Provas Circunstâncias do Brasil: Jimmie Durham
Sprovieri is delighted to present “Provas Circunstâncias do Brasil” an exhibition of works by Jimmie Durham which were produced in Rio de Janeiro for the space co-owned by the gallery and will be exhibited in the UK for the first time.
The show is a celebration of material; using found pieces of wood (some from fallen trees, others bought in the local market) and stones Durham applies labour-intensive work of pounding, sawing and sanding.
“I love material. In Rio de Janeiro I have used mostly wood, as I used mostly ceramic shards in Lisboa. But it is not me that has this fascination with stone; it is Europe...
To be influenced is to change, and I love the energy of changing (when I left Mexico I quit smoking after forty years of being a chain-smoker)...
Sarat Maharaj has said that the making of art is the production of meaning. The making of art is an intellectual endeavor. So then we need anything, any material, any field (text, science, music) any concepts that might be of interest.
One of the most liberating phenomenon these days is the understanding that art can be made of absolutely anything (if the artist is serious enough).
If I put these three things together as a kit, (the necessity of change, art as intellectual work and the fact that art can be made of anything) perhaps I am on my way to becoming homeless.”
Jimmie Durham, São Paulo, January 2011
Born in Arkansas in 1940, Jimmie Durham is a sculptor, essayist and poet. He will take part in the 2013 55th edition of the Venice Biennial “the encyclopedic palace” and his solo exhibitions in Europe include MuHKA, Antwerp (2012), the Glasgow International Festival (2010), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2009), the Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseilles (2003), the Museum Voor Actuele Kunst in den Hague (2003), the Kunstverein, Munich (1998) and the Wittgenstein Haus, Vienna (1996). Durham has participated in several editions of the Venice Biennale (1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005) Documenta (1992 and 2012) and the Whitney Biennale (1993 and 2006), among others.
