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Artist Statement
This recent work is a collection of digital photographs comprised of manipulated slide projections. Sourced from personal materials, serving as a ready-made archive, these slides have spawned more questions than answers.
I choose to work with slides. They project a depth and light that are unique to slides. They are objects, subject to time and defilement. They have a surface, collecting dust and scratches. They are anachronistic and elicit nostalgia. They are subject to exaggeration and form.
These images have undergone a process of subtraction, stripping away specifics and presenting them in a blackened, immersive space. Occasionally, there are slight intimations of space, breaking the black box. But for the most part, these images become seemingly weightless, ungrounded, lost and context-less.
My interest lies in how images are severed from their source or context, so quickly. The occasion for taking the picture and the ensuing recounting of that occasion, quickly evaporate. That leaves the image, and in this case, the slide, becoming available to manipulation.
These slides depict seaside travel and a visit to Italy. These images start as tourist snap shots and turn into disembodied abstractions. Odd affiliations occur, like a circle cut out shape overlaid a top a ship, in "Porthole." The physical shape of the paper is both providing another surface for the projection, while drawing a porthole on top of the image. The conflation of image and object is perhaps most apparent in "Cracks" and "Man Behind Cracks." Using a damaged glass slide, this diptych takes turns focusing on the surface of the slide and the image, attempting to separate the two.
I’m interested in what happens to images and our idea of images. How does our construct of family life and history change when the authoritative telling of that image is out of the picture? What kind of manipulation (intentional or otherwise) are images subject to? And if a finite understanding of images isn’t possible or even desirable, then what is our relationship to these frustrated images? Are they simply sites for misplaced nostalgia? Or are they platforms for reinvention?
This recent work is a collection of digital photographs comprised of manipulated slide projections. Sourced from personal materials, serving as a ready-made archive, these slides have spawned more questions than answers.
I choose to work with slides. They project a depth and light that are unique to slides. They are objects, subject to time and defilement. They have a surface, collecting dust and scratches. They are anachronistic and elicit nostalgia. They are subject to exaggeration and form.
These images have undergone a process of subtraction, stripping away specifics and presenting them in a blackened, immersive space. Occasionally, there are slight intimations of space, breaking the black box. But for the most part, these images become seemingly weightless, ungrounded, lost and context-less.
My interest lies in how images are severed from their source or context, so quickly. The occasion for taking the picture and the ensuing recounting of that occasion, quickly evaporate. That leaves the image, and in this case, the slide, becoming available to manipulation.
These slides depict seaside travel and a visit to Italy. These images start as tourist snap shots and turn into disembodied abstractions. Odd affiliations occur, like a circle cut out shape overlaid a top a ship, in "Porthole." The physical shape of the paper is both providing another surface for the projection, while drawing a porthole on top of the image. The conflation of image and object is perhaps most apparent in "Cracks" and "Man Behind Cracks." Using a damaged glass slide, this diptych takes turns focusing on the surface of the slide and the image, attempting to separate the two.
I’m interested in what happens to images and our idea of images. How does our construct of family life and history change when the authoritative telling of that image is out of the picture? What kind of manipulation (intentional or otherwise) are images subject to? And if a finite understanding of images isn’t possible or even desirable, then what is our relationship to these frustrated images? Are they simply sites for misplaced nostalgia? Or are they platforms for reinvention?
CV
VALERIE PIRAINO b. 1981 Kigali, Rwanda
EDUCATION
2009 M.F.A. Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, NY
2004 B.F.A. Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
“Could Not Bear the Sight of It” Contemporary Art Interventions on Critical Whiteness, Jane Addams Hull House Museum, Chicago, Illinois, 2013, forthcoming
Fore, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2012
Get it on the Record, Visceglia Gallery, Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2012
Any form may be transformed into another form. The House at Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY, 2011
The Third Party, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
Fidelity, Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2011
Collective Show, Participant, New York, NY, 2010
Usable Pasts, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2010
Arctic Book Club, EFA Project Space, New York, NY, 2009
Whitney's Biennial, C.R.E.A.M. Projects, New York, NY, 2009
Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York, NY, 2009
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
The Practice of Joy Before Death, Scaramouche, New York, NY, 2009
1st Year MFA Exhibition, Nash Building, New York, NY, 2008
Dynasty, Gallery MC, New York, NY, 2006
Keisho Art Exhibition, Aichi Prefectural Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 2004
RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
2011 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee
2009 Artist-in-residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2008 Ninah & Michael Lynne Fellowship Award, Columbia University
Visual Arts Merit Scholarship, Columbia University
Digital Media Center Fellow, Columbia University
2007 Neiman Center Fellowship, Columbia University
2006 Artist-in-residence, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel Award, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD
COLLECTIONS
The Studio Museum in Harlem
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Merjian, Ara H., “Critic’s Pick: Fore, The Studio Museum in Harlem.” Artforum.com, December 19, 2012.
Cotter, Holland. “Racial Redefinition in Progress, ‘Fore’ at Studio Museum in Harlem” New York Times, November 29, 2012
Lott, Jessica. “Alchemy of Inspiration ‘Fore’ward at The Studio Museum in Harlem.” http://blog.art21.org/2012/11/20/alchemy-of-inspiration-i-foreward-at-the-studio-museum-in-harlem/. November 20, 2012
Aletti, Vince. Goings On About Town Fore, The New Yorker, November 19, 2012.
Gopnik, Blake. “Election Rehab.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/11/09/-twenty-cultural-events-for-recovering-political-addicts.html. November 9, 2012
Haynes, Lauren, Keith, Naima, and Lax, Thomas. Fore, exhibition catalog, 2012, The Studio
Museum in Harlem
Gwinn, Elizabeth, Haynes, Lauren and Schribber, Abbe. The Bearden Project, exhibition catalog, 2012, The Studio Museum in Harlem
McCabe, Bret. “A Matter of Perception, Working through memory’s visual language in a pair of MICA exhibitions” City Paper, March 9, 2011
Ewing, John. “Usable Pasts: The Studio Museum in Harlem,” Art Lies. Fall/Winter 2010 No. 67, p. 94-95
Wade, Sarah. “Usable Pasts: Artists-in-Residence Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, and Valerie Piraino Artists in Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem 2009-2010.” http://nyccurrentseason.blogspot.com/2010/11/usable-pasts-mequitta-ahuja-lauren.html. November 4, 2010
Haber, John. “Harlem’s Usable Pasts.” http://www.haberarts.com/tag/studio-museum-in-harlem/. October 13, 2010
Wright, Cherilyn Liv. “Summer-Fall 2010 Usable Pasts: 2009-2010 Artists in Residence: Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, Valerie Piraino. The Studio Museum in Harlem July 15-October 24, 2010.” The International Review of African American Art Vol. 23 No. 2 (2010): p. 36-38
Ha, Christina, “Sunday Arts News.” Thirteen Public Media. http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/news. September 19, 2010
Wong Yap, Christine. “From New York: Usable Pasts.” http://www.artpractical.com/shotgun_review/usable_pasts/. September 20, 2010
Beckwith, Naomi, Usable Pasts, exhibition catalog, 2010, Studio Museum in Harlem
The Artist’s Voice 2009-2010 Artists in Residence In conversation with Naomi Beckwith
Aletti, Vince. “Usable Pasts: 2009-10 Artists-in-Residence Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, and Valerie Piraino,” The New Yorker, August 25, 2010
Arctic Book Club, exhibition catalog, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, 2009
Cotter, Holland, “The Practice of Joy without Death; It just wouldn’t be a party without you,” New York Times, April 17, 2009
Doran, Anne. "The Practice of Joy Before Death; It just would not be a party without you," Time Out New York, April 2009
Reisman, Sara, Dynasty, exhibition catalog, Gallery MC, 2006
VALERIE PIRAINO b. 1981 Kigali, Rwanda
EDUCATION
2009 M.F.A. Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, NY
2004 B.F.A. Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
“Could Not Bear the Sight of It” Contemporary Art Interventions on Critical Whiteness, Jane Addams Hull House Museum, Chicago, Illinois, 2013, forthcoming
Fore, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2012
Get it on the Record, Visceglia Gallery, Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2012
Any form may be transformed into another form. The House at Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY, 2011
The Third Party, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
Fidelity, Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2011
Collective Show, Participant, New York, NY, 2010
Usable Pasts, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2010
Arctic Book Club, EFA Project Space, New York, NY, 2009
Whitney's Biennial, C.R.E.A.M. Projects, New York, NY, 2009
Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York, NY, 2009
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
The Practice of Joy Before Death, Scaramouche, New York, NY, 2009
1st Year MFA Exhibition, Nash Building, New York, NY, 2008
Dynasty, Gallery MC, New York, NY, 2006
Keisho Art Exhibition, Aichi Prefectural Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 2004
RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
2011 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee
2009 Artist-in-residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2008 Ninah & Michael Lynne Fellowship Award, Columbia University
Visual Arts Merit Scholarship, Columbia University
Digital Media Center Fellow, Columbia University
2007 Neiman Center Fellowship, Columbia University
2006 Artist-in-residence, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel Award, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD
COLLECTIONS
The Studio Museum in Harlem
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Merjian, Ara H., “Critic’s Pick: Fore, The Studio Museum in Harlem.” Artforum.com, December 19, 2012.
Cotter, Holland. “Racial Redefinition in Progress, ‘Fore’ at Studio Museum in Harlem” New York Times, November 29, 2012
Lott, Jessica. “Alchemy of Inspiration ‘Fore’ward at The Studio Museum in Harlem.” http://blog.art21.org/2012/11/20/alchemy-of-inspiration-i-foreward-at-the-studio-museum-in-harlem/. November 20, 2012
Aletti, Vince. Goings On About Town Fore, The New Yorker, November 19, 2012.
Gopnik, Blake. “Election Rehab.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/11/09/-twenty-cultural-events-for-recovering-political-addicts.html. November 9, 2012
Haynes, Lauren, Keith, Naima, and Lax, Thomas. Fore, exhibition catalog, 2012, The Studio
Museum in Harlem
Gwinn, Elizabeth, Haynes, Lauren and Schribber, Abbe. The Bearden Project, exhibition catalog, 2012, The Studio Museum in Harlem
McCabe, Bret. “A Matter of Perception, Working through memory’s visual language in a pair of MICA exhibitions” City Paper, March 9, 2011
Ewing, John. “Usable Pasts: The Studio Museum in Harlem,” Art Lies. Fall/Winter 2010 No. 67, p. 94-95
Wade, Sarah. “Usable Pasts: Artists-in-Residence Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, and Valerie Piraino Artists in Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem 2009-2010.” http://nyccurrentseason.blogspot.com/2010/11/usable-pasts-mequitta-ahuja-lauren.html. November 4, 2010
Haber, John. “Harlem’s Usable Pasts.” http://www.haberarts.com/tag/studio-museum-in-harlem/. October 13, 2010
Wright, Cherilyn Liv. “Summer-Fall 2010 Usable Pasts: 2009-2010 Artists in Residence: Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, Valerie Piraino. The Studio Museum in Harlem July 15-October 24, 2010.” The International Review of African American Art Vol. 23 No. 2 (2010): p. 36-38
Ha, Christina, “Sunday Arts News.” Thirteen Public Media. http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/news. September 19, 2010
Wong Yap, Christine. “From New York: Usable Pasts.” http://www.artpractical.com/shotgun_review/usable_pasts/. September 20, 2010
Beckwith, Naomi, Usable Pasts, exhibition catalog, 2010, Studio Museum in Harlem
The Artist’s Voice 2009-2010 Artists in Residence In conversation with Naomi Beckwith
Aletti, Vince. “Usable Pasts: 2009-10 Artists-in-Residence Mequitta Ahuja, Lauren Kelley, and Valerie Piraino,” The New Yorker, August 25, 2010
Arctic Book Club, exhibition catalog, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, 2009
Cotter, Holland, “The Practice of Joy without Death; It just wouldn’t be a party without you,” New York Times, April 17, 2009
Doran, Anne. "The Practice of Joy Before Death; It just would not be a party without you," Time Out New York, April 2009
Reisman, Sara, Dynasty, exhibition catalog, Gallery MC, 2006
Wave, 2012, digital photograph.
Swell, 2012, digital photograph.
Cracks, 2012, digital photograph.
Man Behind Cracks, 2012, digital photograph.
Porthole, 2012, digital photograph.
Conjectural Reconstruction (Ringer), 2012, digital photograph.
Conjectural Reconstruction (Angled Horizon), 2012, digital photograph.
Conjectural Reconstruction (Roman Ampitheatre), 2012, digital photograph.
Conjectural Reconstructions (Reflections), 2012, digital photograph.
Perspective (Italy), 2012, digital photograph.
Conjectural Reconstruction (Forum), 2012, digital photograph.
Women on Deck Chairs, 2012, digital photograph.
Overboard, 2012, digital photograph.
Projection on Stack, 2012, digital photograph.