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Chris Curreri, Pradeep Dalal, Moyra Davey, Bracha L. Ettinger, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Alair Gomes, Hervé Guibert, William E. Jones, Catherine Lord, Ulrike Müller, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jason Simon, Dayanita Singh

Compassionate Protocols, curated by Moyra Davey and Jason Simon

Opening: Thursday, January 12, 6–8pm

January 12 – February 19, 2017

A photograph of two large vertical artworks. On the left the canvas is yellow at the bottom and more orange near the top. There are lines in silver, green, and red intersected with black. The work on the right has an orange and purple background with silver, red, and yellow lines over and throughout.

Hadi Fallahpisheh, Usually (left) and Hadji SadAli (right), 2016, marker, flashlight on archival C-print, prayer beads, each 60 x 32 inches (152.4 x 81.3 cm)

A photograph framed in white on a skinny white wall. The small black and white photograph, 1/4 the size of the frame, seems like two lips smacking against one another.

Chris Curreri, Kiss Portfolio, #1, 2016. A set of 8 gelatin silver prints, 15 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches (39.4 x 34.3 cm). Edition of 3, with 2 APs.

A round cream-colored table covered with the items described in the artwork's caption. They are layered upon one another, some invisible beneath piles of paper.

Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Studio Work (excerpt), 2010–11. Various material from artist’s studio: Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, original 1958 edition with notes and pages removed; Mapplethorpe by Patricia Morrisroe, with found signed photograph from Fire Island Pines, 1995; 6 x 8 inch digital c-print work-prints from Studio Museum residency, 2010-11; 8 1/2 x 11 inch color laser work-prints from Studio Museum residency, 2010-11; unsolicited letter and bondage photographs addressed to the artist, 2011; Broderie Anglaise by Violet Trefusis, originally published 1935, 1992 edition; Paul Outerbridge Jr, monograph by Schirmer/Mosel, 1996; FIRE!! A Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists, originally published 1926, contemporary reproduction. Dimensions variable.

A set of four prints that are on a white shelf, leaning against a white wall.

Pradeep Dalal, Samagri 1–4, 2016. Digital c-print on aluminum plate, 16 x 12 3/4 inches (40.6 x 32.4 cm)

A black and white photograph framed by a cream matte. The photograph is a person with their head down, on a desk, with light streaming through above their shoulders.

Hervé Guibert, Sienne, 1979. Vintage silver gelatin print. Image size: 6 1/2 x 10 inches (16.5 x 25.4 cm); paper size: 7 3/4 x 11 5/8 inches (19.7 x 29.5 cm (paper size).

A black and white photograph in a landscape orientation. It is framed by a cream matte. The image itself is of a desk with an open notebook at left, a small equestrian figure in the background, and a framed photograph to the left of the figure. There are also 2 pads of white paper on the desk, one at right in the foreground and the other in the background.

Hervé Guibert, Le Table de Travail, 1989. Vintage silver gelatin print. Image size: 5 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches (14.9 x 22.5 cm); paper size: 9 3/8 x 11 7/8 inches (23.8 x 30.2 cm). Edition 10 of 25.

An assembly of 9 double-page spreads, 2 single-page spreads, and one cover page. Each is installed on a white wall in the gallery, in 3 rows.

William E. Jones, Stéphane Mallarmé’s «Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard» Automatically Illustrated, 2009. C-prints in 12 parts: Page 0,  14 1/5 x 10 4/5 inches (36.1 x 27.4 cm); page 1 & 2, 14 1/5 x 19 1/5 inches (36.1 x 48.8 cm);  page 3–11, 14 1/5 x 35 9/10 inches (36.1 x 101.3 cm). Edition 2 of 3.

Press Release

Photography has a familiar relationship to chance operations, happy accidents, rewarded risks and unexpected discoveries. No such serendipity applies to the sensation of cruel accident and historical derailment ever more widely shared now. And yet both occur, even together, even often. Two titles here suggested this start: A Throw of the Dice and Museum of Chance. 

Another recurring theme of photography is the desiring gaze. It can be amorous, it can be rapacious. Before we had even begun to work on our show in earnest, Dayanita Singh posted an encouraging signal in the form of an excerpt from Hervé Guibert’s collection of essays, Ghost Image. Guibert is musing on the difference between the stance required of a Nikon, for instance (upright, potentially confrontational) versus a Hasselblad (bowing over). Guibert’s observations on this difference, so germane to our project, merit quoting at length:

Diffraction

T. brought my attention to the fact that in posing for B.F. who works with a Hasselblad, he felt that the photographer’s gaze was less coercive, because of the deflection involved in the use of the 2 ¼ by 2 ¼ camera, where the photographer looks down with his head bent over the viewfinder in an attitude similar to contemplation (or even prayer). His gaze ricochets off a series of mirrors toward his model; a form of desire has replaced the predatory nature, the directional brutality of the 35 millimeter camera. T. compares this gaze to the equally deflected gaze that is passed from one window to another in the subway for example – when cruising someone. Filtered through its reflection, the gaze loses some of its brutality, gains in impunity… 

Books may be the natural habitat of photography, and many of the works on display speak from that ecology. But an exhibition offers a localized sociality of images, hovering from the work-a-day purpose photos can have in recognizing our own circumstances, to extraordinary perceptions. Compassionate Protocols borrows its title from another book by Guibert, The Compassion Protocol, an end of life account where Guibert is unequivocal about creative work as life-force and final witness, while dispassionately inventorying his physical decay and the search for care.

This is the second exhibition we have curated at Callicoon Fine Arts under the sign of Guibert, this time with works by Chris Curreri, Pradeep Dalal, Moyra Davey, Bracha L. Ettinger, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Alair Gomes, Hervé Guibert, William E. Jones, Catherine Lord, Ulrike Müller, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jason Simon, Dayanita Singh.

- Moyra Davey & Jason Simon

For additional information contact Photi Giovanis at info@callicoonfinearts.com, or call 212-219-0326.

Callicoon Fine Arts is located at 49 Delancey Street between Forsyth and Eldridge Streets. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm.

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