View from exhibition, ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013. Photo: Paul LItherland
Anarchism Without Adjectives: On the Work of Christopher D’Arcangelo, 1975–1979
4 September – 26 October 2013
at Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal
Curated by Dean Inkster and Sébastien Pluot in collaboration with Michèle Thériault
“When I state that I am an anarchist, I must also state that I am not an anarchist, to be in keeping with the (….) idea of anarchism. Long live anarchism”
– Christopher D’Arcangelo
Between 1975 and 1979, the North American artist Christopher D’Arcangelo (1955-1979) developed an artistic practice that was notable for its radicality and critical import concerning the role of the artist, the status of the art object and the institutionalization of art. A desire for a radical democratization of the production and reception of art motivated D’Arcangelo’s institutional critique, which he voiced in a statement on anarchism. Recalling the historical expression “anarchism without adjectives,†the statement, which accompanied in various forms the majority of his actions and interventions, contains an ellipsis between brackets in the place of an adjectival descriptor of the noun anarchism.
Although interest in D’Arcangelo has not been entirely absent over the last thirty years, to date, no posthumous exhibition or critical evaluation of his work has been undertaken. The written and visual documents that D’Arcangelo compiled to chronicle his practice, have been made available at the Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University, following a donation in 2009 by Cathy Weiner and the D’Arcangelo Family Partnership to the library’s “Downtown Collection.â€
Testifying to an artist engaged in a critique of the social conditions and repercussions of art, and whose work is accessible solely in the form of an archive, represents a challenge to both contemporary art history and curatorial practice. It is this challenge, along with the paradoxes and critical complexities D’Arcangelo’s work and legacy raise, that the exhibition considers and analyzes. [read the full text here]
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
LB-165
Concordia University
1455 blvd. de Maisonneuve West
Montréal (Québec) H3G 1M8
Canada
ellengallery.concordia.ca
Opening hours
Tuesday – Friday 12h00 – 18h00
Saturday: 12h00 – 17h00
View from exhibition, ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013. Photo: Paul LItherland
View from exhibition (Sophie Bélair Clément, Reads Plato’s Parmenides? 1978, 2005, 2013, 2013), ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013. Photo: Caroline Boileau
View from exhibition, ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013. Photo: Caroline Boileau