FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

{CTS} creative thriftshop in conjunction with Mulherin + Pollard is pleased to announce
The Re-Materialization of the Art Object, a retrospective of works by Brooklyn-based artist Eric Doeringer, curated by Lynn del Sol. The works in this exhibition are all based on pieces originally made by other artists. Doeringer chose to remake these artworks because the originals raise questions of authorship, authenticity, ownership, and the importance of the “hand” of the artist.  The artist sees his works as extensions of the earlier works, building upon the conundrums they originally created.

The differences between Doeringer's  artworks and the originals may be almost unrecognizable.  If a spot painting by Damien Hirst or a wall drawing by Sol LeWitt is fabricated by assistants with little or no input from the artist, what is the difference between an “authentic” work and one that is made by Eric Doeringer?  Although there is little or no visual difference, there are vast disparities in the market value and conceptual underpinnings of the works.

Aside from the invisible discrepancies, there is no such thing as a “perfect” copy.  One might assume that if Richard Prince and Doeringer photograph the same 1980’s Marlboro advertisement, the  “rephotographs” by each artist will be identical.  However, there are differences in the printing of each ad (due to vagaries in ink coverage and variations in paper, printing presses, and halftone screens between magazines running the same advertisement).  Although Doeringer attempts to match the color and composition of Prince’s photographs, his are based on reproductions that undoubtedly vary from the original.

Other differences are more obvious. John Baldessari’s photo series “Throwing Three Balls In The Air To Get A Straight Line ( Best of Thirty-Six Attempts )” was shot in Southern California and palm trees appear in the margins of several images.  Doeringer's  version of the project was photographed in Brooklyn, so there are glimpses of oaks, maples, and other trees indigenous to the Northeast.  ( And, of course, there is the question of who was better at aligning the three balls ).  Similarly, his remake of SoCal native Charles Ray’s “All My Clothes” mimics the format of the original, but Doeringer's  wardrobe includes many warmer garments.  His versions of On Kawara’s “I Went” and “I Got Up” replicate his process and materials but are dictated by the events of the artist's own life.

A distance in time, as well as space, distinguishes many of Doeringer's works from the originals.  His version of Ed Ruscha’s “Stains” portfolio is stained with the same materials, but Ruscha’s stains have had 40 additional years to fade, dissolve, and/or soak into the paper.  The midtown view of the Empire State Building seen in Andy Warhol’s “Empire” has been blocked by decades of high rise construction, so the remake is shot from Brooklyn (but on the same day of the year, so that the sun sets at the same time in both films). Moreover, Doeringer's “film” is shot on digital video, which has replaced 16 mm film as the standard for both amateurs and professionals in the intervening years.

There is also the question of who “owns” these works.  Do the iconic images of cowboys belong to Richard Prince, Philip Morris, the commercial photographer who originally shot them, or the public consciousness of Americans who have been bombarded by Marlboro advertisements for their entire lives?  Does the owner of Sol LeWitt’s certificate of authenticity reserve the right to draw 10,000 straight pencil lines on a wall?   Do John Baldessari and Damien Hirst hold monopolies on photographing rubber balls in mid-flight or painting polka dots on white canvasses?  What would prevent you from making your own version of these works, and how would your version differ from the originals (or Eric Doeringer’s for that matter)?

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A catalogue was produced to accompany this exhibition, please contact us for purchase