Where were we? On the edge of the desert? No, the red bats aren’t the issue right now, dealing with the eyeball slicing and not really being able to see the e.mails let alone go see the things the e.mails have been telling us about or inviting us to is the thing. Normal service, whatever that might be, should be resuming any moment now. Of course normal service in terms of art does not include just jetting off to Venice and the Biennale at the drop of any kind of hat like most of the galleries and art publicists seem to think is the norm. No we’re not around to meet you for breakfast next week, no we will not be going to your private view or your opening party, no we’re not going to covering your show, hell, catching the 55 bus from Hackney to Cork Street is tough enough! – “Hey Sean, See you tomorrow in Venice!” she said, No! Which diamond encrusted planet are most of you people on? Art apparently is more of a middle class sport than ever and here we are, jokers to the left, to the right and no going to shows on my own doorstep yet let along overseas until things settle down – overseas being south of the river of course – really want to go see Sam Cottington’s new installation and interactive readymades over at London Performance Studios, that is about as far as we’re going in the next few weeks, not quite ready to make the Brushes With Greatness opening here on the Eastside tonight (almost ready to be back out there, almost!), please stop assuming we can make breakfast in Venice and get in the real world, if art ever in the real world? Although if we were to be over there at the Biennale then Jeffrey Gibson’s ‘the space in which to place me’ would surely be one of the things to see. We do rather like the powerful colour and the positive forms of Mr Gibson around here…
“Jeffrey Gibson: ‘the space in which to place me’ opens on Saturday 20th April at the Venice Biennale – The United States Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia presents a multidisciplinary exhibition by Jeffrey Gibson. ‘the space in which to place me’, engages concepts that have shaped the artist’s practice over his 20-year career. Bringing together sculpture, multimedia paintings, paintings on paper, and video, the exhibition explores the dimensions of collective and individual identity and the forces that shape its perception across time.
The 2024 U.S. Pavilion is presented by Portland Art Museum in Oregon and SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Pavilion is commissioned by Kathleen Ash-Milby, Curator of Native American Art at the Portland Art Museum and a member of the Navajo Nation; Louis Grachos, Phillips Executive Director of SITE Santa Fe; and Abigail Winograd, independent curator. The exhibition is curated by Winograd and Ash-Milby, who is the first Native curator to organise a U.S. Pavilion. Gibson joins an esteemed group of contemporary artists who have represented the United States on the Biennale Arte’s global stage and, as a member of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, he is the first Indigenous artist to represent the country with a solo exhibition”.
Installation view of “the space in which to place me” (Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition for the United States Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia), April 20th – November 24th, 2024. Photographs by Timothy Schenck and blatantly stolen by us from Stephen Friedman Gallery’s social media feed…
Previous Jeffrey Gibson coverage on these pages
THE ORGAN 