Scott Keightley’s Arshile Beach
On March 25th, 6-8pm, please join us for a closing party for newly finished work from Scott Keightley’s residency at Recess.
A description from the artist:
Walk in the wind.
The flax grows by the fountain
under the gibbous moon,
Ursa Major like a proud father.
–Scott Keightley Arshile Beach
On March 25th, Scott Keightley will be presenting the fruit of his struggles at Recess Art. The tree in the sculpture case has flowered bright yellow flowers, and a spider has built a web on the sculpture within; “Road to the Sun.”
The title of this installation refers to a beach underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (on the Manhattan side) that the artist has been frequenting for many years. An undefined, unnamed space, it is full of creative potential and relative calm, and is a major source of art materials and inspiration for the artist, continually replenished with each ebb and flow of the East River. The artist has named the beach “Arshile Beach” after the late painter, Arshile Gorky. For his final exhibition at Recess, the artist will be showing
“Arshile/Archilles” an oil painting executed on a drop cloth and hung as a flag outside of the gallery on a derelict flagpole. One side is painted white, denoting surrender, the other is saturated with oil and crossed out. There are formal allusions to Gorky’s work; and to his demise -a noose is hidden among bundles of braided rope, the word despair plainly written on the upper right hand corner of the painting in bright yellow.
“The Road to the Sun,” a sculpture made of lumber, cut glass, fired clay, detritus found below the Brooklyn Bridge, honey dyed with the artists blood, and concrete. To be installed next year in a densely wooded area on a small island.
“Dead Men,” self hardening clay, repeatedly shattered and glued back together, paint.
“Heroine,” Detritus found beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, fired clay.
“The Bluest Wreckage and Lighter My Steps,” watercolor on paper from the artists boyhood sketchbook, glass, cold pressed poster board, table.
The artist has also has painted the Facade of the building yellow and then pale blue, installed vinyl drawings in the storefront windows, knocked down several walls, and created a host of seemingly transitory works of art.
In addition, Metropolis, both the original Fritz Lang version and the Japanese Animated version will be projected in the gallery one after the other, continually, for the remainder of his residency.
National Public Radio will be played 24 hours a day to honor the now-threatened public radio station.
The artist lies entwined with the cousin of death, his dreams beside him, breathing slow and heavy like trees.
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
–T. S. Eliot “The Hollow Men”
Scott Keightley
Arshile Beach
Saturday, March 25, from 6-8.
