Civic Center, New York
Carey Denniston
Landmark
Kansas GalleryKANSAS is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by Carey Denniston. Opening October 25, the exhibition will run through December 20, 2014. The act of recording produces a singular and immediate gaze. To impress, transfer, mark or index, calms and underscores an anxiety about loss. Not a personal loss, but one that exists in an ocean wave, in matter exercising its potential to change form. It is long-form looking - to focus on a thing until it exceeds its surface - suggesting an escape to a hyper-real via the real. Lucid Still (Chill) is a video portrait of a young girl recorded during a Skype conversation. Her receptive face reflects changes in the bright sky and a song is heard distantly, with static. She flickers between still and restless, most notable in subtle movement of her mouth and cheeks. The short video forms an odd relationship between a suburban 10 year old, a 1960's soul hit and a sunny day. Untitled (Mats) are a composition of nine sculptures cast from used car floor mats. The casts combine crushed seashell and dyed plaster, and replicate the pattern and worn texture of the original found objects. The height is scaled upwards of nine inches - an extruded form that resembles a tablet, tombstone or monument. Record Volume is a dual 16mm film installation of a waterfall. The camera's point-of-view scales the cataract on a vertical plane, nodding yes and no. The falls take a great and rapid plunge, but on film the scale creates an illusory slowness. The two projectors make collective, mechanized sounds that are akin to - and substitute for - the water falling. Each work explores fracture, overlay, and indexical mark-making. While they differ in material and narrative, they have this in common: muscle, tilt, groove and pile. Carey Denniston (b. 1981, Oregon) lives in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College in 2012 and a BA from the University of Washington in 2003. Her work was recently shown at KANSAS, NY; 143 Reade Street, NY; Hundred Forsyth, NY; Denny Gallery, NY and New Wight Biennial 2012, Los Angeles. She recently attended the Coast Time Residency in Oregon, where much of the show's materials were gathered She was also awarded exhibition assistance from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant program.