increase: Ann Hamilton/Michael Mercil
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota
3 August – 25 September 2003
Exhibition view, east gallery
Text replaces image and words form material in many works for this exhibition. For Brace yourself, a quote from “The Book of Job” is burned onto the surface of three plywood tablets . The oak timber of WHO lies on the floor like a casket, or sarcophagus. The words carved in relief on its top refer to the christian mystery of an incarnate God, but its purpose is not religious.
“I am a” (Buffalo) includes forty-nine hand-painted signs arranged in a grid, where a “Bowl of Potatoes,” “President Roosevelt,” and “The Temple of Music” each occupy an equivalent physical and imaginative space. The painted surfaces of Mrs. Peter name characters from the “Tales of Peter Rabbit.” Other works invoke a social transaction or political contract. Covenant is a rusted steel ballot box and table. Measure is an oversized, silver begging cup engraved with “please” on the outside, and “thank you” on the inside.
The title for the exhibition, increase, names a collaborative work made for the occasion by Ann Hamilton and me. This work includes a projected and spinning video loop of the Shaker text, "my love is increasing," as written out by a calligrapher using a nib pen and ink. The image, rotating at speeds that varied from 2 rpm to 33 1/2 rpm, was cast across the walls of an otherwise empty mezzanine space.
"I am a" (Buffalo) 2003
enamel paint on burned plywood, 49 panels 42 x 42 x .5 inches each
your dress 2003
latex paint over wallpaper 108 x 108 inches
WHO 2003
carved white oak 22 x 72 x 22 inches
WHO (detail)
Exhibition view east gallery
covenant 2003
welded and rusted steel 57 x 60 x 24 inches
Brace yourself 2003
burned plywood, three panels 96 x 48 x .75 inches each
Exhibition view east gallery
Mrs. Peter (detail) 2003
enamel paint on pine plywood, twenty panels 36 x 36 x .5 inches each
increase (with Ann Hamilton) 2003
variable speed spinning video loop
Related articles and writings
increase: Ann Hamilton/Michael Mercil, North Dakota Museum of Art.