 Ward Shelley We have mice Prosperity and development have made things harder for Williamsburg's hand-to-mouth residents. In need of a new, reliable strategy for survival, Ward Shelley has chosen the mouse for his mentor: Shelley will live inside the walls of Pierogi Gallery for the length of this exhibition. Using the mouse as a model, he will become an unseen full-time resident of the gallery architecture, working, sleeping, and eating inside the walls; in effect saying, "I'm here but, I won't eat much". The artist will be visible on video camera but will evade direct contact with the gallery staff and the public, only coming out for occasional nocturnal expeditions to forage for food, materials, and mating opportunities. In order to ease his financial burdens, Shelley will sublet his studio. His daily activity will be to make and add pieces to the exhibition from within the wall hollows and continue to improve his living conditions. On view in the gallery will be a multiple-channel video, a growing flat file of work made during the show, and episodes of sculptural interventions from within the walls. Other "mouse droppings" will appear around the neighborhood. Ward Shelley lives and works as an artist in Brooklyn, New York. He specializes in large projects that freely mix sculpture and performance. Utilizing eclectic influences and a variety of media, Shelley's installations defy classification. Over the last five years, Shelley has concentrated on bizarre, functioning architectural pieces in which he lives and works during the exhibition which is monitored with live surveillance video equipment. Among works from the last five years familiar to New Yorkers are the interactive video-environment "the Cube", the "Mir 2" Project, and the "Voyage Platform". Shelley also works with the collaborative artist group BBS. 2 January - 2 February, 2004 Gallery hours: Fri-Mon 12 am - 6 pm and by appointment PIEROGI 2000 Gallery 1 177 North 9th Street USA-Brooklyn, NY 11211 Telephone 00718 599 2144 www.pierogi2000.com |
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