Halsey Rodman: Gradually/We Became Aware/Of a Hum in the Room

About

Art in General is pleased to present Halsey Rodman’s Gradually/We Became Aware/Of a Hum in the Room, a New Commission in collaboration with High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA.

Gradually/We Became Aware/Of a Hum in the Room presents a temporally distributed architectural structure conceived for two locations: the desert of High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA and Art in General’s 6th floor gallery in the heart of downtown New York City. The work begins in the desert as a triangular building divided into three identical rooms. Each room has a circular window looking out upon the landscape and contains a series of near-identical “fixtures”: a desk, a chair, and a shelf. The interior and fixtures are painted distinct colors according to the single descriptive text below.

I AM THINKING OF A REVERSE SUNSET THAT NEITHER OF US HAS EVER SEEN: WHAT YOU SEE IN THE SKY OPPOSITE THE SUNSET.

WHAT SURROUNDS THE PRISM IN THE DESERT IN THE FUTURE IS OUT OF REACH SO

I WILL PULL THESE COLORS FROM THE AIR.

FOUR COLORS ABOVE THE TAN DESERT SCRUB IN THE GRAYING SKY FADE
TOWARDS THE LIGHT BLUE DUSK: DUSTY PURPLE, MAGENTA, FADING RED, PEACH AND ON INTO THAT AIRLESS BLUE

THE FIFTH COLOR IS YELLOW: THE CONE OF A FLASHLIGHT IN A PITCH
BLACK ROOM

One year later the work will be dismantled, transported, and reassembled inside Art in General’s gallery, the previous exterior walls unfolded to become the interior. The three (formerly) exterior walls create a central, open triangular area and the interiors and walls of the rooms will be splayed-out around the perimeter. All windows in the gallery are open, allowing the shifting light to filter in, clock-like, from the outside. The presence of the desert landscape is collapsed into the center of the inside-out structure, an exterior folded in upon itself. This inverted structure, now established as a zone of exchange, interpenetration, and blurring between interior and exterior, suggests a consensual, productive encounter of time and architecture.

Halsey Rodman (b. 1973) is an American artist living and working in New York, NY. Rodman received his BA from the College of Creative Studies at the University of Santa Barbara in 1995 and his MFA from Columbia University in 2003. Rodman has been the subject of solo exhibitions including Cave System or Ear Canal, Soloway, New York, NY (2013); The Birds, Guild & Greyshkul, New York, NY (2008); The Navigator’s Quarters Must Not Be Disturbed, Guild & Greyshkul, New York, NY (2006); among others. His work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including A Room in Three Movements, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY (2011); in here, Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY (2010); The Line of Time and the Plane of Now, curated by Jacob Dyrenforth, Ohad Meromi, and Halsey Rodman, Harris Lieberman, New York, NY (2007); among others. His work has been the subject of articles in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Brooklyn Rail, TimeOut New York; among others.

Founded in 2002, High Desert Test Sites, is a non-profit organization that pays tribute to inspirational figures in our surrounding community and generates dialogue and reciprocal exchange with international contemporary artists and critical thinkers whose practices transcend traditional art world formats. Over the last eleven years HDTS has endeavored to encourage experimental art that engages with the world at large. They support and draw attention to independent projects that happen outside of the auspices of larger institutions and challenge artists and audiences to expand the definition of art to take on new areas of relevancy. highdeserttestsites.com

High Desert Test Sites is grateful to their generous supporters and volunteers, including Malado Francine Baldwin, Luke Davis, Josephine Edmondson, Lauren Gallow, Anna Ialeggio, Hannah Jackson, Sophie Stid, and Angie Terry.