Roberta Allen

 

POINTLESS ACTS 1976

 

Galerie Maier-Hahn, 1977, Dusseldorf, Germany. MINUS SPACE, Brooklyn, New York, 2014.

 

“Pointless Acts” (1976) paradoxically represent “real” pointless arrows which bear no connection to information drawn from experience of the environment. I question conventional notions of surface/space by creating an interplay between two and three dimensions. Using the implied three dimensionality of photography combined with drawn lines and verbal labels, I present paradoxical information.​

 

Original photographs of the artist were made in a photomat, the artist’s positions derived from prior sketches were performed to the rhythm of the camera. The photographs, complete with drawn lines, were rephotographed. Artist and lines paradoxically interact on the same plane. The third dimension is simultaneously suggested and denied.​

 

41 Parts. Each 18 x 14 inches.

Private Collection France

 

This work is also an artist book, published by The Collation Center, NY, 1977.

 

 

​​​NEGATION 1976

 

Exhibited in Aphoto, Studio Marconi, Milan (a traveling exhibition) Galleria D'Arte, Rome, Italy; International Cultura! Centrum, Antwerp, Belgium 1977; One Of A Kind: Unique Artist’s Books, Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge, MA 2011-12 (a traveling exhibition) Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia. MINUS SPACE, (Complete work) 2014.

 

I question conventional notions of surface/space by creating an interplay between 2 and 3 dimensions. Using the implied 3 dimensionality of photography combined  with drawn lines of the sign X and verbal labels, I present paradoxical information.

A series of 26 individual silver gelatin print photographs and ink drawings mounted on museum board. 14 x 11 inches, 35,5 x 28 cm. Each photograph and drawing was originally part of a unique artist’s book. Photographs of the artist were made in a photomat, then drawn on with India ink, re-photographed, blown up and printed, The artist's positions, derived from prior sketches, were performed to the rhythm of the camera. Photographs with drawn lines alter perceptually empty space by interacting on the same plane. The 3rd dimension is simultaneously suggested and denied. Ambiguities of position, distance, and direction result.​

 

​NEGATION is also a unique artist book.

8 1/4" x 5 1/4" x 1/2." 

18 pages, ​black binder w/metal

clasp. Pictured.> Photomat photos & ink on paper in plastic sleeves. Signed.