"Aesthetic Anarchy"

Elena Bajo

Sara MacKillop

Cristiana Palandri

Opening:  Sunday, November 13, 5 - 9pm

              As part of Performa 11, Elena Bajo will perform A Script For a Form at 6:30pm

Exhibition Dates:  November 13, 2011 – January 8, 2012

Scaramouche is pleased to present the group exhibition “Aesthetic Anarchy.” Working site-specifically with found objects and non-traditional materials such as jigsaw puzzles, wax, and stretcher bars, Elena Bajo, Sara MacKillop, and Cristiana Palandri, install work that’s latently, and often literally, performative. As opposed to a conception of art that’s closed off from time and space and restricted to specific mediums and histories, “Aesthetic Anarchy” upends these values, exchanging pictorial space for a present-time that’s in-flux, contingent, and engaged with the body.

Elena Bajo’s A Script for a Form articulates an anarchist manifesto as a regimented structure of glass panes and wood blocks. In tandem with paintings and other appropriated objects, her quotidian building materials become the armature for “blind performances,” in which dancers, actors, and musicians interpret a text through bodily movement and sound.

Cristiana Palandri also derives her work from the corporeal. A series of pen, white plaster, and ink drawings resemble tendrils of hair, while her Diatomea series, drawings of India ink on wood board, derive their title from microscopic alga, evoking similarly illegible forms. Applying uneven layers of paraffin wax to the drawings’ surfaces, not only is her source material de-signified, drawing itself is deconstructed.

Evoking the floor-based works of Carl Andre, Sara MacKillop’s installation Jigsaws is composed of flat, large jigsaw puzzles that overlap and distribute along the floor of the gallery. Each is composed of hundreds of pieces, and much like the common materials used by many minimalist practitioners, MacKillop’s use of everyday objects reconfigures their former, interactive utility for newfound artistic purpose—one that, much like the other artists in Aesthetic Anarchy, invasively encroach upon “white cube” conventions.

During the opening reception on November 13th, Elena Bajo will perform A Script for a Form as part of Performa 11’s Fluxus Weekend. Orchestrating her manifesto in real-time with improvised movement and music, dancers and musicians will perform around Bajo’s installation.

Elena Bajo (1976, Spain) received her MFA from Saint Martins School of Art, London. Recent solo shows include Frame, Frieze Art Fair, London, and The Woodmill, London. Select group exhibitions include Sculpture Center, New York, and Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow.

Sara MacKillop (1973, UK) received her MA in painting from the Royal College of Art. Recent solo shows include White Columns, New York; Dundee Contemporary Art, Scotland; Salle de Bains, Lyon, France. Recent group exhibitions include Kimmerich Gallery, New York and Serpentine Gallery, London.

Cristiana Palandri (1977, Italy) is a graduate in Fine Arts of the University of Bologna. Recent solo exhibitions include Fondazione Merz, Turin; Scaramouche, New York; MLAC–Museum Laboratory of Contemporary Art, Rome; Ex Quarter Center of Contemporary Art, Florence. Select group exhibitions include Horton Gallery, Berlin; Museum of Art Seoul National University, Seoul; BACC–Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok.