Endurance, 2003

Marvelli Gallery Press Release

McCALLUM & TARRY

Endurance
October 14 – November 20, 2004

Opening reception: Thursday, October 14, 6-8pm

MARVELLI GALLERY

526 WEST 26TH STREET, 2ND FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10001
T: 212-627 3363 F:212-627 3363

Marvelli Gallery is pleased to present Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry’s first solo show in New York. The show will present “Endurance,” a series of life-size color photographs and a video that together document a 26-hour endurance performance by homeless Seattle teenagers.

The performance consisted of 26 youth who silently stood still on a Seattle public sidewalk, while looking directly into the camera for an hour. The video presents the time-lapsed performance to compress 26 hours into a two-hour recording, during which we see a full cycle of night following day, with pedestrians and cars passing at breakneck speed as the kids maintain stillness.  The video effectively pairs swirling chaos with motionlessness. In the DVD soundtrack, the pictured youth explain – eloquently and often heartbreakingly- their experiences with drug dependency, their wretched childhoods and street crimes they have endured. The work is conceptually and emotionally riveting.

Stark frontal portraits of the teenagers taken a few minutes before their performance are integral parts of the project. They are both unflattering and seductive with rich detail and color saturation. They reveal tough poses that actually mask vulnerability.

“On one level Endurance is a beautiful series of original portrait
photography. On another level, Endurance embodies the spirit of making art matter in our moment, poetically rendering new narratives and negotiating issues of social significance”. (Franklin Sirmans)

Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry have exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Connecticut and at the Bronx Museum of Art, New York. Their work has received funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Jerome Foundation, among others. Bradley McCallum holds an MFA in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art. Jacqueline Tarry recently completed the Whitney Independent Studio Program.

Endurance was made in partnership with Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets as part of ARTS UP, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, City of Seattle. Funding was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Seattle City Light Percent for Art, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and the Fales Foundation.

For more information or images of the works included in the show, please contact Monica Espinel at 212-627 3363 or info@marvelligallery.com.