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Statement |
Press Release
March, 2003
Bill Radawec at "In the Basement" Installation at Irvine Fine Art Center, CA
In the basement, an installation by the artist Bill Radawec depicts the basement
of his family's home in Parma, Ohio that was damaged by a flood during the
artist's childhood in the 1960's. Many of Radawec's childhood possessions were
lost or damaged by the flood. This natural disaster not only marked the walls of
the basement but also symbolized a turning point in the artist's life.
Radawec took the opportunity to revisit this event by creating a facsimile of
the basement. In order to recreate the basement in a gallery setting Radawec
painstakingly measured the pattern on the basement walls, took color samples and
even measured the placement of the nails in the walls. The flood and its
subsequent restoration created abstract patterns appearing almost as minimalist
artwork. This work is the second series of "natural disaster" artworks Radawec
has created. In the first series of natural disasters works, Radawec create paintings that
mimicked the fissures in the wall of his apartment. In 1994, Radawec lived in
Los Angeles when the "Northridge" earthquake hit. His apartment developed many
cracks and Radawec used this opportunity to crate a new body of work. He used
various materials to recreate these cracks. As a result, the work almost appear
like formalist paintings you may find on the walls of any contemporary gallery.
Radawec has created a conceptual contradiction between art and the wall and the
function of each. In his newest work, In the Basement, Radawec continues this paradox by allowing
artist to hang artworks on the walls of his recreated basement (which is his
artwork.) The contradiction is furthered layered by Radawec dual role as artist
and former gallery owner. By allowing artists to hang art in his artwork Radawec
has blurred the definition of curator and artist.
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