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| Christopher Cozier, Twelve Thirty, 2012, graphite and ink on paper, 60 x 60 inches. Image courtesy David Krut Projects. |
In Development
January 25 - March 16, 2013
526 West 26th Street, Suite 816
New York, NY
David Krut Projects is pleased to present In
Development, Christopher Cozier’s first solo exhibition in New York. The
exhibition consists of mixed-media drawings on paper, recent monotypes and
linocuts created at David Krut Print Workshop in Johannesburg, and silkscreen
prints made at Axelle Fine Art in Brooklyn.
Born and based in Port of Spain, Trinidad,
Cozier’s work investigates the problematic space of post-independence: the
symbols of power that remain and change shape, the complex narratives of development,
and the loss of history and culture to commercial expansion and profitability.
Images appear and repeat in Cozier’s drawings and prints, a visual vocabulary
developed and expanded over the last twenty years in his performance,
installation and sound work. He makes sense of his fascination with the
ordinary objects around him through drawing, recording and note-taking on
paper. Sharp graphite marks and letters swirl and cross, interrupted by areas
of erasure and ink washes of color.
In this exhibition, Cozier cuts geometric
patterns out of paper, a pattern derived from suburban concrete ‘breeze
bricks.’ Post Trinidad’s independence from British rule in 1962, these patterns
became pervasive throughout the Caribbean in the 1960’s and 70’s with the rise
of the middle class and the boom of new housing developments. Used abundantly
in other tropical countries, the bricks function to open and ventilate space
without containing it. In Cozier’s work, this familiar pattern represents the
possibility and longing of those in political and social transition across the
world. It articulates, at once, a nation’s unresolved promise for a brighter
future and the inevitable compromise and sense of displacement that accompanies
“progress.”
Though the images in his work reference where
Cozier lives, they resonate as trans-cultural symbols, tapping into the
imaginations and experiences of people everywhere. We see the empty lot, a site
where history is reduced to real estate; a table brush, also called the silent
butler, used in colonial times to collect crumbs and ashes; bare feet sticking
out from nowhere, a glimpse perhaps of a crime scene. The repeating image of
the isolated tree (which stands outside the forensic center in Port of Spain)
is a symbol of persistence and hope in the face of violence and corruption. Cut
down and burnt through, the tree still grows.
Characteristic of Cozier’s participatory work
and interest in the multiple, he has created a limited edition cardboard and
aluminum template, along with a corresponding instructional online video.
Thoughts and photos of the designs created can be sent to dpatterns2013@gmail.com and will be posted on this blog: http://dpatterns2013.wordpress.com.
Christopher Cozier (b. 1959) is an artist,
curator, and writer living and working in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Cozier’s
work has been exhibited in “Into the Mix” at Kentucky Museum of Art, “Afro
Modern” at The Tate Liverpool and “Infinite Island” at the Brooklyn Museum of
Art. His work has also been included in the 7th Havana Biennial, The Stenersen
Museum in Oslo, the Chicago Cultural Center, among others. He is the co-founder
of Alice Yard, an arts organization and residency facilitating regular
exhibitions, performances and discussions in Port of Spain. Cozier co-curated
“Wrestling with an Image: Caribbean Interventions at the Museum of the
Americas” in Washington, D.C. in 2011. He was an editorial adviser to BOMB Magazine
for their Americas issues (Winters, 2003 – 2005) and was awarded a
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2004.
Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 3pm: Christopher Cozier in conversation with Tumelo Mosaka,
curator of contemporary art at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, IL.
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