FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPENING AT THE DONALD YOUNG GALLERY
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2003
RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST 5:00 - 7:30 PM

CHICAGO - The Donald Young Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Josiah McElheny which continues his recent exploration of the physical and perceptual effects of reflectivity with three projects in industrial mirror, hand-blown “mirrored” glass and other reflective materials. All three projects are a manifestation of McElheny’s notion that “the act of looking at a reflective object could be connected to the mental act of reflecting on an idea”; the exhibition proposes an indivisibility of the physical/mental experience of art.

The central project materializes a conversation between Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi from the late 1920s in which they discussed the possibilities and consequences of abstracted forms that cast no shadows; of totally reflective objects in a completely reflective environment. This project forms an exhibition within an exhibition, an “expo” on “reflective abstraction” which consists of five freestanding “landscape models” based on Fuller’s idealistic thoughts on reflectivity, but more significantly and specifically on Noguchi’s sculpture, furniture, and unrealized proposals for giant landscapes of abstract form. With each work, low to the ground suggesting Narcissus’ pool of water, a mirror plane seems to float above the floor. On each plane, numerous reflective sculptures appear to meld into the mirrored surface. Their mass and their reflection in the mirror form a model of an abstract, shadowless landscape in which the foreground and background, form and space, construction and land seem to become one.

In a second darkened gallery, two interior lit display cases contain a variety of historic twentieth century forms. The surface of each object reflects every other object in the display but even more surprisingly; every object and every reflection is repeated in seemingly infinite succession. These endless reflections are disarmingly unaffected by the viewer’s presence: the reflections do not change as the viewer moves and the viewer’s reflection is inexplicably missing. The third project consists of ten mirror “drawings” in which the drawing gesture is imbedded in the glass, as if the white lines were seemingly drawn by hand, floating within the mirror itself. The viewer’s reflected image becomes something else, layered over with another kind of abstraction. These “drawings” continue McElheny’s exploration of the history of mirrors, Jorge Luis Borges’ redefinition of the mirror as any reflective material, and propose a way of thinking about drawing in the space of reflectivity.

McElheny continues with a variety of strategies that have structured his work in the past, taking as his starting point historical anecdotes, specific processes and objects from the worlds of art, design and antiquity. He re-imagines possible consequences of the narratives suggested by these sources or proposes an altered view of their expected meanings and provides the viewer a way of experiencing these notions by constructing a specific environment which envelopes and redirects the viewer’s investigation of these seductive forms. His works propose a fusion of materiality and the reasons behind the creation of works of art, a theme that McElheny continues to articulate. In this exhibition the titles make clear the work’s narrative or historic beginnings and the metallic, glassy qualities of the materials provide a palpable perceptual fascination.

The works in the exhibition echo McElheny’s earlier works relating to the history of mirrors, as well as his performative installation of 2001, The Metal Party – Reconstructing a Party held at the Bauhaus in Dessau on February 9, 1929. The exhibition as a whole creates an image of the myriad meanings of physical and contemplative reflection, and signals McElheny’s interest in the concept that the twentieth century was the century of self-reflection on many levels.

This marks McElheny’s fourth solo exhibition with the Donald Young Gallery and recent projects include “Inside the White Cube”, a solo exhibition in a series curated by Louise Neri, at White Cube, London in June 2003. Exhibiting internationally, McElheny’s work was included at the 2000 Whitney Biennial, Dave Hickey’s Beau Monde at Site Sante Fe, 2001 and Young Americans II at the Saatchi Gallery, London. Solo exhibitions include the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle and most recently the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, from which a major catalog is distributed in the U.S. by Distributed Art Publishers, NY.

The reception is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 to 5:30 and Saturday, 11:00 to 5:30. If you would like more information, please contact Emily Letourneau at 312.455.0100.