Jessica Silverman
Jessica Silverman
×
← BACK
← PREVIOUS WORK
NEXT WORK →
Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View
← PREVIOUS
Clues to Civilization
INQUIRE
NEXT →
×
← BACK
← PREVIOUS WORK
NEXT WORK →
<em>-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 (5th Grade Classroom, Chinese American International School)</em>, 1983-87<br>Archival pigment print<br>30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm<br>Edition of 5 + 1 AP
← PREVIOUS WORK
INQUIRE
NEXT WORK →

Clues to Civilization

Clues to Civilization

July 8-August 14, 2021

Jessica Silverman is pleased to announce Catherine Wagner: Clues to Civilization, an expansive survey of photographs by the artist created from 1982-2014 that runs from July 9 to August 14, 2021. The exhibition comprises four series of works from Wagner’s career: American Classroom, Realism and Illusion, Reparations and Rome Works. Spanning over three decades, each of the series are fortified by a rigorous examination of knowledge creation and transference, reckoning with collective historical foundations and the concept of the body politic. Working as a conceptual artist through the medium of photography, Wagner places the enduring crisis of the human knowledge order front and center, using the inanimate to reconfigure dominant narratives and systems of thought. This is her first solo exhibition with Jessica Silverman.

Press: Aperture

INSTALLATION VIEW
SELECTED WORKS
ARTIST BIO
OTHER EXHIBITIONS

INSTALLATION VIEW

Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View Installation View

SELECTED WORKS

Only If Interested (Textile Studio), 1982
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
“Only If Interested" (Textile Studio)
A to H, M to T (School for the Deaf), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
A to H, M to T (School for the Deaf)
-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 (5th Grade Classroom, Chinese American International School), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 (5th Grade Classroom, Chinese American International School)
Only If Interested (Textile Studio), 1982
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
“Only If Interested" (Textile Studio)
A to H, M to T (School for the Deaf), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
A to H, M to T (School for the Deaf)
-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 (5th Grade Classroom, Chinese American International School), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 (5th Grade Classroom, Chinese American International School)
Beginning in the early 1980s and first exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the American Classroom series includes black-and-white photographs of American schools and learning environments. The works are evacuated of human subjects and depict empty classrooms, written text left on chalkboards, or a poignant creative writing story displayed on an early computer; objects are personified and haunt the image-plane, showing residues of human activity.
Catherine Wagner
Everlasting Love, 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Everlasting Love
Catherine Wagner
World (5th Grade Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
World (5th Grade Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
I Don’t Know (College Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
I Don’t Know (College Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
Everlasting Love, 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Everlasting Love
Catherine Wagner
World (5th Grade Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
World (5th Grade Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
I Don’t Know (College Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
I Don’t Know (College Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
DH Lawrence Kicks Ass (University Humanities Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
20 x 24 inches / 50.8 x 60.96 cm
Edition of 12 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
DH Lawrence Kicks Ass (University Humanities Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
Optic Nerve (7th Grade Science Room), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Optic Nerve (7th Grade Science Room)
Catherine Wagner
Anatomy Lesson (University Science Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
20 x 24 inches / 50.8 x 60.96 cm
Edition of 12 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Anatomy Lesson (University Science Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
DH Lawrence Kicks Ass (University Humanities Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
20 x 24 inches / 50.8 x 60.96 cm
Edition of 12 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
DH Lawrence Kicks Ass (University Humanities Classroom)
Catherine Wagner
Optic Nerve (7th Grade Science Room), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Optic Nerve (7th Grade Science Room)
Catherine Wagner
Anatomy Lesson (University Science Classroom), 1983-87
Archival pigment print
20 x 24 inches / 50.8 x 60.96 cm
Edition of 12 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Anatomy Lesson (University Science Classroom)
Realism and Illusion from 1995 is a subversive analysis of Disney theme parks in Tokyo, Orlando, Paris, and Anaheim. Works in this series such as Gendered House and Southern California Landscape closely examine the illusory nature of built environments and the coercive, constricting nature of archetypes, particularly when they originate from a singular gaze driven by American culture.
Catherine Wagner
Southern California Landscape, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Southern California Landscape
Catherine Wagner
Gendered House, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Gendered House
Catherine Wagner
Stylish Interior, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Stylish Interior
Catherine Wagner
Dream Kitchen, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Dream Kitchen
Catherine Wagner
Tokyo Wildlife, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Tokyo Wildlife
Catherine Wagner
Japanese Elephants, 1995
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches / 101.6 x 127 cm
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Japanese Elephants
Two works included in the exhibition from Wagner’s Reparations series traverse the history of the prosthetic splint, responding directly to the circulation of images of war and violence that condition the contemporary present. Moving away from essentializing images of human pain, the artist instead photographs splints and prosthetics from throughout history to show the body as both a resilient and political instrument.
Catherine Wagner
Gracious Gesture, 2008
Archival pigment print
22 x 34 inches / 55.9 x 86.4 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Gracious Gesture
Catherine Wagner
Heroic Gesture, 2008
Archival pigment print
22 x 34 inches / 55.9 x 86.4 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Heroic Gesture
Catherine Wagner
Wrists, 2008
Archival pigment print
Each: 20 x 16 inches / 50.8 x 40.6 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Wrists, 2008
Catherine Wagner
Mobility and Strength, 2008
Archival pigment print
40 x 30 inches / 101.6 x 76.2 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Mobility and Strength
Catherine Wagner
Metal Foot, 2008
Archival pigment print
24 x 20 inches / 61 x 50.8 cm
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Metal Foot
The most recent series in the exhibition from 2014, Rome Works, are photographs of galleries and sculptures being conserved and restored at historical institutions such as the Musei Capitolini and Palazzo Altemps. Works such as Artemis/Diana re-contextualize Classical sculpture to puncture conventional narratives of icons. In the photo, a sculpture of the Greek goddess Artemis’ torso is suspended in an electric blue strap, complicating the God of the hunt’s mythological legacy as a woman who could not be tied down.
Catherine Wagner
Emperors’ Hall, 2014
Archival pigment print
37 1/2 x 50 inches / 95.3 x 127 cm
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Emperors’ Hall
Catherine Wagner
Philosophers’ Hall, 2014
Archival pigment print
37 1/2 x 50 inches / 95.3 x 127 cm
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
INQUIRE
Philosophers’ Hall
Catherine Wagner
Artemis / Diana, 2014
Archival pigment print
45 x 60 inches / 114.3 x 152.4 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Artemis / Diana
Catherine Wagner
Constantine Fragments, 2014
Archival pigment print
60 x 80 inches / 152.4 x 203.2 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
INQUIRE
Constantine Fragments
×