Existence is Fertile: Unsettlement

Randy Wallace

Exhibition: Feb 8 – Apr 29, 2007


Randy Wallace’s two-part WindowWorks exhibition projects both promise and warning. Existence is Fertile: Unsettlement draws on the frightening side of fairy tales. Against Artpace’s windows the artist has built half of a charming yet foreboding cabin-the sort visited by Little Red Riding Hood or Snow White. A glance through the window’s glass panes reveals a not-so-sunny interior strewn with various props that will appear and disappear before the building ultimately decays and vanishes from the site. From week to week, one might discover a cooling pie, an eerie creature, or a ghostly lumberjack. The second work, Existence is Fertile: The Exchange, is an audio piece accessed by dialing a number written on the cabin’s wall. The detailed, methodical recording expands on the artist’s process and the dually unsettling and reassuring nature of folklore.

Existence is Fertile: Unsettlement,Existence is Fertile: The Exchange

Artist

Randy Wallace

San Antonio, Texas, USA

Randy Wallace’s conceptually driven performances and interactive sculptures utilize play to discomforting ends. Like carnival events gone awry, his installations involve viewers in games of give-and-take that cultivate the awkward. For Tosser (2005) the artist constructed a booth that instructed perplexed participants to “offer” the attendant a personal item, story, or secret. In exchange they could try their hand at a ring toss, throw darts at a balloon, or soak the artist. For Flat Mac (2005) Wallace painted a plywood casket with festive red and white stripes and printed on its lid: Carry Me Out Flat, Bury Me Standing. Heightening the sense of macabre spectacle, the contraption was theatrically lit and threatened to spill its contents while rolling down the incline upon which it was propped.
Randy Wallace received his MFA from The University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, in 2000. He has had solo projects at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center (2005); McNay Art Museum (2005); and Sala Diaz (2004), all in San Antonio, TX. His work has been included in exhibitions such as Southern Space Project, Southern Music Building (2005); New Stars/CAM 19 (2004); and CAM Billboard Project (2005), all in San Antonio, TX.

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