
SIT-IN
SEPTEMBER
SARAH BRAMAN , JANE BUSTIN, NICOLE CHERUBINI, LIZ COLLINS, FRANCESCA DIMATTIO, DEVON DIKEOU, BARBARA GALLUCCI, KATE GILMORE, MARY HEILMANN, JESSICA JACKSON HUTCHINS, LALEH KHORRAMIAN, HANNAH LEVY LAUREL, SARA GREENBERGER RAFFERTY, NAKADATE, JESSI REAVES, NANCY SHAVER, AGATHE SNOW, KIANJA STROBERT
BY CHARLIE SMITH
MAY 24, 2018
RESPONSE > HUDSON, NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER, located in Hudson, NY, consistently brings an interesting mix of established artists and relative newcomers. I’ve seen solo shows with well executed works of large-scale sculpture, as well as one night pop-up performances and DJ sets. On view now is a group show called Sit-in. Organized by September’s founder, Kristen Dodge, Sit-In is a carefully curated selection of sculptures that approach seating as a formal and philosophical problem.
We are greeted just inside the gallery by Barbara Gallucci’s Le Gran Confort (After Le Corbusier), from 2005. This piece draws from the canonical architect’s design from 1928, which wrapped the structural metal framework around the outside of the cushioning to create a dialogue between function and decoration. Le Gran Confort is not purely homage or critique. It’s more like a cover version, or a remix. In contrast with the chic black leather and chromed tubing of the original, Gallucci’s is made from construction grade plywood and aluminum pipes. The chair’s screw heads are covered with a healthy slathering of wood filler and the surfaces left bare. The modesty of the materials and the provisional style of construction imbue the work with a humanist element. Its flaws are intentionally exposed for all to see. It is also scaled up significantly from the original, resulting in a big, chunky throne, naked and proud of it.
Installation shot, Sit-In at SEPTEMBER, 2018
Kianja Strobert', Ach, Du, 2017.
The works in the larger space are arranged in rows on bare sheets of MDF placed directly on the floor. Artworks that incorporate theatrical-looking curtains hang from the walls on both sides. I can’t decide if I’m the audience or the performer, but the confusion is exciting. During the opening, I saw a lot of people step directly on the MDF, which would never happen if the platforms were just an inch taller and painted white. It’s a curatorial informality that is subtle but makes me feel invited to engage with the work.
Many of the works in Sit-In use an existing seat as the starting point for their creation. The found objects are then cut, hammered, covered, painted, smashed, or otherwise altered through a variety of methods. Agathe Snow’s Growing Roots, from 2018, appears to be a rusted metal chair that’s been left outside for so long that it started to grow wild blue latex appendages. It is directly adjacent to a wooden stool leaning precariously on two legs with twisted knot of delicate black material perched on its peak (Ach, Du by Kianja Strobert, 2017). The first word that I wrote in my notes was “barnacles”.
Installation shot, Sit-In at SEPTEMBER, 2018
Other works do not incorporate or even resemble chairs at all. In the back of space, Sara Greenberger Rafferty’s Grid, from 2016, is a tall, vertical image of a woman made from several smaller prints collaged together. The margins between the pages from each print create a rectilinear white grid that fragments her body. In the center of the image is a third hand, perhaps acting as the artist’s own, all encased in a thick coat of acrylic polymer. The correlation between “the grid” (a ubiquitous theme in the discourse of art history which has forever lionized male artists) and “the chair” builds upon the densely woven associations which can be drawn between the works in the show.
Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Grid, 2016
Image from catalog for Gloves Off, 2017, published by the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art State University of New York at New Paltz
Now several weeks later, I’m thinking about the show’s title, Sit-In. There are a variety of uses for the phrase, but my mind lingers on the form of organized protest. To “sit-in” is to use the very presence of one’s body as an act of defiance. It is actually to “stand up” for yourself (and others). It makes stillness into action.
Sit-in (The show) uses a related push and pull dynamic. The show is simultaneously earnest, funny, serious and personal. The sculptures announce themselves individually, while visual harmonies in form, color, or method draw threads between works. Like the artists who labored to produce them, they draw strength from their collective dialogue.
SEPTEMBER is an evolving platform for artists of diverse disciplines. The gallery is committed to engaging the surrounding community, while hosting artists predominantly from Upstate to Brooklyn to Boston. In the first year and a half, over 200 artists have exhibited at the gallery. The spirited ethos and activity of SEPTEMBER includes performers, academics, activists, chefs, curators, writers, and other creative thinkers, makers and doers.
SEPTEMBER was founded by Kristen Dodge in 2016 and is located in the Arcade Building at 449 Warren Street #3, Hudson, NY 12534.
Charlie Smith is an artist living and working in Hudson, New York.
All images courtesy SEPTEMBER unless otherwise noted.
RESPONSE
A feature of project reviews experienced in person. Response will provide artists with much needed critical response to their work. Response is opinion-based but is not an op-ed.