Thursday, May 17, 2012

Alan Belcher | _________.jpg




25 Years of Talent, curated by Michelle Grabner for the Marianne Boesky Gallery, seems to use the David Robbin's series of portraits titled Talent, as a framework for the exhibition. The show features Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, and others from the icon 1986 series.

The one Torontonian in the exhibition is Alan Belcher, who appears in the top right hand corner of Talent. Once active and prolific, Belcher has been concentrating on writing and other activities in the past decade. His CV lists his last solo exhibition as taking place in 1999. I ran into him (at a grocery store) about a decade ago and he remarked that, after being turned down for yet another grant, he was never going to make art again. However, whereas most of the works in the exhibition are older (with a few pieces from last year), the only works dated 2012 are by Belcher. They include the below ceramic multiple of the ubiquitous broken jpeg image, which is titled "______.jpg". Fabricated in China, the piece is available in an edition of 125 signed and dated copies. Belcher also repurposes the edition as a remake of Robbin's photo (bottom image). The show runs until June 16th.

The works are available, direct from the artist, I believe, on Ebay, here.




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