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Press Release

Sean Kelly Gallery is delighted to announce an exhibition of major new works by James Casebere.

For the last twenty years James Casebere has constructed increasingly complex models that are subsequently photographed in his studio. Casebere's table-size constructions, based on architectural, art historical and cinematic sources are made of simple materials, pared down to essential forms, and frequently emptied of extraneous detail. Since 1992 his subject matter has focused on institutional spaces and the relationship between social control, societal structure and increasingly sophisticated levels of interpretation. As Anthony Vidler Dean of The Cooper Union School of Architecture writes, "Casebere's "spatial unconscious" is in photographic representation, an opening through vision into the psychopathology of lived space, a space that blurs all the traditional distinctions between the space and the space represented".

This exhibition of new work produced in the last two years is being premiered in New York at Sean Kelly Gallery. A wide range of iconic architectural spaces inspired these works. Casebere continues to investigate Colonial American, Neoclassical domestic spaces like Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Models based on a Sienese palazzo and Islamic style Spanish baths demonstrate Casebere's interest in vernacular architectural styles of diverse worldwide origin. A group of photographs inspired by spare mid-century American Modernist domestic and commercial structures, both recall Casebere's earlier works of the 90s, and at the same time expand upon his fascination with recent architectural and social history. In these seemingly ambiguous pieces Casebere conceptually manipulates "the revelation of an implied future for architectural space, a space at once of our unconscious and our lived reality, that describes the fragile treaty between the two."

Recent Casebere exhibitions have included a substantial one person show which originated at SECCA, Winston Salem, NC, and traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH; the Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN.

James Casebere is represented in numerous public and private collections worldwide including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France; the Neue Galerie der Stadt, Linz, Austria; the Mukha Museum, Antwerp, Belgium; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; the Tate Modern, London, England; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Checklist

Gallery 1:

Garage, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 88 inches (182 x 224 cm)
JC-148

Gallery 2 (clockwise from left):

Dorm Room, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 90 1/2 inches (182 x 230 cm)
JC-149

Turning Hallway, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 91 inches (182 x 231 cm)
JC-150

Wrap Around Window, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 91 1/2 inches (182 x 232 cm)
JC-151
Main Gallery (clockwise from left):

Spiral Staircase, 2002-2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
92 1/2 x 71 1/2 inches (235 x 182 cm)
JC-153

Red Room #1, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 89 1/2 inches (182 x 227 cm)
JC-144

Yellow Hallway #2, 2001-2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 AP
71 1/4 x 89 1/4 inches (181 x 227 cm)
JC-156

Minka with Dirt and Fog, 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 1/2 x 95 3/8 inches (182 x 242 cm)
JC-146

Siena (Vertical), 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
89 3/8 x 71 5/8 inches (227 x 182 cm)
JC-142

Spanish Bath (Vertical), 2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
90 x 71 1/2 inches (229 x 182cm)
JC-155

Green Staircase #4, 2002-2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
89 1/2 x 71 1/2 inches (228 x 182 cm)
JC-147

In the Director's Office:

Tunnel #2, 2002-2003
digital chromogenic print mounted to plexiglas
edition of 5 with 2 APs
71 5/8 x 90 inches (182 x 229 cm)
JC-152

All works except Minka with Dirt and Fog are available in 48 x 60 inches (122 x 152 cm).