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Sean Slemon The Sun Stands Still

The Sun Stands Still

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PREVIOUS LEFT: Sleeper, 2011 During production in Slemon's studio

PREVIOUS RIGHT: Sleeper, 2011 Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel12 x 86 x 35 " / 30 x 218 x 89 cm

ABOVE: Goods For Me, (detail), 2009Tree, plywood, glass See page 8

OPPOSITE: Goods For Me, (detail), 2009Tree, plywood, glass See page 8

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Contents

5Sean Slemon The Sun Stands Still

by Manon Slome

20Selected Exhibitions

23Artist's Biography

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Sean Slemon The Sun Stands Still

Manon Slome

Sean Slemon’s work investigates the deeply uncertain relationship between nature and human society. His concern, however, is less the depletion of natural resources by rapacious growth (although that is-sue is not altogether absent) but more specifically the access to land and natural resources as determined by political power and wealth.

Born and raised in South Africa, Slemon witnessed how the power to control access to land and resources was used to create advantage or discriminate among diverse racial populations. But beyond this partic-ular political and geographical milieu, it remains clear that the spaces we live in and our access to nature is an ongoing and highly charged ideological issue, which develops and evolves according to different periods and social contexts.

The title of the exhibition, The Sun Stands Still, refers to the winter solstice – the longest night of the year – when light becomes an ever more precious element for us all and nature dies or goes into decline. This contraction and scarcity of light as an environmental/social issue is translated into formal terms around considerations of material and the balance of nature, solid and immaterial, light and shadow, explored and expressed though sculpture, photography and drawing. The work is a progression of the solid-light concepts and inversion of materials featured in past exhibitions but now brought to a new level of sophis-tication and finish as in the hovering beauty of Pine Tree (2011) which hangs in the main window of the gallery.

OPPOSITE: Sketch for ShadowInk on paper, 2010

ABOVE: Shadow, 2011 Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel 72 x 36 x 29 " / 182 x 91 x 73 cm

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Pine Tree refers both to the species of a tree and a form of “pining” for its former self. For the tree is in fact not a tree, per se. Rather it is a replica-tion of a pine tree, made from pine 2x4 boards that are carved, polished and sanded and brought full circle back into an imagined tree. The work functions both as a memorial to the tree as nat-ural resource, the inspiration for the form, and the ultimate futility of seeking a return to life or innocence. Embellished with gold leaf as a type of moss or bark, the installation also places the tree on the opposite side of the window (normal-ly seen, of course, on the street from a window) thus again reversing our usual relationship with nature in the city.

Continuing to use the tree as the site and symbol of loss, Slemon in Public Property - Elm Tree has deconstructed an elm tree and placed the pieces in a case creating an almost archaeological re-construction of the tree. From the deep brown of the roots and earth, the piece progresses in gradations of color through to the light green of the drying leaves. Again the transience of nature is underscored in these pieces. Like the body, the tree over time will devolve into dust and be-come a memorial to its former self.

LEFT: Public Property - Elm Tree, 2009Elm tree, wood, plexiglass

72.5 x 32 x 6 " / 182 x 82 x 16 cm

OPPOSITE: Tied Up/Tied Down, 2007Digital print on archival paper, edition of 5

30 x 20 " / 76 x 51 cm

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Expanding this format, in Goods For Me, a peach tree is likewise broken down into its component parts but this time divided and displayed in smaller cases, stacked together like bricks to create a wall. In the play of light and its absence, which informs the exhibition, the stacked blocks read like the bricking up of a window and the block-ing of light. The stacked cases, like vitrines in a store, measure and quantify the resource the tree has become. The once lofty tree is now broken down into its parts, codified into something that can be sold and traded. The stratifications, roots, bough branches, twigs, leaves can now be viewed as a graph of commercial value, isolating which aspects of the tree will bring most money at market as it is turned into furniture, lumber and the like.*

* For this observation I, Manon Slome, am indebted to Ian Slome

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That blocking of natural light in the many spaces we inhabit in crowded metropolises, formed the basis of an earlier series of Slemon’s sculp-tural work. Using enormous wooden beams painted black to simulate light rays as they would penetrate a dwelling if access to light were not blocked by over development, the structures act as both a lament and rebuke for a life starved of light. “Just look at the light,” has become a common phrase vaunted by realtors to excuse/validate the price of the golden key, which gives access to those light flooded floors. Affluent areas are marked by light and views and tree lined streets while the tanned body during winter’s pinch remains a highly visible status symbol. As Slemon states:

“ The politics of access to natural resources and how such assets are acquired and deployed have been central to my work. Looking at social inequality in urban

spaces through the lens of natural resources such as sunlight and street trees underscores both the active and passive decisions we make as a society. ”

OPPOSITE: Goods For Me, 2011 Tree, plywood, glass 96 x 144 x 18 " / 243 x 365 x 45 cm

BELOW: Solid Light, 2007Half-inch sub-floor plywood91 x 16 x 224 " / 231 x 40 x 568 cm

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These solid light beams served as a stepping-stone to a new body of work, the Shadow Sculptures, shown here for the first time. Here, Slemon has traced and cast his own shadow from different vantage points inverting these ephemeral forms into solid objects character-ized by a gothic, chilling perfection and an ethereal abstract pres-ence. A shadow, though scientifically easy to explain, has been an object of fascination for poets, philosophers and artists throughout time. Shadows provide children with their first powerful sense of self, a sense that the body is so strong it can block out the power of the sun and create a mark on the land that is uniquely caused by them. Peter Pan was so in love with his shadow that he wanted to sew it on so it would always be with him and Wendy, through the magic of fairy tales and art was able to comply. From a Jungian perspective, the shadow represents a pre verbal and primitive aspect of the mind which socialization represses but still resides in the unconscious mind, hence its frequent appearance in dreams and as a trope in cinematography. The shadow has presence by absence and as such can be linked to the act of artistic creation itself. In a sense, the artist’s work is indeed a shadow, a mark of his/her body caused by the presence of the body on the material being worked. Once the body has been removed, the work remains as a stand in for the markings that have been made, a trace of the now absent body.

OPPOSITE: Rising, 2011(Work in progress) Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel 72 x 36 x 29 " / 182 x 91 x 73 cm

BELOW: Slemon in his studio with Shadow, 2011 (Work in progress)

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To these elements of light and shadow, the psychological and the aes-thetic, Slemon adds his own socio-political interests, the democracy, or not, of access to resources, as previously discussed. Cast in a resin and then polished to resemble marble, the works evoke a sense of the memorial. The cast shadows call to mind the supine forms on medi-eval tombs described so powerfully in Keats' poem, “St. Agnes Eve”:

The Sculptur’d dead, on each side…Knights, ladies, praying in dumb orat’ries

The angle envisioned by the sun/body relationship makes the sculp-tural trace of the body seem small in the light of the shadow it casts – a sense of mankind diminished by the power of nature. Yet viewed from a different angle, the body itself seems a source of light emanating its own glory in creation. This push-pull of oppositions: ethereality/object-hood, material/immaterial, presence/absence, representation/abstraction, keep these shadow sculptures in a constant sense of per-ceptual flux and mystery.

BELOW: Shadow, (detail), 2011 Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel 72 x 36 x 29 " / 182 x 91 x 73 cm

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The crux of these shadow sculptures for Slemon is the suggestion of realizing the imagination (itself the essence of art making) that the shadow can become solid and the insubstantial can become real. This solid/light duality that moves the abstract of “precious resources” into a tangible object, making a shape out of space and the absence of light, suggests the potential for change on a larger social scale.

“ The act of making the shadow solid for me is many things, but firstly it is turning the ephemeral into a commodity –

making it accessible and available, capturing time and speaking both to form and meaning. The crux of the

solid/light work is to make the impossible, possible. ”

In common with many sculptors, drawings for Slemon often function as plans for sculpture or as a way of working out ideas.

“ I like to understand how to physically construct a piece by doing a drawing that gets built up in the same way a sculpture would. ”

ABOVE: Shadow, 2011 (Shown from four angles)Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel 72 x 36 x 29 "182 x 91 x 73 cm

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Using sand, dirt and soil, he builds up his materials one layer over an-other, to create form and depth. Particularly powerful are the draw-ings executed on aluminum panels whose reflective surface suggests a light source glowing behind the trees. In a manner similar to the sculptural work, where light, shadow and tree invert the material of their making, the drawings invert concept and materiality. Objects like trees and light are drawn from materials from which they are borne or from materials that obstruct them in some way or another. A shadow, or light beam, for example is drawn using cement, while a tree is rendered in soil – the material from which it comes.

BELOW: Hanging, 2009Soil and chalk on aluminum32 x 39 " / 81 x 100 cm

OPPOSITE: Floating, 2009Soil and chalk on aluminum30 x 48 " / 76 x 121 cm

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Slemon’s sculptures and drawings recall, of course, the powerful incorporation of trees in the works of Anselm Kiefer who has remarked: “Our stories always begin in the forest.” In Man in the Forest (1971) Keifer depicts himself wearing a nightshirt holding a burning branch in a dense pine forest. While the artist is dwarfed by the trees, the fiery branch he holds indicates he may either light the way or set the woods on fire. Slemon’s work similarly sug-gests that we move toward a more equitable way of sharing the treasures of the earth, to a greater justice and care of our resources, or risk being left with just simulacra, a lament for what was or could have been.

Manon Slome is the founder and curator of No Longer Empty, a public arts organization that unites site-specific exhibitions with community engagement.

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ABOVE: Public Property, 2007 (Video stills)

Digital print on archival paperEdition of 5, plus 1 A.P.

24 x 49 " / 74 x 125 cm

OPPOSITE: Public Property, (detail)

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OPPOSITE: Stock, 2011 Street tree, gold leaf, ribbon28 x 20 x 5 " / 71 x 50 x 12 cm

ABOVE: In the Red, 2009Archival digital print on fiber paperEdition of 5, plus 1 A.P.28 x 43 " / 71 x 109 cm

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Selected Exhibitions 2011

Don’t/PanicDurban Art Gallery | South Africa

Group exhibition curated by Gabi Ngcobi

Acacia in Debt: Enlarged Canopy for Additional Insurance and Heavier Coverage (additional room for tree schools), 2009Soil and polyurethane on vellum, 35 x 65 " / 91.5 x 167 cm

2010

In the Red/In the BlackBrodie/Stevenson Gallery | Johannesburg, South Africa

Solo exhibition

In the Black/In the Red: A Balancing Act of Value, 2010Site-specific installation – Wild sage tree, gold leaf, ribbon

Announcing MagnanMetzMagnanMetz Gallery | New York, NY

Group exhibition

2011Don’t/Panic

Durban Art Gallery | South AfricaImplemented Environments

Brundyn + Gonsalves Gallery | Cape Town, South Africa

2010In the Red/In the Black

Brodie/Stevenson Gallery | Johannesburg, South AfricaAnnouncing MagnanMetz

MagnanMetz Gallery | New York, NY2009

Reflecting TransformationNo Longer Empty | New York, NY

The Heart of the African CityUniversity of Pretoria | South Africa

2008Block 700

Magnan Projects | New York, NY.ZA - Giovane Arte dal Sudafrica

Palazzo delle Papesse (now SMS Contemporanea) | Siena, ItalyScratching the Surface Vol. 1

Association of Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery | Cape Town, South Africa

2007Public Property

Central Utah Arts Center | Ephraim, Utah

2006Solid Light

David Krut Arts Resource | Johannesburg, South Africa

2005Katrina and the Five Boroughs

David Krut Projects | New York, NYJoburg: One to Eleven

The Premises Gallery | Johannesburg, South AfricaUplift: The Mountain Premises

The Premises Gallery | Johannesburg, South AfricaThe Mountain and The City

Outlet Gallery | Pretoria, South AfricaSasol New Signatures

Pretoria Art Museum | South Africa

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2009

Reflecting TransformationNo Longer Empty | New York, NY

Group exhibition curated by Manon Slome

Light Beam at 7am, 2009Plywood, wood, fluorescent lights

The Caledonia , New York

Light beam at 7am, 2009Charcoal on paper

10.5 x 13.5 " / 27 x 34.5 cm

The Heart of the African CityUniversity of Pretoria | South Africa

Group exhibition curated by Harrie Siertsema, Shane de Lange, Annemieke de Klerk and Stephen Hobbs

2008

Block 700Magnan Projects | New York, NY

Solo exhibition

Block 700, 2008Cast concrete, stainless steel, bronze, mild steel, mica, Edition of 3

30 x 55 x 30 x 2 " / 76 x 140 x 5 cm

.ZA - Giovane Arte dal SudafricaPalazzo delle Papesse (now SMS Contemporanea) | Siena, Italy

Group exhibition curated by Lorenzo Fusi

Uplift: The Mountain, Palazzo delle Papesse, 2008Site-specific installation, Carpet

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Scratching the Surface Vol. 1 Association of Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery |

Cape Town, South AfricaGroup exhibition curated by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe

2007

Public PropertyCentral Utah Arts Center | Ephraim, Utah

Solo exhibition

Solid Light, Crossed, 2007Charcoal on paper

30 x 67 " / 76 x 176 cm

2006

Solid LightDavid Krut Arts Resource | Johannesburg, South Africa

Solo exhibition

Pulling Trees, (detail), 2006Drypoint and hard-ground etching, Edition of 10

17 x 14 " / 43 x 35 cm

2005

Katrina and the Five BoroughsDavid Krut Projects | New York, NY

Solo exhibition

Joburg: One to ElevenThe Premises Gallery | Johannesburg, South Africa

Solo exhibition

Joburg One to Eleven: According to Population Statistics, 2005Plywood

1.5 x 8 x 16 ' / 45 x 243 x 487 cm

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Artist's Biography

Sean Slemon is a South African artist from Cape Town, now living and working in Brook-lyn, New York. He is recognized for address-

ing socio-political issues pertaining to the commoditization and distribution of natural

resources. His examination of how land, light and street trees are co-opted to create advantage or discriminate underscores the active and passive decisions we make as a

society. The result is an intense interrogation of public vs. private property.

Formally trained in sculpture, Slemon now incorporates installation, drawing and pho-tography, using any medium that the work requires to be conceptually strong. Embed-

ding materials such as chalk, soil and concrete help to build up physical and ideological layers and create theoretical conflicts.

Slemon obtained an MFA from Pratt Institute in New York and a BFA from Michaelis School of Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town.

He has been featured in numerous publi-cations, and completed residencies at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and Chashama in New York. He has

been awarded grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York and the National Arts Council of South Africa; and

won the 2005 Sasol New Signatures Award for emerging artists in South Africa.

www.seanslemon.com

Uplift: The Mountain PremisesThe Premises Gallery | Johannesburg, South Africa

Solo exhibition

Uplift: The Mountain, Premises, 2005Site-specific installation, 2.5 tons of recycled carpet

The Mountain and The City Outlet Gallery | Pretoria, South Africa

Solo exhibition

Sasol New SignaturesPretoria Art Museum | South Africa

Uplift Maquette, 2005Laser cut mild steel, Edition of 7

5 x 15.25 x 23.5 " / 13 x 40 x 60 cm

FRONT COVER: Shadow, 2011 (Shown from two angles)

Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel

72 x 36 x 29 " / 182 x 91 x 73 cm

BACK COVER: Shadow, 2011 (Shown from three angles)

Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel

72 x 36 x 29 " / 182 x 91 x 73 cm

OPPOSITE: Reach, 2011(Work in progress)

Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, high-density foam, steel

31 x 7.5 x 46 " / 79 x 19 x 117 cm

Sean SlemonThe Sun Stands Still

December 1, 2011 - January 7, 2012

MagnanMetz Gallery521 West 26th StreetNew York, NY 10001

T 212.244.2344F 212.244.7544

info@magnanmetz.comwww.magnanmetz.com

Artwork copyright of Sean Slemonwww.seanslemon.com

Essay copyright of Manon SlomeCatalogue design: Ellen Papciak-Rose

www.ellenpapciakrose.com

PhotographyEla Bialkowska: p 21 Uplift: The Mountain, Palazzo delle Papesse

Nicolas Consuegra: p 9Daniel Cornell: pp 1, 14, 15, 18

Lourens Smith: pp front & back covers, 5, 12, 13

No portion of this catalogue may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

Published by MagnanMetz Gallery © 2011

Printed by Rolling Press, Brooklyn, NY

This exhibition and catalogue would not have been possible without the generous support and assistance from the following:

Manon Slome, Dara Metz and Alberto Magnan, Alis Atwell,Ellen Papciak-Rose, and those who kindly donated to fund this project through "United States Artists," and of course

my wife, Amy Kaufman for her assistance and support.Sean Slemon

Sean Slemon The Sun Stands Still“ The act of making the shadow solid for me is many things, but firstly it is turning the

ephemeral into a commodity – making it accessible and available, capturing time and speaking both to form and meaning. The crux of the solid/light work is to make the impossible, possible. ”