Kickstarter

I've been given an opportunity to have a solo exhibition at Zieher Smith gallery in Chelsea this September. My proposal was to turn their space into something like an abandoned bank, complete with offices, a boardroom, a vault, and furnish that new environment with an array of objects and gestures that would further an extended inquiry into the nature of various aspects of the American Dream. This project isn't about banking, per se, but more concerned with greater themes of responsibility and disaster and redemption and hope. It has as much to do with failed levies as levied failures. This bank of sorts will be highly charged and deeply anachronistic, reaching into many different aspects of the history of American dreams.

This is a massive undertaking. Over a hundred feet of walls, half a dozen different doors, a bunch of wallpaper and beadboard paneling, several very large sculptures, dozens of smaller ones, vintage and reproduction lighting fixtures, tin ceiling panels, baseboards, mouldings, a little bit of plumbing, a taxidermied turkey... I've been working on this for some time now. But just because this is a solo show doesn't mean I can do it alone. I've moved my studio to a large space in Newburgh (across the Hudson from Beacon) just so I could take on a project of this scale. The help I need involves covering some building-material expense, but mostly the large and arduous task of physically moving all of this artwork and material out of the studio, into a moving van, and down to the city where it will be installed. And, in the end, I will also be faced with the unglamorous task of deinstalling this massive project and delivering it back from whence it came in a very short period of time. I will need a lot of assistance. 

I have the people available, and I can drive a van. I've organized and installed large projects before (No Apology For Breathing at Jack the Pelican Presents in 2005, and Some Exhaust at Lehmann Maupin the year before ) as well as small projects and over 40 exhibitions while working for a commercial gallery in New York and abroad.  

This project is at the limits of my abilities as an artist, and significantly beyond my abilities as an autonomous financial being. Your contribution to this project will help make the last steps possible and bring this ambitious plan to fruition.

Images and descriptions of all rewards and incentives for participation can be found on my pinterest page.

Thanks for your time and attention.

Best regards,

Matthew