HARD COPY

Opens Friday May 3rd from 6pm - 9pm // WSA - 161 Water Street

I’m sending this reminder from my substack. I haven’t had a chance to write one the last three months. I’ve been working on this show.

It opens tomorrow, May 3rd at WSA. I’ve added Dexter Navy.

In a way this show is an extension of OK, No Response. The Twin Palms published book I edited in 2020-2021. I’m into the idea that not everything has to be so precious. There are 1 trillion, mostly digital, mostly garbage, pictures made everyday. It’s nice to see good ones in person. Printed large.

For Hard Copy, instead of a fax, I printed everything on several Xerox machines. Gray found one in Queens. We worked it to death. Her piece alone has 900 images.

More than anything— I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Repurpose work of other artists. In collaboration with them. I did it all mostly for the process. Gave me an excuse to talk to my friends. That I put in the exhibition. And a good reason to reach out to people I’ve wanted to work with. Sasha accused me of running an artist residency at my apartment. Not far off. Daniel Arnold came to hang, look over his 108in prints. Lucy Helton stopped in so we could make her 300in banner the right way. FaceTimed with Ruth Van Beek in the Netherlands. Robert Nethery helped me with everything as per usual. Young Caleb Stein was in and out almost daily. As was Gray Sorrenti. She brought her parents. And Dexter Navy. I had coffee with Shaniqwa Jarvis and Katsu Naito. I went to Nick Sethi & Rafa Prieto’s studio. Zora Sicher watched me eat a sandwich at Olives. Nick Waplington came to the printers with me. Had dinner with Israel Lund and Dayo. Which we do always. And a quick email exchange with John Divola. I’ve been asking him for ten+ years to be in something with me. I have four Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert in the show.

Installation photograph of John Divola’s “Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert”

WSA gave me the freedom. A great big room to do it in. A budget to print, buy Xerox machines. Thank you to Matt, Dawson and Jon. For supporting this project.

I made prints of Takashi Homma’s Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji. Jen Brill told me who to ask. Two nights ago I emailed him at 1:04am. Said I had room for a few more.

Any chance of getting some last minute pictures?

A reply email, with a link to images I’d requested, came back to me at 1:43am. Here’s a preview. Maybe the highlight of this whole experience.

Installation picture of Takashi Homma’s 21 foot mural in Hard Copy

Daniel Arnold 72x108in mural pieces for Hard Copy

Jerry Hsu installation photograph from Hard Copy

Caleb Stein Collage for Hard Copy

Robert Nethery three layer collage for Hard Copy

When I was figuring out how to make Hard Copy— I thought about David Hammonds Global Fax Festival.

Which makes me think of something I read about Wolfgang Tillmans. He found a copy machine and used it to enlarge pictures by 400%. Said it was like his first camera.

I thought about Gerhard Richter’s book, Atlas. Over the last three months. While producing the work. And over the last ten years. It’s the inspiration for this substack. Not just the exhibition.

Richter had been assembling pictures, newspaper clippings, sketches since the 1960s. Eventually finding a home in this magnus opus like book. Reminds me of Philip Lorca diCorcia’s Thousand. They sit next to each other on the shelf in my apt.

They’re not the only artists I thought about before doing this show. Richard Prince has been reappropriating work since day one. Raymond Pettibon made Xerox zines in the ‘70s & ‘80s.

Ray Johnson’s mail art in the ‘60s. Here’s a photocopy he did in 1969.

Olivia told me about the Peter Nagy Xerox’s Magenta Plains showed.

I could go on forever. But I’ll stop here.

And I’ll update this page with more images from the show after it opens. Hope to see you there tomorrow night.