SAVONAROLA SUITE ONLINE SERIES BY GREGORY PERKEL MARCH 25 - DECEMBER 22, 2020
Savonarola Suite Online Series consists of 40 short clips, 8-10 mins each. Released weekly by Black & White Gallery/Project Space on the gallery website and Facebook pages, each video clip features selected excerpts from both segments of the original Savonarola Suite video diptych - Investigation & Incineration presented in December of 2019 at Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in Miami.
INVESTIGATION video segment retraces four decades of the recent art market history of exhibitions, art fairs, biennials, etc. through monthly print issues of Art in America and Art News magazines, a total of some 700 volumes, from 1977, when the artist first arrived to New York City from Moscow, until 2017 — a time when the Internet had already reshaped every aspect of our lives. Paging through each magazine’s monthly issue chronicles compelling art market events that resonate poignantly with art market participants directly affected by its movements and the social relations it creates. Investigation video provides a unique opportunity to engage audience in exploration of the complex and sometimes paradoxical evolution of the recent art market and contemplate the wide-ranging effects of information in those pages prior to their destruction by fire.
INCINERATION video segment documents the staged real-life destruction of all 700 monthly issues of Art in America and ArtNews magazines by fire to mark the end of an era they reflected. As the incineration of the magazines begins, it becomes evident that the act of burning, by the very nature of fire, is giving birth to a new form of visual reality.
January 6, 2021 - Clip Forty One — ArtNews, Summer, Fall, 2017