James Welling, “9910”, 2015. Inkjet print.
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London via The New York Times
James Welling presented an unforgettable exhibition at David Zwirner: Choreograph is a series of digital photographs of dance with elements of architecture and landscape. Moments are captured as black-and-white photographs are manipulated with red, green and blue color channels that then yield a multi-layered color image.
Welling is photographing rehearsals of over a dozen dance companies in New York and Los Angeles as his exploration of dance (he in fact danced in the 1970’s himself) is combined with the architectural investigations for which he is known.
Welling notes in his statement about this exhibition: “To my surprise, the buildings and landscape that I used often seem to function like theatrical stages for the dancers. The open fields I photographed also suggest a kind of ‘chora’ – Greek for space and the root of choreograph. By choosing to use ‘choreograph’, ‘drawing with space’, as a noun, I am noting its similarity to ‘photograph’, ‘drawing with light’.”
James Welling, “0123”, 2015. Inkjet print.
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London
James Welling, “0521,” 2015. Inkjet print.
Credit: David Hallberg, Francesco Vezzoli, Performa and James Welling.
Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London.
Installation at David Zwirner. Images courtesy David Zwirner Gallery.
Gallery installation. The exhibition was November 18 – January 16, 2016 at 519 West 19th Street in New York.
