James Cohan Gallery presents a group exhibition entitled By Proxy, which theme is the concept of art as a shared enterprise. Marcel Duchamp called it “aesthetic osmosis”, the process by which an artist transfers responsibility to a viewer, empowering them to complete the work out in the world.
The exhibition incorporates work from the past century to the present day. Participating artists are Francis Alÿs, Alighiero Boetti, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Wade Guyton, Oliver Laric, Lee Mingwei, Sol LeWitt, Yoko Ono, Jon Rafman, Mariah Robertson, Siebren Versteeg and Xu Zhen.
The “shared enterprise”, in which the artist somehow cedes responsibility for the final work, now takes many forms: from fabrication and machines to chance, games, relational practice and the increasingly fertile landscape of the internet.
In By Proxy, you will see Marcel Duchamp’s assisted readymade With Hidden Noise, a ball of string with an unknown object rattling inside it; three drawings from John Cage’s 1990 series River Rocks and Smoke, in which chance operations are performed by smoke settling in the fibers of the paper; Oliver Laric’s Yuanmingyuan Columns, a new work created with 3D scans of Chinese cultural artifacts ensconced in Bergen, Norway; Yoko Ono’s seminal chess set and war allegory Play it By Trust…
Without any doubt the gallery presents an interesting group exhibition which will help you to investigate more Duchamp’s concept of aesthetic osmosis.
Until January 17th, 2015
James Cohan Gallery – 533 W 26th St, Chelsea – New York
