 The End, 2004 dvd, color and sound, endless loop Jacob Dyrenforth Vice. And Versa. 31Grand is pleased to announce "Vice. And Versa.", the first New York solo exhibition of Brooklyn-based artist Jacob Dyrenforth. With "Vice. And Versa.", Dyrenforth continues his ongoing investigation of masculine character types in contemporary media culture, specifically the personas of the rock star and American cowboy. In his installations, videos, sculptures, and drawings, the artist examines clichéd male heroes by creating a virtual catalog of personas and types. Drawing from familiar aspects of pop culture from film to music history, Dyrenforth explores mutable or plastic identities, navigating the line between fantasy and projected reality. Concurrently earnest and a parody, playful and critical, "Vice. And Versa." engages ideas of persona and performance. The newest work on view, "Performer Performance" (2005), comprises of a video projection and sculpture of a dressing room mirror. The video, which features the artist regarding himself in his dressing room mirror as his make-up is applied and re-applied, is projected onto a sculpture of this same dressing room vanity. In the video the artist emulates a performer preparing to transform himself into the character of rock god. As the viewers watch Dyrenforth gazing at himself in the mirror, the layers of artifice and fantasy are interwoven with the shared desire for simultaneously being in the spotlight and watching the spotlight. The character is never fully transformed, so that the video becomes a continual exercise in adaptation. The installation is accompanied by a sculpture "Stand-Ins for the All Time Greatest" (2005), consisting of ten guitars made from theatrical prop materials. Culled from a combination of generic lists found on the Internet of the all time greatest guitars players, the guitars correspond to the signature instruments of the top ten players. Stripped of their detail and left unpainted, the guitars are generic forms that at once act as stand-ins and screens. A second video, "The End" (2005), examines another male archetype: the cowboy. Filmed in the American West, a landscape made familiar through Western movies, "The End" features the artist dressed as a cowboy and riding a horse into the vast desert landscape. The video is projected onto white letters on the wall, which spell out the words "The End". While they resemble the final credits of the movie, the letters are reminiscent of signage on cinema marquees or the Hollywood sign, underscoring the cinematic artifice of the piece. The viewers expect the cowboy to ride off into the sunset, but instead the video loops back into itself, so that the cowboy rides continuously and fruitlessly, never arriving nor departing. The familiar resolution that is promised by the filmic devices is never delivered. Jacob Dyrenforth lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Upcoming exhibitions include: "Musica-Video-Musica", Reina Sofia Madrid, Spain (July 2005); "Girls on Film", Zwirner and Wirth (July 2005); "Star Star", Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati (September 2005). Exhibition: June 3 - July 3, 2005 Gallery hours: Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon 1 - 7 pm or by appointment 31Grand 31 Grand St. (Williamsburg) USA-Brooklyn, NY 11211 Telephone 00718 388 2858 Email gallery31grand@earthlink.net www.31grand.com |
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