Pressure Burns is a curated collection of oxidized book pages that have been removed from publications on art masters—Renaissance, Baroque and Impressionist-era—purchased by artist Ben Sisto from outlets such as The Strand in New York City and Cellar Stories in Providence, RI over a period of three years.
Before transformations in technology made full-color printing commonplace, art and design books would be printed in black-and-white, with the color illustrations ‘tipped in’ (glued) to individual pages. For this exhibition, Sisto has selected pages from his collection of vintage art books (Renaissance, Baroque and Impressionist) and removed the color plates.
With the passage of time, a combination of image placement, the chemistry of adhesives, and non-archival storage conditions has transformed the pages’ reverse sides into naturally occurring color-field studies. For the installation at Bushel, framed selections from the series have been paired with houseplants, which also respond to time, light, moisture, attention, and neglect.
This exhibition will be paired with a poetry reading by Rebecca Wolff, author most recently of One Morning, and publisher of Fence.
Ben Sisto (b. 1980) lives in Brooklyn, New York. He oversees public / cultural events for Ace Hotel in the city, and previously programmed a variety of nightlife venues and DIY spots in New York and Boston. In 2016 he co-produced Web Safe 2k16, a collection of super-short stories about the pre-broadband Internet, and his Museum of Who Let Who Let the Dogs Out Out got decent reviews at this year’s Spring/Break Art Show. His work is more or less about collecting, organizing and sharing.
Rebecca Wolff is the author of four collections of poetry, one novel, and numerous pieces of occasional prose. Her first book, Manderley, was selected for the National Poetry Series by Robert Pinsky. Her second, Figment, was selected for the Barnard Women Poets Prize by Claudia Rankine and Eavan Boland. Her third, The King, was published by W. W. Norton in 2009. Her novel The Beginners was published by Riverhead in 2011. Her latest collection, One Morning—, was published by Wave Books in 2015.
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‘PRESSURE BURNS’
Naturally oxidized book pages by Ben Sisto
October 7—October 28, 2017 (extended through November 12)
Opening Reception:
Saturday, October 7, 6-8pm
wth a reading by Rebecca Wolff at 7pm
Open for viewing during Open Hours and events (see the Calendar for event listings), and by appointment.
Contact: info@bushelcollective.org