Gertrude Glasshouse
Curated by Beth Rose Caird
26 April – 26 May 2018
Taking its name from the title and first line of an Emily Dickinson poem There is a pain – so utter takes as a fluid and amorphic genesis, ideas of doubt, retreat, openness, transparency and dialogue. Instigated by current Gertrude Studio Artist Beth Caird, the selection of artists reflects her research into strategies of withdrawal and reluctance to pose questions around what it is to create work, what it is to be an artist and not create work, what it is to be human and what it may be to be human together. Referencing Lee Lozano’s iconic work / anti-work Dropout Piece (1969-1972), in which the artist committed to a period of time of not making art and consciously withdrawing from the art world, the artists in There is a pain – so utter individually and collectively consider what it might be to absent one’s own voice, and to reflect vulnerability and transformation as an artistic gesture and to work as a strategy to disrupt the proclivity toward constant making and participation.