Sandy Smith : Five propositions for the tourist

22 Mar-27 Apr 2013

Overview

Five Propositions For the Tourist: a solo show by New York-based artist Sandy Smith. This body of new work has two dominant and underlying influences. The first is a photograph taken in 1934 showing the façade of the Rome Fascist Party’s headquarters, entirely wrapped in a banner repeating the word SI over and over. The second is a story about Ludwig Wittgenstein who, for most of his later life, lectured in a room unfurnished bar a safe containing his notes; those invited to the lecture brought deck chairs to listen to a troubled genius. What has one to do with the other? In one a dominating regime advertises itself with only the condition of acceptance. In another students come to bask in the presence of a mind consumed with the idea of purity. Both situations contain an unintentional generosity, both address the vanity of total thought, and both reveal a human tendency to relax in face of the most complex and troubling of situations. Using these historical precedents as a starting point, Five propositions for the tourist creates a space which addresses the potential of both as mantras for our own age.