Ishmael Randall Weeks

ISHMAEL RANDALL WEEKS
April 7 – May 22, 2009 | 11 Rivington St, NY
 

Eleven Rivington is pleased to present a solo exhibition of sculpture and drawing by Peruvian artist Ishmael Randall Weeks, on view from April 7 – May 24, 2009.  This is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery.  His work will be exhibited in a solo project curated by Adriano Pedrosa at Zona Maco Sur, Mexico City; the 10th Havana Bienal, Cuba; and is also included in the New Museum catalogue ofThe Generational: Younger Than Jesus.  Randall Weeks is also a recent recipient of grants from Art Matters and The Foundation for Contemporary Art.
 

Ishmael Randall Weeks’ work encompasses site-specific installations, sculpture, and works on paper.  The foundation of his work is the alteration of found and recycled materials and environmental debris, often on site, and includes such source materials as empty tins, books and printed matter, bicycles, boat parts, and building construction fragments.  By utilizing these elements as authorial components in his work, Randall Weeks raises ideas about our understanding of culturally specific forms – wheels and pulleys are recurring motifs – addressing issues about urbanization, development, travel, movement and regeneration.  His sculptures often take the form of conveyances – carts, cranes, carriages, and chariots – of one form or another, invoking mobility and the artist’s own migrations; for the past four years he has traveled to, and lived between his home in Lima to residencies in Maine, Ecuador, New York, Bolivia, and Mexico.  Among the works featured in this exhibition is a wooden drafting table whose surface is covered by a geographical terrain ingeniously carved from a thick slab of found architectural drawings and plans.  Also referring to landscape is a rug woven from strips of recycled rubber tires; a saddle, also made of the same material, furthers the reference to travel and exploration.
 

Ishmael Randall Weeks was born 1976 in Cusco, Peru, and currently lives and works in Lima, Peru and Brooklyn, NY.  He was educated at Bard College, NY, and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.  Solo exhibitions include Galerie Lucia de La Puente, Lima, Peru; Galeria Kiosko, Santa Cruz, Bolivia; and Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.  Group exhibitions include Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil; The National Museum, Lima, Peru; and the IX Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador.