Media Release
For immediate
release
November 2, 2005
Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk
November 12, 2005 to March 26, 2006
Opening reception: 2 p.m., Saturday, November 12
Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre
On July 16, 2005, a small boat was sunk with a granite boulder in the River Wear in Sunderland, UK. Artist, writer, and activist, Jimmie Durham took responsibility for the sinking, which was part of a publicly commissioned artwork and performance piece titled Particle/Wave Theory #2. Video and sculptural work related to this public commission will be part of Durham’s upcoming exhibition Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk, opening at 2 p.m. at The Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery, November 12.
Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk combines elements of painting, assemblage, sculpture, and works in stone. This exhibition challenges what the artist describes as the “heavy, laden metaphors” attached to stone and its European history. Stone, for Durham, is metaphoric, and stands for all things structured: architecture, monumentality, truth and belief.
Throughout his forty year career, Jimmie Durham has advocated that “the purpose of art is to help people interpret their world so that they may be better able to change it in positive ways”. Durham considers the role of the artist as one who rearranges objects that exist in society, and in doing so implies a direct relationship between social and artistic processes. With Particle/Wave Theory #2, Durham plays on the River Wear’s rich history as a shipping and trading hub and the curious facts, legends, and stories that lie buried in the river’s bed.
Curated by Robert Blackson and Candice Hopkins, and co-organized by the Reg Vardy Gallery in Sunderland, UK, Knew Urk is Durham’s first solo exhibition in Canada and his first solo exhibition in North America in over a decade. The exhibition will open with a reception at 2 p.m. Saturday, November 12 and run through to March 26, 2006. In conjunction with the opening of Knew Urk, Durham will launch a new artist book, The Second Particle Wave Theory (as performed on the banks of the River Wear, a stone’s throw from S’underland and the Durham Cathedral). The book is written in Durham’s unique style, complete with original illustrations.
Washington born and Berlin-based, Durham, of Cherokee heritage, was active in the American Indian Movement throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. His work has been exhibited widely at venues including the Venice Biennale; Whitney Biennial, Matt’s Gallery, London; Documenta; DAAD Gallery, Berlin, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London.
Downloadable images for Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk are available at: http://www.banffcentre.ca/media_room/images/wpg/default.htm#durham
Media Contact
Jill Sawyer
Media and Communications Officer, The Banff Centre
403.762.6475