14 Mar 2013

Space In Between: Sandy Smith -- Five propositions for the tourist

Space In Between is delighted to present Five propositions for the tourist, a solo show by New York-based artist Sandy Smith, his third with the gallery.

This body of new work has two dominant and underlying influences. The first is a photograph taken in 1934 showing the façade of the Rome Fascist Party's headquarters, entirely wrapped in a banner repeating the word SI over and over. The second is a story about Ludwig Wittgenstein who, for most of his later life, lectured in a room unfurnished bar a safe containing his notes; those invited to the lecture brought deck chairs to listen to a troubled genius.

What has one to do with the other? In one a dominating regime advertises itself with only the condition of acceptance. In another students come to bask in the presence of a mind consumed with the idea of purity. Both situations contain an unintentional generosity, both address the vanity of total thought, and both reveal a human tendency to relax in face of the most complex and troubling of situations.

Using these historical precedents as a starting point, Five propositions for the tourist creates a space which addresses the potential of both as mantras for our own age.

///

Five propositions for the tourist is kindly supported by the Arts Council England.

Sandy Smith holds an MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University and a BA (Hons) in Environmental Art & Sculpture from the Glasgow School of Art. He is currently part of Nihilist's Spa at Brett Wesley gallery in Las Vegas, and other recent exhibitions include The Industrial Aesthetics at Hunter College Times Square Gallery in New York, and Into the Desert at Infernoesque, Berlin.