press release
STUDIO10
56 Bogart Street Brooklyn NY 11206
Opening reception: Friday, May 10, 7-9 P.M.
Exhibition dates: May 10, 2013 – June 16, 2013
Matt Freedman: The Devil Tricked Me
www.mattfreedman.org
Studio10 is pleased to present The Devil Tricked Me, an exhibition of work by Matt Freedman. The exhibition is organized around the recent publication of Relatively Indolent but Relentless, a graphic journal Freedman wrote last Autumn.
In July 2012 Freedman learned that he had Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, a rare and slow growing cancer. Treatment entailed thirty-five days of radiation and weekly doses of chemotherapy over seven weeks. Just before treatment, a friend gave Matt a blank notebook and suggested he should fill it up. Matt did complete the therapy and the notebook as well. He said, “It seemed like it would in the end give me the last laugh over my cancer treatment.” This exhibition serves to extend Freedman’s experience of his treatment, the subject of the journal, into the six months that have now passed between the end of treatment and this exhibition’s opening.
All thirteen works take as their subject bad luck. This idea is embodied in Freedman’s iconic constructions that portray folk admonitions. These signs seek to control bad luck by taking such precautions such as avoiding walking under ladders or opening umbrellas indoors. Another significant component of the show is the notion of disability. Freedman continues to feel side effects from his treatment as well as from the drugs he takes to quell those effects. Though functioning effectively, the fact that he should not drive because the narcotics would render him technically “under the influence” is for Freedman an objective marker of what he feels and knows to be true: He is not himself or at his best.
The idea of disability is communicated by hand written signs of explanation, which function as the conceptual framework for the exhibition. Freedman’s sign details the reasons for the restrictions he placed upon himself for the creation of the work: each work consists of totally “de-skilled” labor. He collected objects either from the street; broken umbrellas and cigarette stubs, or from his house and studio; A couch, a collection of pennies. He also allowed himself to use components from previous work repurposed for the show.
Matt Freedman is a sculptor, performer, writer and curator. He has exhibited with Valentine Gallery, Pierogi Gallery, vertexlist, Flipside, Fivemyles, The SculptureCenter and Long Island University. Venues of performances include PS 1 MOMA, The Brooklyn Museum, The Kitchen, Brooklyn Fireproof, Brooklyn Academy of Music at Fivemyles, Galapagos Performance Space. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and has taught at The University of Iowa, Parsons the New School for Design, The Pratt Institute, The Rhode Island School of Design. NEA Sculpture (1987, NYFA, Fiction (2000). Freedman has written for Art News, Review and Cabinet, among others. For more information and images, please contact Annelie McGavin at (718) 852-4396.
Gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday 1 - 6 pm or by appointment
Contact: studio10bogart@gmail.com (718) 852-4396 www.studio10bogart.com
The gallery is across the street from the Bogart Street exit at the L Train Morgan stop.