Direction 4 150 cm x 100 cmZ,
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Pietro Roccaslava 2015, Z,
painted wood, oil on canvas, Variable dimensions
Kaaba, Mecca
Peter Halley 2015, Direction No. 5, Acrylic, metallic acrylic,
pearlescent acrylic and Roll-a-Tex on canvas, 149 x 125 x 10 cm
Peter Halley, 2015, Direction No. 6, Acrylic, metallic acrylic,
pearlescent acrylic and Roll-a-Tex on canvas, 165 x 116 x 10 cm
Peter Halley, 2015, Direction No. 7, Acrylic, metallic acrylic,
pearlescent acrylic and Roll-a-Tex on canvas, 213 x 203 x 10 cm
Exhibition XIV
The Awakening: Peter Halley, and Pietro Roccasalva
“what Halley’s paintings and Roccasalva’s works share is the ‘quest’, which goes quite far back in literature, as you know. Making that connection – which the exhibition’s juxtaposition clarifies – surprised me. I went from there.”
The AWAKENING
is
it a dream
or the memory of a dream
or
the man to my left whispers
the man who is made of wood
color of carbon
same as me
is talking, hesitating, singing
a dream that came down from a mountain
or rose up from the sky
or did this apparition come up from a mountain
or descend from a gold and turquoise inlaid sky
this black dome we are hauling
yes, you and I and he
the triangle of pronouns
is a ribbed parachute
that never crumples
a form of prayer
down which rain
if such a thing exists
slides
we hold our breath
the air we breathe
brimming with fine white sand
coming from all directions
including the road on which we are traveling
wind dictates this poem
white sand writes it down
with a finger or a stick
but its words are like a blind camel
pointing toward
the dream stops being a dream
it is winter the sand is snow
the man on my right whispers
this is not a dream
but the shadow it casts across the camel’s path
cannot be seen by anyone who can see
the desire to be aware of the air on your neck
and the geometry of that desire
dictates this poem
a hand of glass or lead writes it down
there are three men accompanying the camel
pulling this black cart deeper into the poem
this apparition you can reach out and almost touch
this arrangement of sounds ringing in your head
this almost song
-By John Yau
Peter Halley was born in New York City. He received his BA from Yale University and his MFA from the University of New Orleans in 1978, remaining in New Orleans until 1980. Since 1980, Halley has lived and worked in New York. Halley has had one-person museum exhibitions at the CAPC Musee d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1991), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (1992), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1992), the Des Moines Art Center (1992), the Dallas Museum of Art (1995), the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1997), the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1998), the Museum Folkwang, Essen (1998), and the Butler Institute of American Art (1999), International with Monument Gallery, NYC, NY. (1985), Sonnabend Gallery, NYC, NY.( 1987) 1988, Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland (1989), Peter Halley: Recent Paintings, Krefelder Kunstmuseen (1989,The Eli Broad Family Foundation, Santa Monica, California. (1994), Peter Halley: Drawings/Four Decades, Gering & López Gallery, NYC, NY (2011), Peter Halley: Paintings 2012-2013, Waddington Custot Galleries, London, England. (2013), Mottahedan Projects, Dubai, UAE (2013) Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY. (with Alessandro Mendini) (2013), Peter Halley: Since 2000, Musée d’Art Moderne Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint-Étienne, France. (2014), Peter Halley: Prisons, Friedrich Schiller University, The Depot, Jena, Germany, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut (2015)
Pietro Roccasalva was born in 1970 in Modica, Italy. Roccasalva studied at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and continues to live and work in Milan. Among his recent solo exhibitions are, The Wooden O, Galleria Zero, Milan, Italy (2015): The Queen of Gaps, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2014); F.E.S.T.A., Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany (2014); The Unborn Museum at Le Magasin in Grenoble, France (2013); Mottahedan Projects, Dubai, UAE (2013); The Strange Young Neighbours at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles (2012); Unicuique Suum Fussball at Johnen Galerie in Berlin (2010); Art Statements at Art 39 Basel (2008); and Z, CCS Bard at Seventh Regiment Armory in New York (2008). His work has also appeared in Fare Mondi/Making Worlds at 53rd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale (2009); Manifesta 7, in Trentino-Alte Adige/Südtirol, Italy (2008); Italics: Arte Italiana fra Tradizione e Rivoluzione 1968-2008 at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2008-09).