States of Matter

Culture Reference continues their curatorial residency at The York with States of Matter, opening this Thursday, December 20th 8pm -- no cover!

Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg are a collaborative team with an eleven-year history working in sculpture, performance, and site-specific installation. Often incorporating scale models to explore deception and suspension of disbelief, a 19th century Midwestern farmhouse, frequently depicted in unlikely or impossible scenarios, has emerged as a central character in their work. Through it, they examine the psychology of place, ancestral memory, and the passage of time. More recently, McCaw and Budsberg have been performing for the camera, using photography and video to document the arduous toil of two pioneer-era characters that are the conceptual inhabitants of the farmhouse. Their photography also works to decontextualize the miniatures, exploiting the camera’s ability to eliminate scale cues and heighten the ambiguity of the subjects depicted. In exhibiting these works, structures often intersect or interact with the gallery walls and fixtures. This practice has led McCaw and Budsberg to an investigation of the gallery as an imperfect attempt to create a man-made void. The concept of the void is a thread that runs through much of their work, where subjects often appear to be fading in or out of the limits of perception. 

The work presented in States of Matter was produced in conjunction with the Center for Land Use Interpretation's Wendover, UT Residence program. 

Special thanks to MKE<->LAX for supporting States of Matter.