Renzo Ortega & Derick Melander

Curated by Sam Farnsworth of Repetti Gallery (Part I)
Friday, October 2 - Sunday, November 1, 2009

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

A painter by training, Renzo Ortega has spent half his life writing and performing songs that document the struggles of being a citizen of a third world country (in his case, Peru), while living in New York City. In this series of drawings and paintings, titled The Gathering Storm, Renzo's revolutionary, anarchic imagery finds inspiration (and camaraderie) in the freeform electronic music of the Chicago based musician Spirodon Leon, known as 'SpiroJazz.' An accompanying video clarifies the collaboration between these two artists.

Derick Melander installs an 8 foot tall, 12 foot long wall of carefully folded and stacked second-hand clothing. The tightly compressed garments weigh approximately 2,000 pounds and transition from dark to light. Similar to a traditional stone embankment, this sculpture retains a massive pile of clothing. As clothing fades, stains and stretches, it forms an intimate record of our physical presence. Each piece offers the direct evidence of a body, and serves to define the boundary between Self and Other.