Parker’s Box, New York
Parker’s Box is a seven year old gallery, established in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in 2000. The gallery is committed to championing the work of both American and overseas artists whose practice and attitudes are innovatory while being instilled with curiosity towards both the mechanisms of the contemporary world, and the mechanisms that can operate within a work of art.
For its participation in Art-O-Rama 2008, Parker’s Box has invited the collaborative team of Mike Rogers (Born 1957, lives and works in Los Angeles) and Dustin Ericksen (Born1970, lives and works in London) to design the gallery’s stand in order to present works by Parker’s Box artists.
The central piece of the presentation will be the latest incarnation of Rogers’ and Ericksen’s installation Cups. This piece consists of over 600 artists’ cups which Rogers and Ericksen have collected from art openings, receptions and events around the world since 1996. The collection, which includes cups used by both famous and unknown artists, is a reference to art production as well as the business and social aspects of the art world. In the collection, at least, there is no hierarchy.
For Art-o-Rama, the artists will display the Cups collection in an installation that will, for the first time, include the work of other artists. The installation will consist of a central table supported by four ladders. The table will support on one level all the cups in the collection. On the walls surrounding the cups, a variety of other artists’ work will be displayed, from the highest point on the walls down to ground level. A variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, and video, will be represented. A collection of ladders, stepladders and staircases of different heights will be arranged around the booth, so that viewers can climb the walls to view different work. The artists will choose the work for display and will decide how high or how low they go.
Artists whose work is likely to be displayed include: Beatriz Barral, Virginie Barré, Tim Laun. Caroline McCarthy, Geraldine Pastor Lloret, Bruno Peinado, Joshua Stern, Fabien Verschaere, Gerard Williams…
Displaying other artists’ work with the cups will reinforce the symbolism of the socially-inspired thinking process of art making and the importance of social aspects of the art business. It will also reference the notion of hierarchy in the art world and among art works.