April 13
La Petite Mort Gallery presents DEVIN ELIJAH / POLAROIDS
A Chronicle of Love & Loss in Sickness & in Health
April 13 – 29, 2012
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The artist will be present from New York City on opening night.
There will also be an artist talk on Saturday April 14 / 2pm @ La Petite Mort Gallery.
This project is funded in part through a U.S. Department of State,
U.S. Embassy-Ottawa Public Affairs Section Grant.
U.S. Embassy-Ottawa Public Affairs Section Grant.
*
STATEMENT:
Janet Rochelle Schwartz died of AIDS on April 16th, 1990, the day before her husband’s 39thbirthday. A
nurse, living and working in San Francisco through the 70′s and early 80′s, she was one of the first documented cases of women with HIV/AIDS during that era, when AIDS had a prevalent & increasingly, excruciatingly volatile face, but was still without a name, unbiased, no ties to true humanity, bound to all yet unbound from every, equally cryptic in nature as elementary in its aim for destruction. She was just 38, I was 6 years old at the time and the youngest of her three children.
nurse, living and working in San Francisco through the 70′s and early 80′s, she was one of the first documented cases of women with HIV/AIDS during that era, when AIDS had a prevalent & increasingly, excruciatingly volatile face, but was still without a name, unbiased, no ties to true humanity, bound to all yet unbound from every, equally cryptic in nature as elementary in its aim for destruction. She was just 38, I was 6 years old at the time and the youngest of her three children.
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General Ideas IMAGEVIRUS series was establishing itself in both SF and NY in the very years that my mother’s physical self was disengaging from the world. Twenty two years later, the magnetic-duality of two souls are journeying on a course parallel to the others, and in unison begin to adhere to the shear force of instinctual pull, the two of us brought together to forge a friendship that would help propel forward the other’s story, 38 years between us at this present day, the exact duration of my mother’s worldly sojourn. I wrote this when I was 21 years old:
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“Put the beard on my face
and put the hair on my chest
Tie the shoe on my lace
and lick the wounds of my flesh
There was a time when in mother’s womb I would rest
Until the reaper said ‘There’s no more room in her nest’
They say the good ones perish younger then most
And their children end up trapped under their ghost
The worlds a cracked kaleidoscope if you look at it close
Most days I choose not to look at it close”
*
I met AA around 2008, initially a portrait subject, and eventually becoming both a friend and occasional career advisor beyond that. I believe that perhaps he sees in me, much of what I recognize in myself- clear evidence of the potentiality for profundity, but still searching that intangible illusiveness of ones deepest self. AA, seeing through my eyes where he’s been but can’t entirely remember, as much as my capacity to go where the circumstance of age may never fully allow him. I in turn seeing in AA the parallel but opposite-where I can’t be afforded the luxury of forgetting that I’m to go.
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The overall series is a story about my New York, the one in which I came of age, and capturing it as a
manifesto to my truth, that we, my subjects, and myself might harness those moments in time. Soon
enough New York City will change once more, altering itself within our hands & beyond present recognition, it’s landscape & many of the faces that line the pages of this series will become swept away in its ever metamorphosing tide. This collection of Polaroids, a continual work in progress will be our anchor, albeit the remembrance of our albatross all at once. Two Beacons, representing the faded beauty of the past, and the already fleeting yet unforeseen promise of the future, together are we the epitome of the bittersweet constant of time? Perhaps our lives were fated to intersect here in New York City, the ever- universal crossroads, that at once holds a mirror to our glory and our grief, inevitably dividing the savage from the saint inside.
manifesto to my truth, that we, my subjects, and myself might harness those moments in time. Soon
enough New York City will change once more, altering itself within our hands & beyond present recognition, it’s landscape & many of the faces that line the pages of this series will become swept away in its ever metamorphosing tide. This collection of Polaroids, a continual work in progress will be our anchor, albeit the remembrance of our albatross all at once. Two Beacons, representing the faded beauty of the past, and the already fleeting yet unforeseen promise of the future, together are we the epitome of the bittersweet constant of time? Perhaps our lives were fated to intersect here in New York City, the ever- universal crossroads, that at once holds a mirror to our glory and our grief, inevitably dividing the savage from the saint inside.
**
After much airport-mayhem followed by a 2 hour interrogation at customs,
and a near return to the states by way of federal mandate, New York based
photographer Devin Elijah was issued a 10 day work visa, allowing him to be
present for his Canadian solo show debut, presented by Ottawa’s, quite possible
standalone-champion of the ‘artist’s artist’ Mr. Guy Berube, of La Petite Mort
Gallery.
*
and a near return to the states by way of federal mandate, New York based
photographer Devin Elijah was issued a 10 day work visa, allowing him to be
present for his Canadian solo show debut, presented by Ottawa’s, quite possible
standalone-champion of the ‘artist’s artist’ Mr. Guy Berube, of La Petite Mort
Gallery.
*
The series- “A Chronicle of Love & Loss in Sickness & in Health”
selections from his instant film- homage to New York City, ironically evoking a
potentially lasting sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of a battered era, albeit
one at odds with the transience belonging to the modern New York City artist.
With a hundred- plus portraits depicting “friends, lovers, strangers and
accomplices” fractured edifice juxtaposed by the endless reflection of clouds
and urban haze, in the mirrored glass of modern structures. New York City as a
tragic, and still beautifully inescapable backdrop”
selections from his instant film- homage to New York City, ironically evoking a
potentially lasting sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of a battered era, albeit
one at odds with the transience belonging to the modern New York City artist.
With a hundred- plus portraits depicting “friends, lovers, strangers and
accomplices” fractured edifice juxtaposed by the endless reflection of clouds
and urban haze, in the mirrored glass of modern structures. New York City as a
tragic, and still beautifully inescapable backdrop”
*
His portraits, analyzing the hero and the heathen at the heart of each his
subjects, furthermore showing a desire for the calm inside his chaos, the still
inside his storm.
subjects, furthermore showing a desire for the calm inside his chaos, the still
inside his storm.
*
The project is funded in part by a US Embassy-Ottawa Public Affairs
Sanctioned Grant, and includes 20 large scale prints and 36 of the
aforementioned hundred- plus original Polaroids, taken in New York City from
2010- 2011, as well as a 5 foot tall “Polaroid- Outtake” instillation stacked
and staggered in the form of a miniature city itself.
Sanctioned Grant, and includes 20 large scale prints and 36 of the
aforementioned hundred- plus original Polaroids, taken in New York City from
2010- 2011, as well as a 5 foot tall “Polaroid- Outtake” instillation stacked
and staggered in the form of a miniature city itself.
*
The show featuring such creative- luminaries as AA Bronson at 36 inches
tall, as well the likes of artist Walter Cessna and Scooter Laforge. Additionally Mr. Elijah’s travels have involved meeting
the US Ambassador, and his wife, and principle dancers from the Alvin Ailey
Dance Co. at a series of Embassy held functions.
tall, as well the likes of artist Walter Cessna and Scooter Laforge. Additionally Mr. Elijah’s travels have involved meeting
the US Ambassador, and his wife, and principle dancers from the Alvin Ailey
Dance Co. at a series of Embassy held functions.
