October 06 – November 17, 2007
Opening reception: October 6, 6–8 pm
Artist Talk: 6:30 pm
Lora Reynolds Gallery is pleased to present Reverberations, curated by Regine Basha. This exhibition brings together the work of Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello, two internationally renowned artists who have each developed an extensive body of visual and sound work based on active listening. The show will include recent paintings, sculpture, sound, film, prints and photographs, generating a dialogue between the two artists. Roden and Vitiello are of the same generation and have long admired one another's work, but have not previously been shown together in such depth. This exhibition considers how these artists have contributed significantly to the rich intersection of musical and visual composition, a legacy held steadfast by the late John Cage.
Both artists have roots in '80s punk rock, but their trajectories since have led to their own distinct approaches to sound and art making. Roden's working process uses various forms of specific notation such as words from a book, musical scores, astronomical charts and city maps and translates them through self-invented systems which then guide the process of painting, drawing, sculpture, and sound composition. These systems, rigid in terms of their parameters and rules, are also receptive to the artist's intuitive decisions that may deviate from this formal skeleton, generating loosely-based abstractions. This exhibition will feature new paintings, a ceramic work based on a Brian Eno album, a new silent film animation, and a new interactive LP and turntable.
Stephen Vitiello is an electronic musician and media artist who transforms incidental atmospheric noises, drawn mainly from field recordings, into mesmerizing soundscapes. He became widely known in art circuits when he was awarded a studio on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center's Tower One, and where, using home-built microphones, he recorded the cracking noises of the building swaying. Interested in "small sounds" his work stretches the boundaries of listening and alters our perception of the surrounding environment. The gallery will be presenting two new graphic scores as well as the 6-speaker audio work, Dolly Ascending (featuring a slowed-down Dolly Parton singing "Stairway to Heaven"), and a selection of his Speaker Drawings. Also on view will be photographs made during a residency at The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.
"Sound Art" usually designates work that is between music and art, be it sonic or "silent." Roden and Vitiello have both been performing in the international sound art circuit, and are artists in the broader sense of the term – lending a consideration to art making that transgresses genres and categories. The two artists will also collaborate on a work for the first time specifically for The Marfa Sessions curated by Regine Basha, Rebecca Gates and Lucy Raven with Ballroom Marfa in the fall of 2008.
Steve Roden has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally including in Italy, France, Japan, Bulgaria, Slovenia, England, Norway and Brazil. Recent projects include an audio work commissioned for the James Turrell skyspace at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, a solo show of paintings at Suzanne Vielmetter, Berlin and a new commission for the 6th Mercosur Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He performs live worldwide and has released over 20 CDs of audio works. For more see: www.inbetweennoise.com.
Stephen Vitiello's works have been presented internationally, including the 2006 Biennale of Sydney, the 2002 Whitney Biennial, and Yanomami: Spirit of the Forest, at The Cartier Foundation. Recent solo exhibitions include Dogs in the Yard, Birds Overheadat the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia , Night Chatter at the Weathersppon Art Gallery as well as a large-scale outdoor installation at Broadgate Arena, London. Over the last 18 years, Vitiello has performed worldwide and has collaborated with numerous musicians, visual and performing artists including Scanner, Pauline Oliveros, Andrew Deutsch, Julie Mehretu, Tony Oursler, Yasunao Ton? and Nam June Paik. He has also been an invited guest performer at AMODA (Austin Museum of Digital Art) in 2006. Stephen Vitiello is currently Assistant Professor of Kinetic Imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). For more see: www.stephenvitiello.com.
Both artists are featured in the current show, Between Thought and Sound: Graphic Notation in Contemporary Music at The Kitchen, NYC.
Regine Basha is an independent curator, writer currently based in Austin, Texas. Recent projects include exhibitions of Daniel Bozhkov, Dario Robleto & Jeremy Blake, and the group show on sound, Treble at Sculpture Center, New York. Currently she is a participating curator in Unitednationsplaza, an experimental art school based in Berlin. From 2003-2007 Basha was Adjunct and Consulting Curator at Arthouse at the Jones Center. She is also co-founder with Laurence Miller of Fluent~Collaborative, a contemporary art initiative and newsletter based in Austin. She has contributed to Might Be Good, Art Papers, Cabinet, Art Lies!, Modern Painters, Trans, and Performance Art Journal.