White Room: David Berezin

March 18–April 22, 2017
Three works installed on two adjacent walls: two prints, Juror and Free Kevin, on the left, and a video, Commercials, playing on a small, flat screen to the right.

David Berezin, installation view, 2017

Four works installed along three adjacent walls. From left to right: Pins, Juror, Free Kevin, and Commercials.

David Berezin, installation view, 2017

Three prints installed along two adjacent walls. On the left, Pins, and on the right, Juror and Free Kevin. Pins is significantly smaller than the others and depicts a sparse arrangement of push pins.

David Berezin, installation view, 2017

Four works installed on three adjacent walls. Signatures plays on a flat television on the left wall, while Pins is installed on the back wall and Juror and Free Kevin are installed to the right.

David Berezin, installation view, 2017

A sparse composition, depicting seven push pins in different colors. A blue pin holds up a small yellow bumper sticker with the words “FREE KEVIN” on it in all caps.

David Berezin

Free Kevin, 2016

Pigment print

28 × 42 inches

Edition of 4

Five colored push pins on a wall. Small holes are visible from where other pins were once stuck into the wall.

David Berezin

Pins, 2016

Pigment print

13 × 19 inches

Edition of 4

Thirteen pins of different colors, sparsely arranged on a wall. A yellow pin holds up a partially folded jury summons.

David Berezin

Juror, 2016

Pigment print

28 × 42 inches

Edition of 4

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to present the first New York solo exhibition by David Berezin. Berezin’s exhibition comprises of recent photographic and video works.

Berezin’s digital renderings have a Trompe-l’œil effect.  Colorful pushpins frame collected keepsakes on a wall.  The elements reveal a narrative about the collector; a yellow bumper sticker reads ‘FREE KEVIN’, the mantra of a movement protesting the incarceration of a young hacker in the early 90; a jury summons is addressed to a former Imperial Wizard of the KKK. In these works the artist’s interest lies in combining a decidedly mundane wall space with highly specific and political references.

Berezin’s videos are made by collaging existing commercials, and by animating the signatures of famous and historical figures onto fictional production companies.  Each is created by treating 20+ clips with an overarching rule/logic. For Commercials, Berezin has simply added a laugh track, highlighting the painful archetypes the commercials fill and assumptions each have about its viewers.  In Signatures, Berezin creates production ‘bumpers’ for a wide swath of individuals without their own production companies, asking the viewer to figure out the difference between a film made by Mary Wollstonecraft vs the kind of film that would be made by Tipper Gore.  Both works complicate existing genres of media (commercials and production credits) exposing the strangeness in these banalities.

View the videos from the exhibition here:

Commercials

Signatures

David Berezin (b.1985, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.  He has exhibited work at Sculpture Center, New York; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco; and Seventeen, London.

For further information about this exhibition contact: info@whitecolumns.org

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday / Noon – 6pm.

White Columns

320 West 13th Street

New York NY 10014

212-924-4212

www.whitecolumns.org

Checklist

Three works installed on two adjacent walls: two prints, Juror and Free Kevin, on the left, and a video, Commercials, playing on a small, flat screen to the right.
Four works installed along three adjacent walls. From left to right: Pins, Juror, Free Kevin, and Commercials.
Three prints installed along two adjacent walls. On the left, Pins, and on the right, Juror and Free Kevin. Pins is significantly smaller than the others and depicts a sparse arrangement of push pins.
Four works installed on three adjacent walls. Signatures plays on a flat television on the left wall, while Pins is installed on the back wall and Juror and Free Kevin are installed to the right.
A sparse composition, depicting seven push pins in different colors. A blue pin holds up a small yellow bumper sticker with the words “FREE KEVIN” on it in all caps.
Five colored push pins on a wall. Small holes are visible from where other pins were once stuck into the wall.
Thirteen pins of different colors, sparsely arranged on a wall. A yellow pin holds up a partially folded jury summons.

David Berezin, installation view, 2017 (Three works installed on two adjacent walls: two prints, Juror and Free Kevin, on the left, and a video, Commercials, playing on a small, flat screen to the right.)

David Berezin, installation view, 2017 (Four works installed along three adjacent walls. From left to right: Pins, Juror, Free Kevin, and Commercials.)

David Berezin, installation view, 2017 (Three prints installed along two adjacent walls. On the left, Pins, and on the right, Juror and Free Kevin. Pins is significantly smaller than the others and depicts a sparse arrangement of push pins.)

David Berezin, installation view, 2017 (Four works installed on three adjacent walls. Signatures plays on a flat television on the left wall, while Pins is installed on the back wall and Juror and Free Kevin are installed to the right.)

David Berezin Free Kevin, 2016 Pigment print 28 × 42 inches Edition of 4 (A sparse composition, depicting seven push pins in different colors. A blue pin holds up a small yellow bumper sticker with the words “FREE KEVIN” on it in all caps.)

David Berezin Pins, 2016 Pigment print 13 × 19 inches Edition of 4 (Five colored push pins on a wall. Small holes are visible from where other pins were once stuck into the wall.)

David Berezin Juror, 2016 Pigment print 28 × 42 inches Edition of 4 (Thirteen pins of different colors, sparsely arranged on a wall. A yellow pin holds up a partially folded jury summons.)