Ellie Krakow Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
I am engaged with how photographs inform, reform and deform physical objects. I impose photography’s flattening and framing constraints on my sculptures and I make photographs that disorient, abstract or take the place of objects. Dealing explicitly with the relationship between the front and the back, my sculptures draw attention to what lies outside or behind the frame. Alternately, the ‘blank’ spaces I create with language and silhouettes are designated for imagination and expand what falls inside the frame. By activating the imagination I am able to make pieces in which the body seems present and absent at once. To this end, I am inspired by various approaches to making stand-ins, from death markers such as tombstones or death masks to portraiture and set design. Occasionally I over-load images with references to encourage an ongoing recognition process, a strategy that for me thickens flat images as in Untitled (Green Reclining) in which Greek sculpture, Duchamp’s “Etant Donnes”, Gonzalez Torres’ bed billboard and the movie “Goldfinger” are all referred to.
I am engaged with how photographs inform, reform and deform physical objects. I impose photography’s flattening and framing constraints on my sculptures and I make photographs that disorient, abstract or take the place of objects. Dealing explicitly with the relationship between the front and the back, my sculptures draw attention to what lies outside or behind the frame. Alternately, the ‘blank’ spaces I create with language and silhouettes are designated for imagination and expand what falls inside the frame. By activating the imagination I am able to make pieces in which the body seems present and absent at once. To this end, I am inspired by various approaches to making stand-ins, from death markers such as tombstones or death masks to portraiture and set design. Occasionally I over-load images with references to encourage an ongoing recognition process, a strategy that for me thickens flat images as in Untitled (Green Reclining) in which Greek sculpture, Duchamp’s “Etant Donnes”, Gonzalez Torres’ bed billboard and the movie “Goldfinger” are all referred to.
CV
EDUCATION
2010
MFA Hunter College
2008
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
2006
BA Prescott College (2005-6), The Rhode Island School of Design (2002-3), and Yale University (1997-8)
EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2010
“MFA Thesis Show”, Hunter College/Times Square Gallery, New York, NY
“Screening Program”, MMX Open Art Venue, Berlin, Germany
“Wherever: Small Works in a Portable Room”, various sites, Hunter College, New York, NY
“Transportable Mind”, AREA, San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Site Unseen”, The Project Space, Royal College of Art, London, England
“Dance Ghost”, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY
2009
“Projections”, curated by Cleopatra’s, screened at Independent Curators International, New York, NADA Art Fair, Miami, and Autocenter, Berlin
“Layout”, Gallery West, Suffolk Community College, Long Island, NY
“A Very Loud Silence”, Le Flash, Atlanta, GA
“Time-Based”, Softbox, Queens, NY
“Shirin Neshat Master Class Screening”, Lang Auditorium, Hunter College, New York, NY
“MAs Select MFAs”, Times Square Gallery, New York, NY
“From Africa to America”, Iona College Council on the Arts, New Rochelle, NY
“North American Graduate Art Survey”, Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2008
“It’s Not Easy”, Exit Art, New York, NY
“Altered States”, Francis Lewis Gallery, Queens, NY
2005
“Open Show”, juried by Wesley Jessup, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“Face Me”, The 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA
2004
“Open Show”, juried by James Elaine, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“RealLaugh/FakeLaugh”, The 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA
2003
“Open Show”, juried by Karin Higa, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“The Paradox of Value”, curated by Andrae Gonzalo, Forget It Jake Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Faculty and Staff Show”, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, MI
HONORS
2010
Performer, “Mirror Piece I (reconfigured)” by Joan Jonas, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
2009
Yaddo Fellowship, Saratoga Springs, NY
Paul Pfeiffer Zabar Residency, Hunter College, New York, NY
Shirin Neshat Master Class, Hunter College, New York, NY
Panelist, Contemporary Artists’ Discussion, African Burial Ground, New York, NY
Featured Artist, “A Kantian Critique of Modernism”, by Joachim Pissarro & David Carrier, New York Studio School
2008
Graf Travel Grant, Hunter College, New York, NY, for research trip to Egypt
2005
Award for Distinction, Gallery 825 Open Show, Los Angeles, CA
2001
Sudler Fund Project Grant, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Penland School of Crafts, Ceramic Concentration, Penland, NC
1998
Bill T. Jones Dance Workshop, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
“Constantine the Great and the Missing Middle”, Vector, Issue 3
2009
“Adiran Piper’s Rationality and the Structure of the Self” by Joachim Pissarro, ArtForum, December Issue
“Father/Fodder”, Drain Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture, Cold Issue
EDUCATION
2010
MFA Hunter College
2008
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
2006
BA Prescott College (2005-6), The Rhode Island School of Design (2002-3), and Yale University (1997-8)
EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2010
“MFA Thesis Show”, Hunter College/Times Square Gallery, New York, NY
“Screening Program”, MMX Open Art Venue, Berlin, Germany
“Wherever: Small Works in a Portable Room”, various sites, Hunter College, New York, NY
“Transportable Mind”, AREA, San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Site Unseen”, The Project Space, Royal College of Art, London, England
“Dance Ghost”, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY
2009
“Projections”, curated by Cleopatra’s, screened at Independent Curators International, New York, NADA Art Fair, Miami, and Autocenter, Berlin
“Layout”, Gallery West, Suffolk Community College, Long Island, NY
“A Very Loud Silence”, Le Flash, Atlanta, GA
“Time-Based”, Softbox, Queens, NY
“Shirin Neshat Master Class Screening”, Lang Auditorium, Hunter College, New York, NY
“MAs Select MFAs”, Times Square Gallery, New York, NY
“From Africa to America”, Iona College Council on the Arts, New Rochelle, NY
“North American Graduate Art Survey”, Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2008
“It’s Not Easy”, Exit Art, New York, NY
“Altered States”, Francis Lewis Gallery, Queens, NY
2005
“Open Show”, juried by Wesley Jessup, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“Face Me”, The 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA
2004
“Open Show”, juried by James Elaine, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“RealLaugh/FakeLaugh”, The 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA
2003
“Open Show”, juried by Karin Higa, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
“The Paradox of Value”, curated by Andrae Gonzalo, Forget It Jake Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Faculty and Staff Show”, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, MI
HONORS
2010
Performer, “Mirror Piece I (reconfigured)” by Joan Jonas, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
2009
Yaddo Fellowship, Saratoga Springs, NY
Paul Pfeiffer Zabar Residency, Hunter College, New York, NY
Shirin Neshat Master Class, Hunter College, New York, NY
Panelist, Contemporary Artists’ Discussion, African Burial Ground, New York, NY
Featured Artist, “A Kantian Critique of Modernism”, by Joachim Pissarro & David Carrier, New York Studio School
2008
Graf Travel Grant, Hunter College, New York, NY, for research trip to Egypt
2005
Award for Distinction, Gallery 825 Open Show, Los Angeles, CA
2001
Sudler Fund Project Grant, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Penland School of Crafts, Ceramic Concentration, Penland, NC
1998
Bill T. Jones Dance Workshop, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
“Constantine the Great and the Missing Middle”, Vector, Issue 3
2009
“Adiran Piper’s Rationality and the Structure of the Self” by Joachim Pissarro, ArtForum, December Issue
“Father/Fodder”, Drain Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture, Cold Issue
Installation view, Hunter College/Times Square Gallery, 2010.
Nude with Hair from Behind (view 1), aqua-resin, fiberglass, high-gloss enamel, wood, bolts, sandbags, 90”x62”x35”, 2010.
Nude with Hair from Behind (detail), 2010.
Nude with Hair from Behind (view 2), aqua-resin, fiberglass, high-gloss enamel, wood, bolts, sandbags, 90”x62”x35”, 2010.
Nude with Hair from Behind (detail), 2010.
Untitled (Green Reclining), c-print, 63”x80”, 2010.
Untitled (Grey Box), c-print, 18”x22”, 2010.
Shine (four stills), 5-min single channel video, 2009. The video is narrated by an in-camera voice that intersperses a romance story and lighting cues: “(Set the lights to human height.)...(Bring the lights into the shot.) Two lovers enter….Cut to traverse the country. (Aim the lights down.) Light falls on a car window. The car goes over a mountain and arrives at the coast. (Point the lights at the screen.) The lovers wear clothes that match the sky. They face the water. Tall trees on either side of them frame the shot.”
Shine (four stills), 5-min single channel video, 2009. Narration: “The shot is a close up of the lovers’ held hands. The shot widens. Domestic sound hushes. Domestic light dims. (Turn the lights off.) The lovers learn to see in the dark. Touch becomes a surface the lovers polish. It shines. None-the-less accumulation accumulates… ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ plays on the kitchen radio…(Turn the lights to face the camera.) The lovers lie side-by-side, facing up. (Remove the umbrellas.) The end begins.”
Image-Object Relation, pedestals, inkjet print, unprocessed glossy photo-paper, light fixture, light bulb, each pedestal 48”x12”x12”, each photo 12”x12”, 2009-10.
Image-Object Relation (detail), inkjet print (12”x12”), pedestal, 2009-10.
Image-Object Relation (detail), unprocessed glossy photo-paper (12”x12”), light, pedestal, 2009-10.
Man in Tomb, inkjet print, 64”x81”, 2009-10.
Image of a Man as Seen by an Unfamiliar Witness, glossy photograph, 8”x10”, 2009.
Concrete Example (Catalysis IV Memorialized) (view 1), cast concrete, 14.5”x14”x7”, 2008.
Concrete Example (Catalysis IV Memorialized) (view 2), cast concrete, 14.5”x14”x7”, 2008.
Stone Smile, plaster, 14”x12”x10”, 2008.
Tongue in Hand, plaster, paint, 3”x3.5”x2”, 2009.
Balancing Apparatus, pedestal, wood, 12"x40"x58”, 2010.
Excerpt, c-print, 16”x24”, 2010.