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Mike Piscitelli, Devolution

November 3

Curated by Neil Grayson

November 3 – December 8, 2001

Curated by Neil Grayson

In “Devolution,” artist Mike Piscitelli has re-rendered photographs in a striking collection of red and black painted bitmaps. Bitmaps are commonly used in image-editing computer programs to represent images through a grid of small squares known as pixels. Piscitelli has appropriated the bitmap technique to create paintings that reveal their images by breaking them apart.

As the name suggests, the works in “Devolution” follow a controlled pattern of deteriorating detail. As pixels are added and removed, the images they represent are surrendered and re-rendered at varying distances.

The paintings take their images from Piscitelli’s photographs of friends and models. The figures are starkly androgynous, suggesting a sexual, as well as graphic, retrogression. Thin and free from curves or irregularities, their bodies recall the innocent and straightforward, though nonetheless charged, eroticism of adolescence. Simple, direct poses and a preference for anonymous parts over expressive eyes reveal a decided rejection of the innuendo and role playing typical of the figure in art and fashion photography.

Piscitelli is a young, New York-based artist. Rather than the university or art school, Piscitelli came up through the ranks of porn, fashion photography, and music videos. His photography and video work displays an unusually perceptive connection to youth culture. A series of promotional video shorts Piscitelli directed for MTV earned him an Art Directors’ Club award for Outstanding New Talent.

The connection between popular and fine art is undeniable in contemporary culture. Rather than apprenticeships and a mastery of classical painting techniques, today’s sharpest talent digests a canon of music videos, movies, television, and fashion magazines. “Devolution” examines the source and product of a contemporary artistic lineage.

“Devolution,” curated by Neil Grayson, contains Piscitelli’s first collection of large-scale paintings, an interactive installation, and a limited-edition hand-made chap book.

Opening Reception: Saturday, Oct. 6, 2001 6-8pm
Exhibition Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 1-6pm

Continue reading “Mike Piscitelli, Devolution”

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History, Memory, Trauma, lecture by Dominick LaCapra

September 28, 2001

“History, Memory, Trauma,” a public lecture by Dominick LaCapra, recipient of the Dactyl award for aesthetic theory.

Ever since Theodor Adorno argued that “writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric,” all kinds of artists, not just poets, have been debating whether or not one can depict life optimistically. The Holocaust certainly questions how one can believe that every event ultimately serves some divine Continue reading “History, Memory, Trauma, lecture by Dominick LaCapra”

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Metropolis

June 7 &8 2001

Film screening, Fritz Lang’s 1926 landmark silent sci-fi film, With a new soundtrack by electronic musician Jeff Mills, with moderators: Anuj Desai, Editor in Chief, Black Book Magazine; Tara Anderson, Dactyl Foundation, presented by Black Book Magazine and Dactyl Foundation.

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Book Party

May 10 2001

Book party with The Figures: On the Nameways (Vol.2) by Clark Coolidge, My Terza Rima by Michael Gizzi, Push The Mule by John Godfrey, Savage Baggage by Roger Mitchell, The Drift of Things by Terence Winch, Roof: Christophe Tarkos: Ma Langue est Poetique–Selected Writings, Vocoder by Judith Goldman, Free Will by Craig Watson, Pen Chants By Lissa Wolsak.

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“The Poet, The Critic, & The Interpreter: A Crash Course,”

April 26 2001

A public lecture under the title “The Poet, The Critic & The Interpreter: A Crash Course”

Angus Fletcher (Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Graduate School, CUNY)
Respondents:
Nico Israel (Asst. Prof, English, Hunter College, CUNY; critic, Artforum International Magazine)
and Victoria N. Alexander (Dactyl Foundation)
Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 6:30. Lecture begins at 7pm.


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Dominick LaCapra, 2001 essay award recipient

2001

Award Recipient: Dominick LaCapra, “Trauma, Absence, Loss,” in Writing History, Writing Trauma (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 2000)

In his essay, “Trauma, Absence, Loss,” Dominick LaCapra shows a sensitive understanding of the subtleties of deconstructive technique, and then, without refuting any of its claims, he advances the next intellectual step that takes us beyond postmodernism and into a Continue reading “Dominick LaCapra, 2001 essay award recipient”

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Richard Sandler

March 15 2001


The Gods of Times Square, a documentary by Richard Sandler.
Introduction by Tara Anderson, discussion with the artist to follow

Before the Disneyfication of the melting-pot mecca, Times Square was home to religious zealots offering every kind of strident redemption. Street journalist and documentarian Richard Sandler has created a cinema verite film on the rich characters of New York’s secular cathedral of skyscrapers.

An encore presentation of the critically acclaimed documentary

Re-edited with new footage

Winner 1999, Best Documentary, Chicago Underground Film Festival
Winner 1999, Audience Award, Popcorn International Film Festival

First Screening at Dactyl: February 28th, 2000

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The Palaver Transcription

October 19 2000

The Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities presents
Gad Hollander’s the palaver transcription, poetry screening
an experimental video utilizing voices, text, images, and ambient sound
derived from the book, The Palaver, by Gad Hollander & Andrew Bick.

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Open Mic

August 12 2000

Reception and Sign-up 7:00 pm
Scheduled Poets 8:00 pm
Jill Bernstein, Desiree Gordon, and James Parker
A film short by “Cory” 8:45
Open Mic 9:00 pm
Refreshments will be served

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Artist Search Project

Sally, 1999 John Arruda

An Evolving Exhibition

The Artist Search Project is an exhibition-in-progress organized by Dactyl interns. We invite you to attend the first installment in July and return to view new works by emerging artists as the show progresses towards the final closing exhibition. The exhibition included works by John Arruda, Aaron Gilbert, Jackie Kingon, Jim Klein, Christina Park, Pam Smith, James Stuart, Jake Benton, Matthew Sinclair Kinney, and Emily Orling. Continue reading “Artist Search Project”