September 09 – November 26, 2011

Lora Reynolds Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition by Colby Bird, Dust Breeds Contempt.

The works in this exhibition seek to establish an equivalence between three distinct phases of their own existence: the creation of the artwork, the display of the artwork, and the adaptation and ageing that the artwork undergoes in the hands of the eventual owner. These phases are presented as non-hierarchical--the aesthetic and contextual changes of the works during each phase are of equal importance.

Bird has authored a specific combination of physical variations to accompany each work in the exhibition. These variances prevent the works from ever truly being static objects, and disallow any definitive formal or conceptual solution, thus equalizing the labor of the work's creation and the labor of the work's subsequent alteration. The concept of "measureable efforts" is central to Bird's sculptural practice, and relics of this effort (scuffs, dust, cuts, etc) imbue the works with existentially essential concepts such as logic, balance, and gravity.

Bird has chosen to display only a single photograph in the exhibition space, switched out daily, or at the viewers' request, from a cache of seven images. The shelved and angled presentation of the photos allows for the accumulation of dust on the surface of the glass, and is a nod to the Man Ray photograph Dust Breeding, in which he photographed the gathering of dust on a pane of glass that was later used in Duchamp's The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même, 1915-1923). This relationship of image to object, and the documentation of a sculptural work in progress made into an iconic artwork itself, holds special significance for Bird; the relationship between these two artworks has served as both a model and inspiration for his work.

Colby Bird was born in Austin, Texas and currently lives and works in New York. He is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art. Bird's work will also be on view at Arthouse at the Jones Center, as part of the group exhibition organized by the Aspen Art Museum titled: ‘The Anxiety of Photography,' up through December 30, 2011.