White Columns Online #8:
Does and Donaughts
curated by Christina Leung
January 17–March 9, 2019 Online
Brian Edmund Cooper
Clay Tablet, 2018
Pencil
11 × 14 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Sophia Rauch
Untitled, 2015
Digital Print
Variable
Courtesy of the artist

Michelle Marie Marchesseault
Study for my head in Yellow, 2018
Plaster and latex on linen
48 × 36 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Cheairs
The Ladies, 2012
Oil on canvas
60 × 60 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Hillerbrand+Magsamen
D.I.Y. Love Seat, 2013
Video Still, single channel video
Original duration: 2:25
Courtesy of the artists

Michael E. Katz
Painted Black Couch (Left), 2015
Pigment inkjet on canvas, unique
38 × 57 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Kenny Cole
Calling California, 2016
Acrylic on canvas
30 × 40 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Sally P Jerome
Teacher Sees a Strength in Everyone, 2017
Oil on canvas
40 × 44 in.
Courtesy of the artist

Sally P Jerome
Common Adversaries, 2015
Oil on canvas
48 × 48 in.
Courtesy of the artist
Exhibition Description
Malapropism, or a mangling of two similar sounding words or phrases, is a distortion, an unfaithful translation, where the meaning is often changed (ie. acorn and eggcorn!).
The works in this selection both facilitate interpretation with familiar references and also resist meaning by mangling the context. The works remain slippery.
The references that felt recognizable become undone. The codes that meant one thing are now taken out of context, distorting or obliterating the meaning. There is an asymmetrical relationship between the reference and the image. These slight aberrations emphasize the non-real and point towards fantasy without actually living in it.
Pointing, a gesture of an art object, is similar to the way that language has a naming and identifying function. An art objectʼs pointing is an active, embodied meaning, intrinsic to its form. Art is coterminous with meaning, yet mutually exclusive from language. Because language has the imperative for communication to further intelligibility, the meaning that language derives from art can be limited in its desire for definition.
“We can either capitulate and start spinning narratives, or we can resist as long as possible, to try to see the shape of our desire for words.” (James Elkins, What Do We Want Pictures to be? Reply to Mieke Bal, 1996).
“All the best stuff happens on the edges…” (Stefan George, unknown, a note I hastily took in 2012).
Christina Leung is an artist and educator living and working in New York, and a former White Columns Curatorial Assistant.
This exhibition is the eighth in a series of online exhibitions curated exclusively from White Columns’ Curated Artist Registry.
For more information: registry.whitecolumns.org
Brian Edmund Cooper
Clay Tablet, 2018
Pencil
11 × 14 in.
Courtesy of the artist (A realistic drawing of an irregular rectangular slab of clay with four holes at the top. Gashes and oval shaped indentations and protrusions alternate in rows on its surface.)
Sophia Rauch
Untitled, 2015
Digital Print
Variable
Courtesy of the artist (An abstract composition made of painted strips of material laid horizontally, with smaller strips of color arranged vertically over them in a semblance of a grid.)
Michelle Marie Marchesseault
Study for my head in Yellow, 2018
Plaster and latex on linen
48 × 36 in.
Courtesy of the artist (A painting depicting five strips of rainbow patterned ribbons in varying lengths over a pale yellow background.)
Nancy Cheairs
The Ladies, 2012
Oil on canvas
60 × 60 in.
Courtesy of the artist (A green, hilly landscape. In the foreground, three women are depicted with their backs turned. Five houses can be seen in the distance to the left, and water further on.)
Hillerbrand+Magsamen
D.I.Y. Love Seat, 2013
Video Still, single channel video
Original duration: 2:25
Courtesy of the artists (A person cutting into a couch with a circular saw. They wear a skirt, heels and protective goggles, and appear to be in a domestic setting.)
Michael E. Katz
Painted Black Couch (Left), 2015
Pigment inkjet on canvas, unique
38 × 57 in.
Courtesy of the artist (An image of a modernist black leather couch that has been painted over to produce a pattern of short, thick brushstrokes in uniform rows, conforming to the couch’s shape.)
Kenny Cole
Calling California, 2016
Acrylic on canvas
30 × 40 in.
Courtesy of the artist (Two UFOs in a heavy storm. Underneath the tractor beam emitted by one is the phone number (213) 851-4096, with arrows pointing down at a leopard, a tiger, a cougar and a bobcat in the foreground.)
Sally P Jerome
Teacher Sees a Strength in Everyone, 2017
Oil on canvas
40 × 44 in.
Courtesy of the artist (A teacher and her students rendered in gray, standing in a circle around a concentric circular pattern. Each student is connected by a floating green thread to a patterned silhouette of a muscular arm lifting a dumbbell, also arranged in a circle around them.)
Sally P Jerome
Common Adversaries, 2015
Oil on canvas
48 × 48 in.
Courtesy of the artist (A work broken into four squares, each divided diagonally to form eight triangles. In each triangle a figure interacts with figures in the other triangles via an orange patterned ribbon.)