project 1: ariel lavery & liz clayton scofield
DESCRIPTION
February 14 - March 22, 2014TRANSCRIPT
1PROJECT
Ariel LaveryLiz Clayton Scofi eld
February 14–March 22, 2014
Ariel Lavery, While Realizing Our Full Potential, 2013, mixed media
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, Exercise 4: Sitting (video still), 2013, digital print
Ariel Lavery, Wallpaper Remix 1, 2013, charcoal on paper
Ariel Lavery, Wallpaper Remix 2, 2013, charcoal on paper
While the intelligent art of Lavery and Scofi eld is informed by the most critical ideas and issues - identity, body, and narrative, for example – in artistic practices today, each artist brings highly personal experiences to the making and presenting of their work. This in turn, gives their work resonance and deeply engages the viewer on many levels, from the physi-cal to the psychological.
Incorporating domestic objects such as kitchen sinks and slotted broilers from her surroundings, Lavery creates un-heroic, informal and manifestly un-monumental assemblage-type sculpture that seems to be coming together all at once and then, just as quickly, falling apart. Repur-posing objects she fi nds on the side of the road, at local estate auctions, or through Craigslist, Lavery explores the transference of value and how ob-jects can embody narratives of domesticity, memory, and loss. Included in her exhibition are beautiful charcoal drawings of fl ocked wallpaper designs often used on the dining room walls of middle-class homes, accompanied by the projected sounds of auctioneers. Mapping the vernacular, Lavery moves the viewer through physical and imagined spaces where value is transferred, meanings arise, and stories unfold. Similar to the early taped performances of Bruce Nauman (Stamp-ing in the Studio, 1968) in his studio, Scolfi eld uses humor, alienation, and repetitive actions to explore profound issues of gender construction and fl uidity, sexuality, and societal relationships. In a four-part digital video Exercises 1-4, the artist performs over and over again exercises in mas-culinity - handshaking, tying a tie, etc. Is this a male or female character performing male behaviors in the “correct” way? Included in the exhibi-tion are stills from another endurance-based performance, How to Smile in 34 Steps, in which Scofi eld, wearing a man’s tie and white Oxford shirt, tries to keep smiling while holding a cue card. Several different cue cards include: “My identity is not yours to police,” “The lady on the street told me to smile,” “But I’m still not your little girl,” and “But it gets better, right?”. Like watching the physically demanding comic actions of the great silent screen stars Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Scolfi eld’s vulnerability elicits a smile from the viewer as well as empathy.
Suzanne Weaver, Independent Curator
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, How to Smile in 34 Steps: My idenity is not yours to police,2013, digital video 52:00 (still)
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, How to Smile in 34 Steps: The lady on the street told me to smile, 2013, digital video 52:00 (still)
Ariel Lavery
Ariel Lavery, (b.1982, Fountain Valley, CA), currently teaches at Austin Peay State University and Murray State University. She received her B.F.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder (2007) and received a M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2013). Lavery’s work has been included in Best of the Northeast at the Helen Day Art Center (Stowe, VT, 2013), Fresh at the AVA Gallery (Chattanooga, TN, 2013), and Icebreaker 5 at Ice Cube Gallery (Denver, CO , 2014). She is a recent recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Artistic Enrichment Grant (2013).
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, (b.1988, Dyersburg, TN), received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University (2012) and is currently completing a M.F.A. in Digital Art at Indiana University, Bloomington. Scofi eld has shown at Grunwald Gallery, the Fuller Projects, IU Cinema, and Motel 6 Rm 236 (Bloomington, IN, 2012), Open Studios (IU School of Fine Arts, 2012), Space 204, (Vanderbilt University, 2010), and Ground Floor Gallery (Nashville, TN). Scofi eld created the web-based sound project, Missed Connection Personal Musical (2010) and the web-based interactive performance project, step one (2012).
While Realizing Our Full Potential (2013), found objects, cast and lathed plastic, mixed media, 34” x 27” x 38”
As We Continue to Move Forward (2012), 20” x 96” with Linear Progression of Chest, Shoe Organizer, Wall Shelf, Broiler Pan, and Napkin Rings (2012), found objects and mixed media, 68” x 32” x 24”
And Here, Saved—Fair Medusa—From Harrowing Oceans (2013), found and altered chair back, ceramic, silicone, and paint, 38” x 31” x 33”
Wallpaper Remix 1 (2013), charcoal on paper, 9” x 24”Wallpaper Remix 2 (2013), charcoal on paper, 8” x 15”
CL > western mass > for sale > 3 (2013), charcoal on paper, 5” x 7”
CL > western kentucky > for sale > 1 (2014), charcoal on paper, 9” x 4”
CL > western kentucky > for sale > 2 (2014), charcoal on paper, 10.5” x 10”
Implements of a Household Wall (2014), charcoal on paper, 22” x 20”
Planning Sketch for Medusa (2013), pencil on paper, 14.5” x 12”
Chants Remixed (2014), found and edited sound, 18:06
Liz Clayton Scofi eld
Exercise 1: Handshake (2013), HD digital video, 3:22
Exercise 2: Tie (2013), HD digital video, 2:03
Exercise 3: Peeing (2013), HD digital video, 1:09
Exercise 4: Sitting (2013), HD digital video, 2:39
Exercise 1: Handshake (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 2: Tie (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 3: Peeing (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 4: Sitting (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: My identity is not yours to police (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: The lady on the street told me to smile (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: But it gets better, right? (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: But I’m still not your little girl (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exhibition Checklists
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, How to Smile in 34 Steps: My idenity is not yours to police,2013, digital video 52:00 (still)
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, How to Smile in 34 Steps: The lady on the street told me to smile, 2013, digital video 52:00 (still)
Ariel Lavery
Ariel Lavery, (b.1982, Fountain Valley, CA), currently teaches at Austin Peay State University and Murray State University. She received her B.F.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder (2007) and received a M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2013). Lavery’s work has been included in Best of the Northeast at the Helen Day Art Center (Stowe, VT, 2013), Fresh at the AVA Gallery (Chattanooga, TN, 2013), and Icebreaker 5 at Ice Cube Gallery (Denver, CO , 2014). She is a recent recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Artistic Enrichment Grant (2013).
Liz Clayton Scofi eld, (b.1988, Dyersburg, TN), received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University (2012) and is currently completing a M.F.A. in Digital Art at Indiana University, Bloomington. Scofi eld has shown at Grunwald Gallery, the Fuller Projects, IU Cinema, and Motel 6 Rm 236 (Bloomington, IN, 2012), Open Studios (IU School of Fine Arts, 2012), Space 204, (Vanderbilt University, 2010), and Ground Floor Gallery (Nashville, TN). Scofi eld created the web-based sound project, Missed Connection Personal Musical (2010) and the web-based interactive performance project, step one (2012).
While Realizing Our Full Potential (2013), found objects, cast and lathed plastic, mixed media, 34” x 27” x 38”
As We Continue to Move Forward (2012), 20” x 96” with Linear Progression of Chest, Shoe Organizer, Wall Shelf, Broiler Pan, and Napkin Rings (2012), found objects and mixed media, 68” x 32” x 24”
And Here, Saved—Fair Medusa—From Harrowing Oceans (2013), found and altered chair back, ceramic, silicone, and paint, 38” x 31” x 33”
Wallpaper Remix 1 (2013), charcoal on paper, 9” x 24”Wallpaper Remix 2 (2013), charcoal on paper, 8” x 15”
CL > western mass > for sale > 3 (2013), charcoal on paper, 5” x 7”
CL > western kentucky > for sale > 1 (2014), charcoal on paper, 9” x 4”
CL > western kentucky > for sale > 2 (2014), charcoal on paper, 10.5” x 10”
Implements of a Household Wall (2014), charcoal on paper, 22” x 20”
Planning Sketch for Medusa (2013), pencil on paper, 14.5” x 12”
Chants Remixed (2014), found and edited sound, 18:06
Liz Clayton Scofi eld
Exercise 1: Handshake (2013), HD digital video, 3:22
Exercise 2: Tie (2013), HD digital video, 2:03
Exercise 3: Peeing (2013), HD digital video, 1:09
Exercise 4: Sitting (2013), HD digital video, 2:39
Exercise 1: Handshake (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 2: Tie (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 3: Peeing (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exercise 4: Sitting (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: My identity is not yours to police (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: The lady on the street told me to smile (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: But it gets better, right? (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
How to Smile in 34 Steps: But I’m still not your little girl (2013), digital print from video still, 16” x 26”
Exhibition Checklists
610 East Market Street | Louisville, KY 40202 www.zephyrgallery.org | Thursday–Saturday, 11–6
Artist PartnersKen HaydenMatt MeersJoel PinkertonLetitia QuesenberryMichael RattermanReba Rye
After twenty-six years as the second-oldest artist cooperative in the United States, Zephyr Gallery has a new mission and purpose which is to serve as a platform to incubate, advocate, and facilitate innovative ideas in art and artistic practices in the region. Refl ecting this repurposed vision, Zephyr Gallery is launching an ongoing Project series with curated proposal-based exhibitions as well as collaborations with universities, colleges, and cultural institutions. PROJECT 1: Ariel Lavery and Liz Clayton Scofi eld is the fi rst exhibition of this series.
Artist Board
Patrick DonleyPeggy Sue HowardRobert MitchellChris RadtkeBrenda Wirth
Zephyr Gallery
PROJECT 1: Ariel Lavery and Liz Clayton Scofi eld
Suzanne WeaverHannah MorganRobert MitchellChris RadtkePeggy Sue Howard
Independent CuratorProject ManagerGraphic DesignExhibition Co-CoordinatorExhibition Co-Coordinator