November 19 - December 17, 2005
Pigeons, UPS drivers, Ford models, the moon, dead sharks, pine trees, over-saturated Harry & David catalog pages, interstate highway junctions, idyllic rural landscapes, and basement clutter. Roe Ethridge shifts between photographic subjects, swiftly discarding them for inverse yet connected subjects. Subjects are set aside, only to be revisited and intermixed with the others.
This sporadic movement is what drives Ethridge's work. The spaces between
the subjects are where the viewer is invited to assume what has been cut out:
an unending stream of connective photos that if included, would have yielded
a nearly linear body of work. Instead, he edits, setting up complex relationships
between his genres of imagery. For County Line Plus Town and Country
Ethridge has selected works from two sets of images, creating an installation
of photos that fills two of the gallery's floors.
County Line is comprised of six loosely accumulated sets, which include
photos of the Canadian Rockies and strip mall signs from suburban Atlanta
and suburban Long Island. The County Line catalog, which accompanied
Ethridge's recent solo project at ICA Boston, functions much like a cross
between an artist book and a stock photography catalog. Along with the near-ideal
landscapes and portraits, Ethridge's publication includes photos of affronting
facades of suburban strip mall signs and a shadowy still life of prepared
meats on a cutting board.
Town and Country is a working title for pictures the artist shot
in upstate New York in the summer of 2005 to illustrate an essay for "Another
Man" magazine, the subject of which was Richard Prince's move upstate from
New York City. Four images from this shoot have been included in the exhibition.
The exhibition will be on view from November 19th å December 17th, 2005. A reception will be held for the artist at the gallery on November 19th from 6 - 8 PM at 558 West 21st St., New York City. For information call 212-741-8849.
