Ari Marcopoulos, Abandoned Sleep

Abandoned Sleep exhibition at Ratio3, 2011, Ari Marcopoulos

We first came across with the photographic lense of Ari Marcopoulos when we read about this legendary pioneer in Alexis Bittar's blog and we really really wanted to see some of his artworks. We think that San Francisco located gallery Ratio3 heard our prayers and from September 9th hosts his first solo exhibition at Ratio 3.

Abandoned Sleep is assembled around an installation of 34 abstract photographic images on newsprint, titled Infiltration. Each unique image is both deliberate and experimental, created by layering multiple black and white images on top of other black and white images. The result is an inky black, velvety surface which push the boundaries of photo abstraction. Flanking this installation are several large scale black and white and color photographs; portraits, shadowy urban landscapes and dark multiple exposure abstractions that dramatize the nocturnal tableaux of the exhibit.

Throughout his 30 year career, Marcopoulos has closely examined his immediate surroundings where nothing is too big nor small, too mundane nor sublime for his camera. Intimate moments, disparate subjects, inanimate objects and grandiose landscapes are captured both indoors and in the outside world through formal arrangements and candid images. The images present a rough yet gentle narrative of domesticity, inspection of sub-culture and the act of making photographic prints themselves. Initially, his pictures appear to depict a sense of despair, pain, and dimness. Ultimately the images reveal a strong sense of optimism, new beginnings, and rights of passage.

Accompanying the photographic prints and installation are three new artist multiples: one is a limited edition skateboard deck, the other two are photogravures that combine the artist's history of using iconic imagery and recognizable objects paired with images of graffiti.

Born in 1957, Ari Marcopoulos emigrated from Holland to New York in 1979, where he began a new career printing black and white photographs for Andy Warhol's studio. Marcopoulos was included in both the 2010 and 2002 Whitney Biennial exhibitions. In 2009, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive presented a mid-career survey of his work, and the exhibition traveled to the Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, NL.

Other recent exhibitions include: Frank Elbaz, Paris, PS1/MoMA, New York, New Orleans Museum of Art, The Detroit Institute of Art, and MU Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Marcopoulos's work has been collected by a multitude of institutions including the Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive, Detroit Institute of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Modern Art. His recent monograph, titled Directory, was published in 2011 by Rizzoli. Marcopoulos lives and works in New York. Abandoned Sleep ends on October 22nd 2011.