HALF-LIFE OF MEMORY
In 2017, my breath was taken away when I first encountered Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture , Return to Avenza II at the Dia:Beacon Museum. Five days later, I painted my memory of the experience. After nearly a year, I became curious. How did my visual memory of that first experience change over time? I made a second painting, resulting in the dyptch, Portrait of Louise, 5 days later and Portrait of Louise, 343 days later. These paintings became the catalyst for a larger body of work appraising my visual memory and the unstable sway of time. It recalls four life-changing moments, repression, acceptance and transformation. Each part of a journey, ranging anywhere from a few minutes to almost forty years.
AMERICAN SIDESHOW
The American Sideshow series recasts early 20th century sideshow characters from entertainment oddities to docents of cultural and political events.
BE SAFE BE SEEN
As international movements take hold and flourish, protests are often reinterpreted by cable news, internet snippets and enigmatic memes. This collaboration explores the desire for direct experience with the Yellow Vest Movement in Paris, France.
Artifacts of the Yellow Vest movement (sound and adornment) are drawn upon to create an empathetic relationship with the movement and its participants. Both artists work from the outside in. One, cocoons in the movement’s symbolic yellow tunic.The other, swims in the sounds of the protests.
Digital video, 2019
Michael Kuehler, Sound
David Kueher, Performance
Rituals of Resistance
Nasty Girls Collective, New Haven Connecticut
2019
WE WORK
WeWork facilities claim to be the "work spaces of the future." Membership includes: 24 hour access, a desk, wifi, and a cooler filled with all the vegetable infused water you can drink. There are even cucumbers etched with Inspirational quotes, such as "Don't stop when you're tired, stop when you're done," This series of paintings is in response to WeWork's unique culture. Each painting was completed in a single business day.
© 2022 David Kuehler