Ranging from Edmier’s earliest works, such as I Met a Girl Who Sang the Blues (1991) through Bremen Towne, a new large-scale commission built for the exhibition at Bard, Keith Edmier: 1991-2007 presents a remarkable overview of Edmier’s work. It demonstrates not only the power of the artist’s use of his autobiographical landscape as a foil for considering a collective experience, but also his technical expertise as a sculptor. Many of Edmier’s works build upon and expose the intersections between his personal world and such American cultural touchstones as motorcycle stuntman Evel Knievel and 70s icon Farrah Fawcett, with whom he collaborated, as well as Janis Joplin and John Lennon. “Through the act of sculpture he voraciously pursues his memories,” writes curator Tom Eccles, citing both Jill Peters (1997), a “virginal portrait of his childhood sweetheart standing awkwardly in her sweater, skirt, and bobby socks” constructed in wax from a yearbook picture, and Beverly Edmier, 1967 (1998), a portrait of the artist’s mother, in which the yet-to-be-born artist is revealed through the stomach of his seated mother.
“Bremen Towne is a full-scale sculptural reproduction of the interior spaces from the ranch house where I grew up in the southwest Chicago suburb, Tinley Park. It is made to resemble what it would have looked like when I first moved there with my parents in 1971. Essentially, it is a brand new home,” explains Edmier. The installation “functions as a curated space. An exhibition of those things, which influenced my early aesthetic development, in the surroundings that helped shape who I am.” Bremen Towne is the largest physical manifestation of the artist’s fascination with reclaiming, or at least rethinking, the past through sculpture and installation. This extraordinary installation represents the culmination of Edmier’s psychological archeology.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Center for Curatorial Studies and Booth-Clibburn Editions, London, are very pleased to publish Keith Edmier 1991-2007, a new book exploring Edmier’s work in remarkable depth. Including essays by Tom Eccles, Douglas Fogle, and Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith; a thorough guide to the source material for Edmier’s work by the artist’s longtime friend, Jade Dellinger; an interview with Keith Edmier by artist Matthew Barney; and a comprehensive bibliography, the book will be officially released at the opening reception of Keith Edmier 1991-2007 at CCS Bard on October 20.
October 20, 2007 Free charter bus to and from the opening reception from New York City.
Sunday, October 21st, 2:00 p.m. Gallery Tours with Matthew Higgs, Keith Edmier, and Tom Eccles.
Reservations are required for both the chartered bus and guided tours; call 845-758-7598 or e-mail ccs@bard.edu. All programs are open to the public without charge.
The Keith Edmier 1991 - 2007 exhibition and accompanying exhibition book have been made possible with support from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, Marieluise Hessel, Tim Nye, and the Patrons, Supporter, and Friends of the Center for Curatorial Studies.
KEITH EDMIER
Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967, Keith Edmier grew up the suburban subdivision of Bremen Towne in Tinley Park, 45 minutes southwest of Chicago. After graduating high school, Edmier pursued a career in special effects in Hollywood. Encouraged by special effects master Rick Baker, Edmier briefly attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. After leaving art school he moved to New York to enter the art world. Edmier’s work has been shown at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and is in the collections the Tate Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Israel Museum. He is the recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation 2001 Biennial Award.
