NEW YORK, Nyehaus is pleased to present sculpture by Tim Hawkinson made between 1993 and 2000. Concurrently, PaceWildenstein will present Tim Hawkinson: How Man is Knit, on view from May 3 through June 9, 2007 at 545 West 22nd Street.
A latex balloon self-portrait, (Balloon Self-Portrait #4), created by shaving every hair from his body and a latex mold coating his skin is turned inside out and inflated; hanging like a sail above a Shoji screen imprinted with a magnificent three-masted warship forged by assembling sheets of paper with the pastel rubbings of the wooden grain from the artist’s porch (Crow’s Nest); an aluminum mermaid swims along the side of the ship; its form shaped by the space between the artist’s legs (The Fin Within); a Cronenbergian pirate gun constructed from bread dough (Gun); a topographical map realized by photographing the diminishing water levels as the artist bathes forged into a green styrofoam island (Prototype for Pentacost), a human skeleton fashioned from dog chew toys whistles at you as you pass by (Penitent); an inflated first mate accomplishes his look-out choirs as he rises through a basketball hoop / crow’s nest (Fathead); and finally, a mop that verbally abuses you with a screeching mechanical voice rather than washing the decks (Ranting Mop Head.) These are the many personas of Tim Hawkinson whose work full frontally assaults the essence of self-portraiture. His body is a vessel, as the exhibition space becomes his ship. The exhibition will be accompanied by a limited-edition artist’s book that will include images of the works on view with an essay by Steve Erickson.
A latex balloon self-portrait, (Balloon Self-Portrait #4), created by shaving every hair from his body and a latex mold coating his skin is turned inside out and inflated; hanging like a sail above a Shoji screen imprinted with a magnificent three-masted warship forged by assembling sheets of paper with the pastel rubbings of the wooden grain from the artist’s porch (Crow’s Nest); an aluminum mermaid swims along the side of the ship; its form shaped by the space between the artist’s legs (The Fin Within); a Cronenbergian pirate gun constructed from bread dough (Gun); a topographical map realized by photographing the diminishing water levels as the artist bathes forged into a green styrofoam island (Prototype for Pentacost), a human skeleton fashioned from dog chew toys whistles at you as you pass by (Penitent); an inflated first mate accomplishes his look-out choirs as he rises through a basketball hoop / crow’s nest (Fathead); and finally, a mop that verbally abuses you with a screeching mechanical voice rather than washing the decks (Ranting Mop Head.) These are the many personas of Tim Hawkinson whose work full frontally assaults the essence of self-portraiture. His body is a vessel, as the exhibition space becomes his ship. The exhibition will be accompanied by a limited-edition artist’s book that will include images of the works on view with an essay by Steve Erickson.
