About
Vegas Gallery is pleased to present Yee Haw! a show that examines how images and ideas about the American West are assimilated, revised and represented in the works of a number of contemporary artists, most of whom are not American. Exploring a full range of media and practices, Yee Haw! covers ground from the conceptual reconstituted collections of Canadian Dallas Seitz to the narrative sci-fi western starring Peaches as the Sheriff by Germans, Mario
Mentrup and Volker Sattel. The beautiful works of German photographer Uta Kögelsberger not only show arresting images of the American West, but their very process of construction echoes the way in which the first pioneers came to gaze on these strange, grand landscapes. The skillfully rendered portraits by Eric Wright of Country and Western stars compliment the jointly made work that he has produced with Cathy Ward where the languages of a romanticized West are distilled into familiar folklore forms that belie the dark macabre tales of death on the plains from
which they have grown. By contrast, her individual photographic works of ghost town wax works
acting out an unreliable history in their frozen tableaux retain a certain documentary distance. In lifeless wax, showgirls, saloons and lynching abounds. The motif of the noose appears again in the work of true Texan, Michael Petry where the familiar iconography of the West becomes assimilated into conceptual offerings that deal with identity and a distinct sexuality.
The impressive bodies of works of the individual contributing artists in this exhibition have been shown worldwide in prestigious venues ranging from museums such as Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris to Kunsthalle Basel and P.S.1 MoMa, New York.
Established specialist institutions such as such as the Bloomberg Space, London; MAMA, Rotterdam and Berwick Gymnasium are as heavily represented on their collated CV’s as international commercial galleries, including the likes of Stephen Friedman, London and Sandaram Tagore Gallery, New York. More than one contributing artist has shown works at a Venice Biennale.
Film Screening Information
Stadt des Lichts –City Of Light
A film by Mario Mentrup & Volker Sattel
Germany 2005
Color, digital, 60 Min.
Pro: Vakant Film
Script : Mario Mentrup
Camera: Volker Sattel
Editor: Volker Sattel
Score: Patric Catani
Art: Katia Fouquet
Cast: Angie Reed, Claudia Basrawi, Burak Yigit, Chloe Griffin, Rainer Knepperges,
Pascale Schiller, Stephan Geene, Peaches, Bennet Togler, Katja Diefenbach, Mario
Mentrup, Diana Dart
Screenings of “Stadt des Lichts” will commence each hour on the hour during gallery opening times.The film is in German with English subtitles.
Michael Petry appears courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery NYC, Devin Borden Hiram
Butler gallery, Houston and Westbrook Gallery, London.
An extended press release containing more information on the artists and works in the show and/or CV’s of contributing artists are available upon request.
