Artists Space

Dark Rooms

January 26 – February 23, 1985

Exhibition Organized by Valerie Smith

A figure sits in front of a  two screens next to each other with impressionistic forest imagery. The light from the projection spills out onto the walls and ceiling while the figure and the floor is shrouded in darkness.
Jon Rubin. *Alice Underwater. Installation view from Dark Rooms, Artists Space, 1985. [A figure sits in front of a two screens next to each other with impressionistic forest imagery. The light from the projection spills out onto the walls and ceiling while the figure and the floor is shrouded in darkness.]

Artists Space is pleased to announce the opening of Dark Rooms, an exhibition of four separate installations by Judith Barry, Eva Brandl, James Carpenter and Jon Rubin. The exhibition, which opens on January 26, 1985, will be on view through February 23.

The four installations on view in the Dark Rooms exhibition combine elements of film, slide projections and sculpture. Judith Barry, Eva Brandl, James Carpenter and Jon Rubin have been exploring and expanding the uses of the image, both static and animated, in the creation of environments that utilize, and even depend upon, the participation of the viewer. This exhibition follows Artists Space's highly successful Dark Rooms show of January 1982 and continues to explore the uses of light-projected imagery in the creation of works of art. Accompanying the show will be an illustrated 8-page brochure with an essay by Craig Owens, Senior Editor of Art in America, statements by the artists, and Acknowledgements by Linda Shearer and Valerie Smith.

Judith Barry has done installations at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and the International Cultural Center, Antwerp, Belgium, as well as at several other locations in the United States and Europe. Her video work is currently on view at the New Museum in the "Difference: Sexuality and Representation" exhibition and has been shown at the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.

Eva Brandl was born in Germany but has been living and working in Montreal, Quebec since 1974. Her work has been included in exhibitions throughout Canada, most recently in a one-person show at the Eye Level Gallery, Halifax. This is her first New York exhibition.

James Carpenter's work has been included most recently in the "Kunst Mit Fotographie" exhibition which travelled to the National Museum of Berlin and the Art Museum of Hamburg. Other 1984 exhibitions include the Kunst Fair of Basel, Switzerland and the Chicago Art Fair. Among other New York spaces, his work has been shown at P.S. 1 and The Clocktower.

Jon Rubin has been involved in filmmaking since 1967 and is currently Assistant Professor of Film at SUNY Purchase. A recepient of grants from CAPS, NEA, and NYSCA, he also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1977 and grants from the Jerome and Ford Foundations to help initiate "The Floating Cinema." His most recent installation work includes exhibitions at The Kitchen and P.S.1, both in 1981.

An indistinguishable projection on the wall with an installed light appearing above it facing the opposite direction and a bright light coming in from the upper right corner of the image. A column bisects the image.
James Carpenter. Shaking. Installation view. Artists Space, 1985. [An indistinguishable projection on the wall with an installed light appearing above it facing the opposite direction and a bright light coming in from the upper right corner of the image. A column bisects the image.]
A small goldfish is visible swimming inside a round-shaped bowl with water in it with a silver watch behind it. The bowl is sitting on a pedestal on a white wall.
Jon Rubin. Alice Underwater. Installation view. Artists Space, 1985. [A small goldfish is visible swimming inside a round-shaped bowl with water in it with a silver watch behind it. The bowl is sitting on a pedestal on a white wall.]

Dark Rooms has been funded in part by a grant from the Film Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

Artists Space activities are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency, the New York State Council on the Arts; Edward R. Broida Trust, Jerome Foundation, Leonhard Foundation, Betty Parsons Foundation, Mark Rothko Foundation and Samuel Rubin Foundation; AT&T Communications, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank, Consolidated Edison, EXXON, Mobil Foundation, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, Paine Webber, Philip Morris, and Shearson Lehman/American Express, as well as the generous support of numerous Friends.