SARAH H. PAULSON "Witness"
Friday, December 18, 2020
9:00-11:00 PM
online: www.grace-exhibition-space.com/graceStreamingPerformance.php
Fri, December 18, 2020
Grace Exhibition Space is honored to present this new COVID isolation piece by artist Sarah H. Paulson.
We have previously presented Sarah with Holly Faurot, as FaurotPaulson, at GES multiple times; at the OPEN Festival in Beijing, China; and solo works by Sarah H. Paulson at the Eleanor Chilton Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Thank you for joining us!
LINK FOR VIEWING: https://www.grace-exhibition-space.com/graceStreamingPerformance.php
The performance video will be available on this link until December 28, 2020
SARAH H. PAULSON Witness
April-June 2020
"Witness" was a 2-day private performance recorded on Zoom during Covid-19 quarantine.
The performance resulted in a performative drawing, also entitled "Witness." This performative drawing is 1 in a series of 7.
Images from each of the 7 drawings are included here, as well as photographs of the performative process for each drawing.
The process
-A 22 x 30 inch piece of paper is on the ground, secured by one rock (the witness).
-The witness remains in the center of the paper for the duration of the performance/process.
-A fire is made.
-Rocks are put in the fire. They are fired.
-The fire goes out.
-The rocks are removed and placed on the paper.
-The charcoal from the fire is gathered.
-The rocks are covered in charcoal. ( I color them all black.)
-Charcoal is removed from the rocks by rubbing them against the paper. (The drawing is made this way.)
-Tea is served.
-I drink some tea.
-Tea is poured over the witness.
-Each rock, one by one, is washed by the tea, assisted by my hands and clothing.
-The rocks are placed, one by one, on the paper.
The same rock (the witness) is used in each drawing.
New rocks are fired for each drawing.
SARAH H. PAULSON [NYC/PUTNEY, VT]
Sarah H. Paulson was born in New Orleans, LA. Since graduating with a BFA in Special Studies in Art from Syracuse University, she has lived and worked as a performance artist in Brooklyn, NY and Putney, VT. Paulson is also a lifelong student of alchemical Taoist medicine and practices acupuncture at Sword Hands Acupuncture & Qigong.
Her art practice remains rooted in the Performative. Paulson believes that performance, in its sacred form, has the capacity to bring the human being closest to what it means to be human.
The boundaries and overlaps between past and present, time and timelessness, and public vs. private surface through her drawings and performances.
By archiving personal experience through her often durational or endurance-based work, Paulson reaches the place where the universal is touched in the audience as well as in herself and/or the other performers.
The artist and the performers are pushed to their limits. Humanness, with its breath and blood, beauty, hopelessness, and potential, is aspired to and celebrated.
Her solo work, as well as her collaborations with Holly Faurot (www.faurotpaulson.com), have been exhibited/performed at English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY; Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY; ACG (Alice Chilton Gallery), Brooklyn, NY; NurtureArt, Brooklyn, NY; The Chocolate Factory Theater, Brooklyn, NY; P.I.T. (Projects In Transit), Brooklyn, NY; Space 317, Brooklyn, NY; the Harold Clurman Center for New Works in Movement and Dance Theatre at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, NY; NYCAMS (NY Center for Art & Media Studies), NY; Alive at Satellite (Performance is Alive), Miami, FL; Villa Feuerlösche, Prenning, Austria; Open Art Gallery, Beijing, China; among others.
https://sarahhpaulson.com/home.html
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GRACE:
Grace, n. - simple elegance or refinement of movement
Grace Period - an extended period granted as a special favor
The Three Graces (Greek Mythology) - charm, grace, and beauty
Opened in 2006, Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid-career or established. Our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.
Grace Exhibition Space presents over 30 curated live performance art exhibitions each year, showcasing new work by more than 400 performance artists from across the United States and the world since 2006.
Grace Exhibition Space for International Performance Art Space IRS tax-exempt 501(c)3 status in 2015.
Grace Exhibition Space follows the We Have a Voice Collectives Code of Conduct to Promote Safe(r) Workplaces in the Performing Arts For more information and resources, visit: www.wehavevoice.org
