Last year, when everything was great and wonderful, it was common practice for
me and a friend to respond to each sparkling piece of good news with the refrain
. . . We’re all gonna die.
This was punctuated with the sound affect – pooouuucchhhh!
This year, now that everything is awful and worrisome, its still common for my
friend and me to evoke the refrain. The fact that my funny friend and I are both
cancer survivors is not without significance – although this of course does not
change the basic facts of life, on or under the ground.
I joked seriously that someone should curate a show with this eponymous
refrain and almost one year to the joke’s inception day . . . it is done.
Ladies and gentlemen, I existentially bring you: We’re all gonna die.
Built on the notion that death is both, universal and personal, tragic and comedic
and basically as unknowable as life is knowable, the assembled artists have
been tasked with speaking truth to mystery, while folding their own meditations
into the larger group-think.
Two galleries will participate in a Part A (Comedic) and Part B (Tragic) – Number
35 and Sue Scott Gallery, respectively.
A billboard designed by artist Gary Simmons will function as the show’s macro-
announcement and micro- announcement card image. The billboard is to be
installed on the corner of Rivington and Bowery, below Sue Scott Gallery.
Participants in Part A (May 30 – July 10) are:
Andisheh Avini
Tanya Barr
A.J. Bocchino
Christopher Daniels
Alex Dodge
Carroll Dunham
Douglas Gordon
Kara Hamilton
Maira Kalman
Markus Linnenbrink
Gary Rough
Gary Simmons
Laurie Simmons
Charles Spurrier
Participants in Part B (June 25 – July 31) are:
Sarah Charlesworth
Anthony Conway
Paola Ferrario
Kara Hamilton
Hugo Kobayashi
Robert Lazzarini
Miyeon Lee
Catarina Leitão
Markus Linnenbrink
Robin Lowe
Marilyn Minter
Carol Peligian
Gary Rough
Gary Simmons
Laurie Simmons
Lorna Simpson
Charles Spurrier
Joni Sternbach
Fred Tomaselli
Ron Keyson
New York
May 2009