eyes wide shut, 2010
from the series; found birds, 2000 - the present
(image one of twenty-four)
A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head.
Poster, 2010
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Past Exhibition
eyes wide shut
&
A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head.
April 9 – May 15, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 5 – 7 p.m.
Artist Talk*: Saturday, April 23, 2011, 3 p.m.
CB1 Gallery announced its first solo exhibition with artist Susan Silas. In the East gallery Silas presented selected works from eyes wide shut, 2010, a portfolio of 24 images from her series found birds, 2000 - the present; as well as embrace, a stop-action HD-video animation. We are proud to had premiered Silas’ 2010 video performance, A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head, in our West gallery. This exhibition was accompanied by a 64 page soft-bound monograph, EYES WIDE SHUT, which features Silas’ 24 image portfolio as well as two short written works by the artist. A reception for the artist took place on Saturday, April 9th between 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
The series found birds, 2000 - the present is a collection of portfolios developed by Silas during the past decade. The series began serendipitously, when a small sparrow fell dead on the sidewalk at the artist’s feet. Silas documents with patient and focused resolve the irreversible transition from being to matter. Revealing aspects of decay and transformation, death and renewal, Silas simultaneously examines the continuum and resilience of life, self-consciously enlisting her photographs to do what photography does best — mining the medium’s ability to expose exactly what existed in front of the lens — conveying the unique fragility of sentient beings and their inevitable loss.
Her video performance, A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head, depicts Silas singing popular opening theme songs from late 50s and 60s television shows. Her isolated serenade is captured as she sings to her reflection in a large mirror. In Silas’ renditions of Bat Masterson, Rawhide, Yogi Bear, The Mickey Mouse Club, and other once popular melodies, she enacts rituals of self-intimacy and creates a commentary on aging, memory and the inevitable advancement of time, while reminding us of the peculiar cultural productions that hold us together generationally and mark the movement from one generation to the next. Accompanying this video are suites of self-portraits in which her two selves inhabit the same frame. Each image juxtaposes a stark self-portrait in the foreground against a softer idealized portrait reflected in the mirror; a literal reminder of the divide between one’s self and one’s self-perception.
Ms. Silas, who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, received her Master in Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. She has been widely exhibited in the United States and in Europe. Her work on the Holocaust in Europe during the Second World War, Helmbrechts walk, 1998-2003, has been exhibited at Hebrew Union College Museum, New York City, 2009-2010; Kunstverien Grafschaft Bentheim in Neuenhaus, Germany, 2010; and Kunsthalle Exnergasse_WUK in Vienna, 2010. Helmbrechts walk, 1998- 2003 will be exhibited in 2011 at the Hungarian Jewish Museum in Budapest and is described at length in the recently published Landscapes of Holocaust Postmemory by Holocaust scholar Brett Ashley Kaplan. Her recent essay, Sex on the Run? No, We Parked, was published in the Modern Love column in The New York Times in October, 2010. To view the artist’s web site go to: www.susansilas.com.
*In association with Month of Photography-Los Angeles.
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