The New Orleans Prospect 1 Photo Essay, Part 1

by Art Fag City on December 22, 2008 · 2 comments Events

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Mark Bradford, Mithra (2008), Caffin Avenue at N. Miro Street, Lower 9th Ward, All photographs AFC

Here’s a nice surprise:  My photographs tell me the art work at the New Orleans Prospect 1 Biennial is even better than I remembered.  I hadn’t recalled being overly excited about Mark Bradford’s Arc for example, but the image above reminded me how much I enjoyed the gritty look of these recycled boards, even if the piece is a rather straight forward response to Katrina.  Over the next two days I’ll be posting images I took at Prospect 1 with commentary.  Be forwarned: There’s a lot of images to follow.

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Mark Bradford, Mithra (2008), Caffin Avenue at N. Miro Street, Lower 9th Ward

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Leandro Ehrlich, Too Late For Help (2008), Installation view, Lower 9th Ward

I wasn’t overly taken with this piece as I saw it in reproductions — it seemed a little too theatre-y for my tastes — but in person I was very taken with how emotive the sky was in this piece.  The gray cast of the New Orleans sky that day made the landscape feel even more barren and desolate than it already was.  More photographs after the jump

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Ghada Amer, Happy Ever After (2005), Installation view, Lower 9th Ward

Roses were supposed to grow over this wire sculpture reading Happy Ever After, but they didn’t.  I suppose one could add that failure to the content of the piece, but it wasn’t intended, and wasn’t very interesting either way.

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Sebastian Preece, Intervention for a Block in the Lower Ninth Ward, 2008 Installation view, Tekrema Center, Lower 9th Ward

Chilean artist Sebastián Preece excavated the foundation of a destroyed Lower Ninth Ward house and transplanted it in the floor and on the shelves of an abandoned shop.   An elegant and simple gesture, the act suggests that for all the  power of Hurricane Katrina, the strength of human will remains unmatched.
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Sebastian Preece, Intervention for a Block in the Lower Ninth Ward, 2008 Installation view, Tekrema Center, Lower 9th Ward

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Sebastian Preece, Intervention for a Block in the Lower Ninth Ward, 2008 Installation view, Tekrema Center, Lower 9th Ward

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Sebastian Preece, Intervention for a Block in the Lower Ninth Ward, 2008 Installation view, Tekrema Center, Lower 9th Ward

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Miguel Palma, Rescue Games, 2008, 18×10,5×4 m, Metal structures, wood, electric and mechanical devices, electronic system, water, mini house kits.

Portuguese artist Miguel Palma modifies a Higgins boat manufactured during the 2nd World War to house a small motorized wave pool on top of the boat.  The scoffolding structure sways with the boat at times, mimicking the uneasy feeling that lingers in the neighborhood.   As Rescue Games suggests, deliverence does not necessarily calm the effects of violence be it natural or man made.

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Miguel Palma, Rescue Games, 2008, 18×10,5×4 m, Metal structures, wood, electric and mechanical devices, electronic system, water, mini house kits.

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