Three Tall Men: Peter Harkawik
PETER HARKAWIK WITH GROW BOX W/ LIGHT
Though Gallery Space's current exhibit, Three Tall Men, shares the work of three exceptionally tall men, the show is not inherently autobiographical. Curator Ben Lord also advises that the title is not intended to act as a point of departure for the artists. Driving this home, featured artist Peter Harkawik reveals, "I loathe the fact that I am tall, and am endlessly frustrated that people take it as a point of conversational departure when they meet me. As far as I am concerned, there is absolutely no relationship between my height and my work...I wish I would have been shorter."
Peter Harkawik has shown work in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris and this summer was the subject of a two-person exhibition at Night Gallery (Los Angeles). He recently moderated a panel that addressed the relevancy of typisierung on contemporary visual practice titled The Type at Andrea Rosen Gallery (New York). He holds a BA in Critical Theory from Hampshire College.
For the exhibit, Harkawik fashioned a metal sculpture over a precarious-looking base of three tall, thin metal legs. Placed under a UV grow light, asymmetrical cavities in the structure house a variety of live, edible plants. The self-sufficient biosphere toys with archology, a term rooted in architecture and ecology. It's an idea often linked with science fiction. Inspired by the design of a 1920's modern building in Italy, the structure calls to mind a futuristic, Utopian space ship traversing the galaxy. The viewer is drawn to touch and smell and also to question growth, vegetation and material transformation within an unexpected space.
Peter Harkawik has shown work in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris and this summer was the subject of a two-person exhibition at Night Gallery (Los Angeles). He recently moderated a panel that addressed the relevancy of typisierung on contemporary visual practice titled The Type at Andrea Rosen Gallery (New York). He holds a BA in Critical Theory from Hampshire College.
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Three Tall Men will be on display at Gallery Space through October 24th. For more information, please contact gallery@space15twenty.com
