July 11, 2012

It's Called Living


Leon Levinstein
San Francisco (man asleep on newspaper), 1975

Later this summer during the month of August, the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York will be exhibiting another diverse Staff Picks show. Posted here are my thoughts and selections for the exhibition.

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What happens when the arts have all been co-opted and the media has become enslaved? What happens when knowledge isn't used for the betterment of society but rather as an instrument of status and control? We live in an age of disinformation and glorified entertainment where the noise is now personalized and delivered in faster ways than ever.

I like to find those small moments where malfunction triumphs over function. The daily "news" that isn't quite disseminated, devices of influence that sit unused, and signs or advertisements blocked from their single-minded purpose. Silence. Tabula rasa. It's a chance to think for oneself, if only for a short while. That beautiful feeling growing slowly from within ... is called living.

- Pak So

Bill Owens
Untitled (room with two chairs and television set), 1968-72

Bill Burke
Speaker Shop, Phnom Penh, 1989

Nathan Lyons
Rochester, New York, 1978

Louis Faurer
Women in Front of Billboard, New York, 1949