PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, Queens, New York, New York

 

Saul Melman's installation Central Governor is the result of a six month long performance during which he chiseled 5,000 pounds of salt block and covered MoMA PS1's old boiler with gold leaf. Melman transformed the massive structure into a gilded object, making allusions to the alchemical properties that have been long associated with salt and gold.

 

 

In all of his work, Alan Saret shows great interest in using mutable material to create non-static sculptures. As he stated: “The flexure of each material draws a line in space which corresponds identically to its physical properties. Nature, therefore, draws the final line in the art.” In The Hole at P.S.1, Fifth Solar Chthonic Wall Temple, sunlight is the natural medium that influences the general shape of the sculpture. As part of MoMA PS1’s initial exhibition Rooms, this site-specific installation consists of a carefully sized and shaped hole dug out of the brick wall. When the sunlight faces the exterior side of the building, a focused stream light enters the hallway and shines down to the floor.

 

For MoMA PS1’s stairwell A, Ernesto Caivano created a wall mural based on an ongoing story he developed over three years called After the Woods. While After the Woods consists of drawings and paper sculptures, In the Woods is composed of black latex paint and gouache to create a dense visual web of images composing Caivano’s larger-than-life sized environment. The exaggerated scale of the piece creates a total experience for the viewer, allowing an escape into this imaginary world. Naked and gnarled tree branches wind around the walls and sprout up and out onto the ceiling, entangling the viewer in their dark and magical embrace.

 

Abigail Lazkoz created the series Cameramen in 2002 and displayed it for the first time in MoMA PS1's exhibition Greater New York 2005. The work consists of three large-scale drawings that reinterpret Jose Guadaulpe Posada's 1914 engraving Se Aproxima el Fin del Mundo Las Profecias Se Cumplen Temblores, Erupciones, Guerras, Pestes, Hambres E Incendios. La Celebre Madre Matiana (The end of the World is Near, Prophecies Come True, Earthquakes, Eruptions, Wars Diseases, Famine, and Fires).

 

 

 

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