All Else Is Pale
EAF16
Organized by Jess Wilcox
Socrates Sculpture Park
New York, NY
Sept 25, 2016 - March 13, 2017
EAF16
sculpture park map
press release
All Else Is Pale, 2016
AC Plywood
4' × 35’ × 1’
In glowing blush tone, etched with a custom pattern relief, the phrase ‘MORE LIGHT’ floats up from or sinks into the ground, depending on the viewer’s perspective. The three dimensional text, titled All Else Is Pale, is a continuation of Galeria Perdida’s investigation of how the design, color, surface and context of words inflect and disperse meaning. An expressive squiggle characteristic of desktop publishing cuts through the letters, allowing the sun’s rays to
penetrate text.
The collective Galería Perdida is known for their studies of written language as architecture, form, and shape – all of which emerge in their EAF project, All Else Is Pale. But perhaps this work is better known as “more light,” the two simple and poetic words that seemingly grow out of the park’s landscape, and many visitors wonder what they mean. “We came across the phrase while working on another project,” explained Galería Perdida. “Those two words convey a great deal.” The words, they say, take on even deeper meaning given the historical context: “mehr licht” or “more light” is believed to have been the dying utterance of famous enlightenment-era German author Johan Wolfgang Goethe. On the surface this statement seems optimistic, but the artists also note that it connotes a “presupposed lacking,” and therefore contains a certain forlornness.
This open-ended quality of the phrase manifests itself in its physical structure. At thirty-five feet long, the piece becomes most legible – in a literal sense – when viewed at a distance from the “front.” Even from that vantage point, the text is slightly obscured as the work seems to be sinking into, or perhaps rising up, from the ground. Painted in colors reminiscent of a sunset, each letter is delicately textured with a custom-designed pattern referencing weaving and indigenous motifs. A sinuous cut-out connects all the letters, both allowing light and air to pass through and contributing to its mirage-like appearance.
Opening up and leaving a wide “grey area” in terms of the public-to-art interaction and interpretation is Galería Perdida’s intention. The collective hopes the public acknowledges the semantics at play as much as the physical structure and form. “Some in the public will gravitate to the intricacy of the pattern, while others will rest on the language,” they explained. “Either way, meaning is determined by the audience, yet guided by us.”
About the show:
The annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition (EAF) is a cornerstone of Socrates Sculpture Park’s visual arts programming, widely acclaimed for the ambition, breadth, and innovation of selected contemporary works. A singular opportunity for rising artists to experiment with ambitious, large-scale public art, EAF provides 15 artists with an open studio, monetary support, and institutional guidance.
From June through September, EAF artists worked on-site, negotiating the physical and conceptual challenges of production in the park’s outdoor studio space, culminating in EAF16: Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition. Diverse in subject, materials, and approach, each site-specific work addresses social, ecological, or political issues that are pertinent to the past, present, and future of the park as it celebrates its 30th anniversary year.
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EAF16 artists are: Liene Bosquê, Travis Boyer, Andrew Brehm, Lea Cetera, Dachal Choi and Mathew Suen, Onyedika Chuke, Galería Perdida, Dylan Gauthier, Dmitri Hertz, Madeline Hollander, Olalekan Jeyifous, Lia Lowenthal, Sable Elyse Smith, Elizabeth Tubergen, and Bryan Zanisnik