Jim Shaw's "Donner Party" @ P.S. 1; May 24 - Sept. 24, 2007

 

Jim Shaw's work has always impressed me with it's conceptual rigor, but perplexed me with it's technical slumming. I mean, the guy has some real drawing chops, but he keeps making these teenagey, comic book drawings. We talked about it when he made studio visits in grad school. I remember Jim telling me stories about the work he was doing in animation studios in LA to make ends meet. Maybe his (frankly ugly) drawing style had to do with that bad-boy rebelling (a theme throughout his work) I was thinking that would never be me; neither the bad-boy, nor the animator. But then I found out how much the studios paid! Good-golly, that boy was smart! Thanks Jim:

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center is pleased to present the U.S. museum premiere of Jim Shaw’s large-scale installation The Donner Party (2003). This ambitious work most directly references the Donner Party’s ill-fated 1846 journey across the Sierra Nevada mountains in which they were caught in a blizzard and resorted to cannibalism. The installation contains a plethora of other references as well, to historical figures, religious movements, popular culture, and, pointedly, to Judy Chicago’s 1979 installation The Dinner Party. The exhibition will be on view in the Third Floor Main Gallery from May 24 through September 24, 2007. --PS 1 Press Release

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