Ján Mančuška
Actor: “Have you been there…?”
Actress: “He said after a while”
November 21, 2008 – January 10, 2009
Andrew Kreps Gallery is please to present Ján Mančuška’s third solo exhibition in the gallery. Comprised of film, and sculptural installation the show builds upon the deconstruction of self – or identity within a narrative that has no temporal or spatial specificity.
The show opens with “Reflection”, a sculptural installation created built with pieces of furniture that have been assembled and stacked, and cut into two long panels, creating a narrow passageway between the two, into which a film, in two parts, is projected.
In the first part of the film, two characters are trading the roles of narrator and observer by speaking to and for each other, and describing each other’s behaviors in real-time:
Actor: “Have you been there…?”
Actress: “He said after a while”
Actress: “Yes, I was. And you?”
Actor: “She answered.”
The second part of this film is concerned with two men, who interact with each other on the basis of shared associations but without the ability to specify any singular individuals and dialog is enacted without a single concrete pronoun. In the end it is a misunderstanding that acts as both punch line and Eureka moment, bringing the two parts of the film together.
The second part of the show is the sculpture “Someone Else?”, a line of objects into which a narrative and descriptive drawings have been etched, each cup and ceramic object acting as character, script, and storyboard simultaneously. The plain cups throughout are meant as pauses in the dialog or hesitations from the “actors” and create a specific pace to the reading of the open-ended narrative.
Ján Mančuška has shown extensively internationally with solo shows at the Kunsthalle Basel, Frankfurter Kunstverein, and Meyer Riegger Galerie in Karlsruhe and has been included in group shows at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, and was the representative for the Czech Pavilion at the Venice Bieniale in 2005.
The exhibition will be on view from November 21st , 2008 – January 10th , 2009. A reception will be held for the artist at the gallery on November 21st, from 6 - 8 PM.