Annotations, striations and souvenirs, 2017
Solo Exhibition
Van Doren Waxer, New York, USA
Marking a continuation of Randall Weeks’ interest in the temporal dimensions of geographic, architectural, and civic space, the exhibition focuses on the confluence of past, present, and future, with a particular reference to archaeology and museology. In the center of the gallery will be two I-beams that each measure the artist’s body length: one is cast with sand from a pre-Columbian pyramid site, and a second is made from the brick-dust of a modern building. A metallic-grout cast of a tin roof and a series of hanging wall sculptures also alludes to the relationship of materials to the body, mental and topographical landscapes, and architecture. Brass structural elements hold wind-eroded bricks alongside layered sandblasted posters depicting ancient archaeological sites in Peru – sand dunes, pyramids, burial grounds – upon which the cities have been built and urbanized. Maintaining his ongoing use of found and transformed materials, also on view is a selection of objects sourced from these archaeological sites cast in copper. Transformed from abandoned detritus into permanent objects and presented in vitrines, these works elicit a museological gaze that disrupts the distinction between debris, artifact, and art object. Randall Weeks’ artistic practice is aligned with art historical movements such as Arte Povera, Minimalism, and Constructivism, particularly in their intersection with a conceptual mark surrounding humanity and its condensation.