The 303 Gallery is proud to present our third one-person exhibition of new work by Thomas Demand, which will include the artist’s four newest photographs and most recent film.
In his American premier of “Recorder”, a 35 mm film loop, Demand’s subject is an eight track reel-to-reel recorder referring to a fragment of the allegedly lost Beach Boys recording, "Smile" (1966) - remixed by Mark Nelson. The simple sound of a piano plays as the paper tape runs through a constructed paper machine replicating the activity of the film itself.
“Clearing”, Demand’s largest photograph to date, depicts a dense forest with dramatic sunlight breaking through the trees suggesting the imminent arrival of something or someone unknown. The “Clearing” image, known from the “Interludes” exhibition at the Venice Biennale this past summer, is also making its first American appearance. The second photograph, “Space Simulator”, another large scale work, is based on an exterior view of the Apollo simulator used in the 1960’s to train astronauts for the first travel into orbit. This image documents a moment in the past of a vehicle that is intended to prepare travelers for an event in the future. The construction of the simulator as an object with its large yellow panels carries formal references to deconstructivist architecture and the ideologies that accompany them.
The photograph on view that is expressly devoid of figuration or narrative is of a paper construction of a light box. The box is opened, exposing its interior, and addresses a new element – light – in Demand’s work. Beyond any pure ideas of the materials supporting the ideas in a work of art, this work is solely comprised of an image of its support – looking forward towards multi-media art and backwards towards the minimalist painting and sculpture of the 1960’s. Continuing his investigation of contemporary propaganda and images that are etched in our collective consciousness, Demand’s final photograph, “Kitchen”, is a re-creation of a photograph of Saddam Hussein’s hideaway.
This upcoming September Thomas Demand is having a major solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria and will represent Germany at the Sao Paulo Biennale in the same month. In 2003 he had one- person exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst, Denmark, the DCA Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland and in 2002 at the Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy, the Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, which traveled to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. In 2001 a one-person show of Demand’s work traveled from ArtPace, St. Antonio, Texas to the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, and SITE Sante Fe in New Mexico. Also in 2001 Demand had a one- person show at the Sprengel Museum Hanover, Hanover, Germany.