JONATHAN SCHIPPER
Detritus
27 September – 24 November
Opening: Fri. 27 Sept. 7-9pm
Press Release
Jonathan Schipper’s Detritus is an ever-changing environment composed of salt, human will, and hot water bathing. This installation consists of twelve tons of salt and a mechanism suspended from the ceiling by cables. By varying the length of the four cables, the machine moves about the room where it extrudes three-dimensional, abstracted objects in salt — representations of man-made objects that we take for granted as part of our every day world. Viewers have the option of observing these objects being created from the comfort of a hot tub.
Collectively, we are continually reshaping our world to suit ourselves. We fill it with things that have importance and meaning to us. While we strive for permanence, thankfully the physical forces that govern the universe beg to differ. Things that we make are not permanent and forces beyond our control are constantly making simple the complex objects that we devote ourselves to. This installation is a reflection of that process, abstracted and combined with processes of geology. Objects are continuously being formed but, due to the fragility of the salt crystals used to make them, they deteriorate at nearly the same rate new ones are being built. This installation is an attempt to create a vantage point that is impossible in the real world. A vantage point that both condenses and speeds up time and provides an objective view of the things we value which, at times, we recognize as merely detritus.
This will be Jonathan Schipper’s fifth one-person exhibition at Pierogi and the Boiler. He received degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA) and the Rinehart School of Sculpture (MFA), and studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work has been included in numerous US and international exhibitions, including the “Guangzhou Triennial 2012” (Guangzhou, China), “The Art of Deceleration” (Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany), “Under Destruction” (Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland), “The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle” (Stuks Art Center, Belgium), the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Cuba, among others. He was born in California and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.