Louise Erdrich: Asynchronous Reading
A collaborative installation with Aza Erdrich, Pallas Erdrich, and Heid E. Erdrich
Bockley Gallery is pleased to announce the first ever show of visual art and text by distinguished author Louise Erdrich. Asynchronous Reading presents Erdrich’s paintings, collage-boxes, and found-object constructions along with poetic text and audio works to create an experience to be viewed, read, and heard. Aza Erdrich and Pallas Erdrich contribute key images and media works to an installation curated by Heid E. Erdrich who also collaborated on parts of the exhibit.
Although Louise Erdrich illustrated several of her own books, she has rarely shared her artwork in public. Asynchronous Reading includes large found-object sculptural figures, collage boxes incorporating poetry and prose by Erdrich, paintings paired with boxes of scripts written on birch bark, and other complex works both abstract and representational. A desk at the “Agency Apophany,” whose agents investigate the mysteries of life, focuses the installation. Poem-phones—voiced by the author in an intimate tone—provide a number of unresolved “cases” to ponder. A “back story” taped to the back of some artworks lends depth to this collaborative statement on the relentless human need to find meaning even, and especially, where none may exist
Louise Erdrich’s paintings in abstract lines use strict palettes in indigo and crimson. Her sculptural works, vertical columns created of found objects, are as much character sketch as figure. Her collage boxes are both landscape and setting. Novelist Louise Erdrich’s narrative urge is evident in the installation, but never satisfied, never settled by the works, so that those who engage the exhibit are invited to experience such urges, and attendant curiosities, themselves.
Louise Erdrich is owner of Birchbark Books neighboring Bockley Gallery. Her family of collaborators includes Aza Erdrich, a trained visual artist, has contributed cover art for several books including the iconic image of the red-draped woman on The Round House, Louise Erdrich’s 2013 novel, which won a National Book Award. Pallas Erdrich is a creative director for a tech company and an art director in the film industry. Poet Heid E. Erdrich has curated dozens of visual art exhibits and has directed interdisciplinary performances and short films. Please contact Bockley Gallery for more information or press photos.
Info
Exhibition: April 1 through April 18, 2015
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 1, 6 to 9 PM
Artist Talk: April 17, 7 PM
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 PM
“The gumballs seemed strangely timeless once placed in antique shot glasses. She said they reminded her of the timeless time trapped in the creations of Joseph Cornell, whose boxes she had held in a dim museum basement shortly after he died. She found herself putting together what she called “her thoughts” and constructing a large totemic figure...”