Role Exchange

June 29, 2007- August 3, 2007

Reception: June 28, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Marina Abramovic, Laurie Anderson, Janine Antoni, Matthew Barney, Sophie Calle, Samuel Fosso, Robert Gober, Anthony Goicolea, Douglas Gordon, Fergus Greer/Leigh Bowery, Johan Grimonprez, Lyle Ashton Harris, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Michel Journiac, Nikki S. Lee, Kalup Linzy, Urs Lüthi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Duane Michals, Yasumasa Morimura, Robert Morris, Adrian Piper, Cindy Sherman, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Gavin Turk, Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing

Sean Kelly Gallery

528 W 29th St

Sean Kelly is delighted to announce a group exhibition, Role Exchange , which opens on June 29th. The exhibition brings together works in diverse media that address questions of identity, role-playing and gender. The exhibition continues through August 3rd. The opening will take place on Thursday, June 28th, from 6pm until 8pm.

Alternate personas and role exchange have been consistent themes for artists at least since Marcel Duchamp’s adoption of the persona of “Rrose Sélavy” in 1921. However, the point of departure for this exhibition is Marina Abramović’s 1975 performance Role Exchange, in which Abramović exchanged roles with an Amsterdam prostitute for a four-hour period. Abramović sat in the prostitute's window and plied her trade whilst the prostitute assumed the role of the artist at her exhibition opening.

The artists in this exhibition address the process through which identity is constructed by exploring different roles and characters. Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Adrian Piper, Johan Grimonprez, Robert Gober and Lyle Ashton Harris, to name a few, challenge traditional gender roles while Janine Antoni, Gillian Wearing and Michel Journiac examine the relationships within the nucleus of the family. Duane Michals, Yinka Shonibare, Gavin Turk, and Nikki S. Lee further investigate identity by introducing the use of fictional characters. Leigh Bowery (photographed by Fergus Greer) and Lynn Hershman Leeson actually inhabit these fictional characters in real time, blurring the line between the real and the imaginary.

Though disparate in formal resolution, the twenty-seven artists represented in this exhibition share an impulse to transform traditional social roles. They require us to redefine our perceived categorizations of gender and identity, allowing for more nuanced systems of classification and a greater understanding of their abiding interest in role exchange.

Art Reviews of Role Exchange

New York Times
July 6, 2007
Roberta Smith"This elegant exhibition takes an interesting idea and walks with it. The idea is the practice — widespread among artists since the late 1960s — of creating fictional identities, especially in camera-based work. The walk encompasses far too many usual suspects: Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney, Andy Warhol, Nikki S. Lee and Yasumasa Morimura. The result is a greatest-hits parade that ranks as a museum-quality show, but by this I mean it’s one that feels as if it had already been done by a museum. If you have never given a thought to the exploration of identity and sexuality through the use of alternative personas, this show is a great place to start...."

Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
Locationmap 
GallerySean Kelly Gallery
Address528 W 29th St
New York (Chelsea)
NY, 10001
United States
Phone212-239-1181
Fax212-239-2467
HoursTue-Fri 11-6, Sat 10-6




Sean Kelly Gallery was last updated: 2008-10-07
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