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[One you don't want to miss...]
March 19-20, 2004
Friday, March 19, 7pm PERFORMANCE
Saturday, March 20, 2-5pm BOOK SIGNING
Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present a weekend celebration of the seminal visual/performance/sound artist Charlemagne Palestine and the premiere launch of “Sacred Bordello” (2004, Black Dog Press), a comprehensive monograph including essays, scores, and original photos of both his performances and installations. This represents the first major publication on Charlemagne Palestine’s art. In attempting to convey the breadth of Palestine’s artistic activity, the gallery will present an installation of paintings and sculptures, a sound environment, and a rare body performance by the artist.
Born in Brooklyn in 1947, Palestine’s first musical experiences were as a cantorial singer in the synagogues of New York. By the late 1960s, he was deeply involved in the amazingly fertile New York and West Coast experimental music/art community. His first major works were legendary piano performances of epic durations, microtonal trembles and dense overtones which situated him alongside La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and others as a seminal figure of early minimalism.
In the early 1970s, Palestine increasingly extended his performances beyond the scope of music. His groundbreaking appearances, which combined violent piano playing, performance, video and installation, were considered to be among the most radical musical and performance experiences. Palestine produced a seminal body of performance-based, psychodramatic videotapes in which he ritualistically used physicality, motion and sound to achieve an outward articulation of internal states. Intense and often violently charged, these exercises are characterized by a visceral enactment of physical and psychological catharses.
Palestine’s artistic concerns have also manifested themselves in countless gallery installations. The publication of “Sacred Bordello” places particular emphasis on this aspect of Palestine’s work, which is often much less known by American audiences, especially as Palestine has lived for several years in Belgium and has exhibited primarily in Europe. His signature assemblies of often-augmented stuffed animals, scarves, and objects (collectively called “Charleworld” by the artist) convey both an unruly flamboyance and a penetrating poignancy—a duality which extends through all of Palestine’s varied activities.
The gallery installation will be open 10am-6pm on March 19th and 20th. Please call 212-680-9889 for further information.
Posted by Brian Stefans at March 9, 2004 02:38 PM | TrackBack