Rules of the Game

About

The primary difference between sport and art is the existence of agreed-upon rules. Art has etiquette, a context something like a set of rules, but as a set of discourses essentially rooted in exceptionality, the making of art in general is fairly anarchic. Rather, every artist’s practice proposes, self-consciously or not, a set of rules, a new game they're playing, and part of our job as viewer is, much like a viewer of an unfamiliar sport, to figure out what those rules are. This is the game where we don't touch the ball with our hands. This is the game where we have to bounce the ball if we're moving. This is the game where we punch each other until one of us can't stand. Art is the game where we make up rules and try to explain them until we can’t stand either.

Much like athletes, artists are constrained, whether by their own design or by the physical demands of making objects, in ways that govern their practice. In this exhibition, we consider artists whose works embody or thematically engage with systems of rules which, as in sport, provide frameworks in which meaning takes shape.

Palma Blank, Amanda Browder, Paul Corio, Jean Alexander Frater, Ben McNutt, Michael Namkung, Norm Paris, Derrick Velasquez