William Lamson: Badwater, 2018/2020
William Lamson
February 6-April 11, 2020
Grossman Gallery
Badwater is a complex installation of objects, materials and processes that create an abiotic ecosystem, a network of non-living things that, while inanimate, continue to exert their material agency. In a time when extreme weather conditions have become a reality around the world and in California in particular, Badwater uses a climate controlling infrastructure to create an accelerated cycle of flood and drought. Inspired by the saltwater spring in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin, and the resilient ecosystem around it that has evolved to withstand these harsh conditions, this piece is a generative work that brings these quiet geologic forces into the gallery and allows them to develop over the duration of the exhibition.
Artist’s talk by William Lamson
Tuesday, February 25
4:15 at Landis Cinema, Buck Hall. A reception for the artist at Grossman Gallery follows
In an illustrated talk, William Lamson will focus on recent video and installation projects, the varied nature of his practice, and the challenges he faces as an artist.
About the artist:
William Lamson is an interdisciplinary artist whose diverse practice involves working with elemental forces to create durational performative actions. Set in landscapes as varied as New York’s East River and Chile’s Atacama Desert, his projects reveal the invisible systems and forces at play within these sites. In all of his projects, Lamson’s work represents a performative gesture, a collaboration with forces outside of his control to explore systems of knowledge and belief. Lamson’s work has been exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, including the Brooklyn Museum, The Moscow Biennial, P.S.1. MOMA, Kunsthalle Erfurt, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, and Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles. In addition, he has produced site specific installations for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Center For Land Use Interpretation, and Storm King Art Center. His work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and a number of private collections. He has been awarded grants from the Shifting Foundation, the Experimental Television Center, and most recently, he is 2014 Guggenheim Fellow. His work has appeared in ArtForum, Frieze, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, Harpers, and the Village Voice. William Lamson was born Arlington, Virginia and lives in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his MFA from Bard College, and he teaches in the Parsons MFA photography program and at the School of Visual Arts.
Additional information about William Lawson can be found here.