Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk

Curators: Robert Blackson and Candice Hopkins November 12, 2005 to March 26, 2006

Opening Reception
November 12, 2 to 4 p.m.

Jimmie Durham: Knew Urk combines elements of painting, assemblage, sculpture, and works in stone. Since returning to Europe in 1994, Durham has concentrated on the European culture of architecture and belief. Throughout his forty-year career, Durham has advocated that, “…the purpose of art is to help people interpret their world so that they may be better able to change it in positive ways.” Rather than relying on the mythology of the artists as “creator,” Durham appreciates the role of the artist as one who rearranges objects that exist in society – implying a direct relationship between social and artistic processes.

Also included in this exhibition is video and sculptural work related to Durham’s public commission in the River Wear in Sunderland, Particle/Wave Theory #2. The River Wear’s rich history as both a shipping port and trading hub gives rise to many curious facts and legends. Some of these stories lie buried in the river’s bed. Durham has added to this heritage with a new public artwork and performance where the artist, on July 16, 2005, sunk a boat with a granite boulder.

This exhibition challenges what the artist describes as the “heavy, laden metaphors” attached to stone and its European history. Stone has played a significant role in Durham’s artistic practice over the past decade. In his practice stone is metaphoric – it stands for all things structured: architecture, monumentality, and belief.

Jimmie Durham is a Washington born and Berlin-based artist, writer, and activist. His distinct and critical voice is spiked by puns, poetry, and political invective. Durham, of Cherokee heritage, was active in the American Indian Movement throughout the 1970s and in the early 1980s. His work has been exhibited widely at venues including the Venice Biennale; Whitney Biennial, Matt’s Gallery, London; Documenta; DAAD Gallery, Berlin, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London. This exhibition is organized in partnership with the Reg Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland, U.K.

Knew Urk is Jimmie Durham’s first solo exhibition in Canada and his first solo exhibition in North America in over a decade.