"Spray Through (Tubes)", Edition of 10, 16" x 13.375", Plotter cut bristol paper, spray paint, cloth binding
This evening out on the tip of Long Island, Tauba Auerbach will be unveiling a new body of experimental work at the Glen Horowitz Bookseller’s East Hampton space. Hosted by owner John McWhinnie and curated by Jeremy Sanders from 6 Decades Books, A Book Is Not An X continues Auerbach’s insatiable appetite for the methodical and mathematical. Through a series of six “books”, essentially sculptures that deconstruct and recontectualize the book as it’s conventional perceived into a wholly unique aesthetic form (in a similar, yet highly more complex, sense to her recent pop-up book), Auerbach takes aim at one of her favorite muses, ‘topology’. Described as “a branch of mathematics that inquires into the basic characteristics of surfaces and objects in order to understand the range of incarnations the form can take while still retaining its defining properties”, the multi-talented artist’s fascination with that point at which order breaks down into chaos, and the beauty and energy of the tension therein, will be on full display. Each work, produced in editions of ten (or fewer), combines hand painted elements, photo-based printing and three dimensional volumes into a majestic, yet minimalistic union of language and art.
One piece, entitled “Fractile”, begins as a single sheet of paper that blossoms into 11 pages, which becomes 121 pages, which in turn generates 1331 pages into a massive (16″ x 23.25″ x 11.75″) oragami-esque winged creature. Additionally, two works, “Marble” and “Wood”, appear as a blocks of their particular substrates when closed, yet can be opened and flipped through page by page to reveal their hidden textures and depth. These two works were tediously constructed, with Tauba either sanding (wood) or carving (marble) a sheet the thickness of a piece of paper from the object, scanning the remaining block, and then continuing to sand and carve. Perhaps most compelling with these works was that in order to create the piece, she had to destroy the original blocks, thereby memorializing them in a fully realized simulated aesthetic object which ultimately looks optically indistinguishable from the original. The list goes on with the remaining “books”, so be sure to make it out to the the opening tonight if possible. The show opens with a reception from 6 – 8 PM with the artist in attendance and runs through Tuesday, September 20th, where upon the body of work with travel to Norway for Auerbach’s much anticipated museum exhibition, Tetrachromatic, at Bergen Kunsthall in November.
Take a peak at the inventive invitation for the event, as well as a preview image of what’s to come with the brand new body of work destined for Bergen, Norway.
Pop-Up Invitation!
A taste of what's to come...
Discuss Tauba Auerbach here.
