Where the paintings are painted at the opening
Merlin Carpenter
Intrinsic Value
SIMON LEE GALLERY, LONDON, April 1st -29th, 2009
The Opening: Tuesday, 31st March, 6 - 8pm
Simon Lee Gallery is
proud to announce Merlin Carpenter's Intrinsic Value as
its forthcoming exhibition. This marks the fifth show in a series
where the artist only produces the paintings in the midst of the
show's preview. The Opening first took place in 2007 at
Reena Spaulings Fine Art in New York and was followed by a show
at Overduin & Kite in Los Angeles. The third The Opening,
organised by Galerie Christian Nagel took place in a fashion store
in Cologne and a Mercedes Benz showroom in Berlin. In the latter
show the artist painted the bare canvases whilst reaching out
of a moving car. Last year Carpenter also staged The Opening
at Mitterrand+Sanz in Zurich.
Merlin Carpenter writes: "In the fifth of a series of
shows called The Opening Merlin Carpenter will sign eleven
blank canvases shortly before the opening. If the works are painted
this will happen during the posh private view. Like Dalí
signing hundreds of blank pieces of paper, or La Monte Young performing
pieces before they were composed, the empty canvases beg the question
of what possible value these works have. The guarantee of the
biography of the artist? The power of the gallery? Price-fixing
or oligarchy? Energy stolen from the bohemians who decorate the
room? Or something intrinsic to a work which evidently could be
anything? A Matisse is still heralded by the auction houses as
being of 'intrinsic value'. For the contemporary art scene this
implies finding a source of value untouched by the recent speculative
madness, whether it's painting or critical authenticity. Meanwhile,
with a gnawing sense of dread, capitalists are looking for a way
to rebuild profits in the depression. Pay will have to go down
and work hours increase for most people under the threat of starvation
and Mad Max. Only Marx shows where value comes from (labour, surplus-value)
and offers the explanation for credit crises. Because of this,
I wonder whether this time Marxism itself will be used to locate
real value. Those cultural producers studying Marx, like Carpenter
(me), could unwittingly provide fuel for further exploitation
by explaining to government elites just how to reassert profitable
conditions. Better to go on art strike, wander into your own show,
outraged... ready to vandalise and destroy".
Merlin Carpenter was
born in the UK in 1967. He lives and works in London. He has had
solo exhibitions in major institutions in the United States and
in Europe, these include the Bergen Kunsthall in Norway and the
Vienna Secession. Carpenter has also participated in numerous
international group shows, such as at the Institute of Contemporary
Art in Philadelphia, the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the
current exhibition at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (SONIC
YOUTH etc. : SENSATIONAL FIX), which will run until 10
May 2009. Published monographs on the artist include Nueva
Generación, (Distrito 4, Madrid, 2004) with an essay
by Melanie Gilligan and As a Painter I Call Myself the Estate
of (Secession, Vienna, 2000).
Merlin Carpenter is represented by Nang Gallery. With thanks to
Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York.
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