Outside of a museum, where and how can we experience art? How can we recognize and nurture spaces for art every day? Is the art-object the beginning and end of art? Does art linger in spaces marginalized by traditional artistic designation? Perhaps in the street—perhaps in your kitchen?
Dailylife, a project organized by artist and FDNY employee David Gitt at the Bay Ridge art gallery Stand4, asks these questions of both artists and viewers. “What are the social possibilities of objects?” asks the Dailylife Facebook page. “How can art context be expanded towards a daily experience?”
Art practitioners are asked to produce a work for the exterior of the gallery, on a message-board-like panel. This panel, well within reach of passersby, is subject to the whims of the public and elements of nature, creating an outdoor dialogue. Inside the gallery, the same artists produce a piece that relates to their works outside. How does the context affect the art? Conversely, how does a viewer change their behavior or approach to an object inside a more traditional viewing space?
On Saturday April 7, a casual get-together launched the Dailylife project with refreshments and a roundtable talk between the organizer, the three participating artists (Arthur Brum, Paul Manlove and Joshua Clayton Willis) and about 15 interested interlocutors. Each artist, asked questions by Gitt about their projects, offered details regarding their concepts. With diverse mediums, from eggs to acrylic paint, and processes, from sculpting to printmaking, the artists discussed how their independent yet similar bodies of work contained within the gallery walls and outside of 414 78th St were influenced by both contexts.
“I especially like reflecting upon the tension and invitation to break social norms of walking away with a (free) piece of art,” said Bay Ridge resident and gallery-goer Naima Hall. “For me, it was an exercise in recognizing how strongly I identify with social norms.”
“The Dailylife project is activity that connects distribution systems with expanding social possibilities,” Gitt added. “That expansion seeks to change the role of art objects and offer participation.”
Similar Dailylife projects will be carried out several times a year at Stand4, but hurry over this weekend to catch the works of the current participating artists, Saturday April 14 and Sunday April 15, 12–4pm.
The proprietor of Stand4, Bay Ridge artist and educator Jeannine Bardo, expressed excitement about the project launch and looks forward to hosting more Dailylife events.
In April, Stand4 will also present a group show, Amazon Invisible Landscape, with participants of the LABVERDE residency; it opens on the 19th. The gallery will also host a celebration of Bay Ridge writer Gilbert Sorrentino—and a discussion on the state of literature in Bay Ridge—on the 27th.
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