Chris Caccamise Talisman of Doom "My parents owned a paper shop, until it blew away" (David Brent) Sixtyseven is pleased to announce the opening of "Talisman of Doom", Chris Caccamise's second solo show with the gallery. Caccamise's work consists primarily of sculptures meticulously crafted from cut paper and painted with several coats of bright, high gloss, sign enamel. "Talisman of Doom" also includes four new videos. While many of Caccamise's sculptures portray natural (and occasionally supernatural) entities, this show also includes domestic and industrial iconography and a greater focus on text based constructions. Some of Caccamise's pieces make overt art historical references while others provide subtle allusions to contemporary art. The most apparent of these art references is a true to scale recreation of a small Tony Smith sculpture to which Caccamise adds what seems to be the shingled siding of a house, in effect, "suburbanizing" it. Chris Caccamise's work tends to be simultaneously optimistic and neurotic. The work draws from a place where anxiety and self-consciousness meet optimism and the strong desire to amuse. The sculptures assume a sturdy and voluminous appearance but are in actuality delicate and fragile. The formless properties of liquid, vapor, and light, present themselves as solid and defined objects. Gestures of sincerity and irony are not mutually exclusive in the work. This is particularly evident in the videos, which demonstrate a sophisticated level of silliness akin to early William Wegman or Tony Ousler. Allusions to childhood are ever present. The sculptures - brightly colored, graphic and cartoon-like - often resemble toys and sometimes include removable parts. Some of the sculptures are miniature in scale, as has been the case with much of Caccamise's work of the past few years. However, occasionally pieces are much larger in scale as in the sculpture titled "Please, Enter The Dragon", a horizontal text based wall piece, Caccamise's largest sculpture to date. Chris Caccamise's work is also on view in two group shows which coincide with his show at Sixtyseven: "The Zine UnBound: Kults, Werewolves and Sarcastic Hippies" at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and "Always Crashing in the Same Car" at the Susanna Ottesen Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark. Caccamise's work was also exhibited at the Sculpture Center, Long Island City Queens; The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; The Bronx River Art Center, NY; Gavin Brown's Enterprise at Passerby, New York; Savage Art Resources, Portland, OR; Peres Projects, Los Angeles, CA; 1R Gallery, Chicago, IL; and The Wrong Gallery, New York, NY. His work was reviewed in The New York Times, Flash Art, Time Out New York, and The Brooklyn Rail. Chris Caccamise received his joint B.A/B.F.A. from Rutgers University in 1998 and his M.F.A from The School of Visual Arts, New York, in 2003. He currently lives in Brooklyn and works in a studio generously provided by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's "Working Space" program. Exhibition: November 1 - December 10, 2005 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 11 am - 6 pm sixtyseven 547 West 27th Street, #309 USA-New York, NY 10001 Telephone +1 212 967 2260 Fax +1 212 967 2265 Email info@sixtysevengallery.com www.sixtysevengallery.com |
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