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(Long Island City, New York, January 2004) - P.S.1 presents
a portrait installation by New York artist Barry X Ball.
This new sculptural work, titled (Matthew Barney), which
presents the head of the artist carved in Mexican onyx,
combines the Baroque and digital media in a portrait worthy
of its subject.
Part of a series Ball initiated six years ago, this portrait
is only the second completed work to be exhibited. Produced
over a period of three years, the Matthew Barney sculpture
began with the simple plaster cast of the artist’s
head and neck. From this a positive cast was created, digitized
with a 3-D laser scanner, and then the digital file was
converted to machine language in order for the onyx to be
milled on a computer-controlled stone-carving lathe. The
sculpture was brought to completion with meticulous carving
and polishing by hand.
The installation of the portrait/sculpture is central to
its meaning, and relates directly to its subject. The head,
impaled on a 69-inch long stainless steel spike plated in
24K gold, is suspended from the ceiling by an intricate
web of cables. Recalling Matthew Barney’s early performative
work, and the self-transformations in his Cremaster film
cycle, Ball’s portrait also references art history.
As Mario Diacono wrote, there is a parallel to "the
Nun’s richly draped and levitating body in Bernini’s
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, in the church of Santa Maria della
Vittoria in Rome." With elements of the grotesque and
the sublime, Ball’s portrait of Matthew Barney, as
it hovers in the space of the room, is suspended between
heaven and earth.
Ball has had solo exhibitions at Mario Diacono Gallery,
Boston (1997 and 2003); Luhring Augustine, New York (1993,
1995, 1997); Magasin, Stockholm, Sweden (1993); Galerie
Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium (1991); Fonds Régional
d'Art Contemporain, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Brittany,
France (1990); and Craig Cornelius Gallery, New York (1988
and 1986). He has also been included in group exhibitions
at, among others, The Art Museum at Florida International
University, Miami (2003); Le Quartier, center d'art contemporain
Brittany, France (2001); Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
(1996); Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
(1995); Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland
(1992); and Musée St. Pierre, Art Contemporain, Lyon,
France (1988).
This exhibition is curated by P.S.1 Curatorial Advisor Bob
Nickas. (Matthew Barney) is courtesy of Mario Diacono Gallery,
Boston.
For more information, please
contact Rachael Dorsey, P.S.1 Press Office, at press@ps1.org
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