Everything vs. Nothing

Franklin Parrasch Gallery is pleased to present Everything vs. Nothing, the gallery's second in an ongoing series of exhibitions addressing evolution-based themes. Ways in which information is contextualized, memories formed, and perceptions developed are expressed in the works of this diverse group of artists including: Rita Ackermann, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, MK Guth, Jenny Holzer, Jutta Koether, Chloe Piene, Ian Pedigo, Alexis Rockman, and Ed Ruscha.

When viewed collectively, the diversity of the work by these ten artists – which includes sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation – is designed to establish a framework for the viewer to embrace the show's overriding focus on evolution and natural selection.

The predicament of dealing with the process of selection from the midst of chaos, is itself as abstract as "everything" and "nothing." For her 2007 installation the way I see you, the way you see me," MK Guth invited viewers at the Rio de Janeiro site to write their opinions about Americans, on multi-colored ribbons. Guth wove and braided the ribbons into hundreds of feet of artificial hair that cascades from ceiling to floor. The performative nature in which Guth selected content creates, as curator Suzanne Hudson describes, "space for articulation of intention. Although the active performances are temporary, the active results linger… crossing make-believe with the all too real social and political disappointment."

What both grounds and propels decision-making and selection are the desires, wants, and instinctual needs that seek fulfillment. Rita Ackermann's 1994 drawing Spiritualized II: Do You Want Some Water? depicts two young woman in a bathroom intimately sharing a bottle. The nature of the bond portrayed in their relationship serves as a catalyst for emotional selection and survival. Choices that are made, or are not made, and how they are selected, connect with the processes of developing and honing instincts.

The seemingly random nature of circumstances and scenarios that present choices and elicit selection are at the core of the dichotomy the pieces in this show address. The title itself Everything vs. Nothing (appropriated from an Ed Ruscha drawing of the same name) is a euphemism for the infinite variations from which natural selection is derived. Links and associations referenced in these works establish a semblance of order as the artists themselves grapple with infinite choices.

Everything vs. Nothing

mit Rita Ackermann, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, MK Guth, Jenny Holzer, Jutta Koether, Chloe Piene, Ian Pedigo, Alexis Rockman, Ed Ruscha