PSTL Gallery: Friday, 10 September 2010

Mary Jo Bang: Until Was
Sept. 10-Nov. 6, 2010
Opening Reception Friday, September 10, 6pm-9pm

The exhibition opens Friday, September 10, with an opening that evening from 6 – 9pm. The exhibition will run through November 6. “Was” is the past and “is” is the present. Grammar itself acts like a clock. And what is grammar but a continual rearrangement of the letters of an alphabet? The mixed media collages in Until Was combine text—the labeled parts of the brain, snippets from a Disney book from the 40’s, and even the raw alphabet in the form of stencil letters and magnets—with perennial characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Alice, all of whom gesture back to the “was” of childhood and forward to the “is” of this moment. And filling in the blank spaces between found text and borrowed characters, is the hand of the artist. Using gouache, ink, and graphite, I’ve tried to create a strange forest that stands for interiority, that
place where time doesn’t exit, where yesterday is today. Where there is no “was,” at least not until the clock stops for good. Then the curtain comes down.

Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10:30am-5pm

PSTL GALLERY
3842 Washington Blvd.
Saint Louis, MO 63108
314-531-4304
www.paceframing.com