Ester Partegàs: The Invisible
Main Street Sculpture Project

March 9–August 10, 2008
Exhibition Reception: March 9, 2008; 3 to 5 pm

Ester Partegàs will present The Invisible, a site-specific sculpture installation that will be anything but unnoticeable on Ridgefield’s historic Main Street, at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum between March 9 and August 10, 2008. The work is part of the ongoing Main Street Sculpture Project, which brings new art to every passerby.

Partegàs will transform the 225-year-old façade of the Museum’s historic administration building, “Old Hundred,” with an illuminated awning based on the designs that grace countless bodegas and convenience stores in American cities. Coincidentally, the original use of the building was as a general store between the years 1783 and 1883 (thus giving rise to its nickname), making The Aldrich a perfect venue for this project.

additional images | click to enlarge

Ester Partegas, Rendering of The Invisible Main Street Sculpture Project, 2007

Ester Partegas, The Invisible Main Street Sculpture Project installation, 2002-08
Courtesy of the artist, Foxy Production, New York, and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica.

Ester Partegas, The Invisible Main Street Sculpture Project, 2002-08
Courtesy of the artist, Foxy Production, New York, and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica.

The work explores the social, emotional, and physical relationship of the spectator to those objects that have become part of the urban landscape. Richard Klein, Aldrich exhibitions director, comments, “The project ingeniously plays with the awning’s change of context: urban/suburban, Latino/Anglo-Saxon, food store/art store, and will actually shelter the front steps from the elements, providing a ‘porch’ for strolling citizens to congregate and socialize.”

Instead of the usual bodega signage, Partegàs’s intervention will feature texts that reflect on the complex relationship between the artist and the viewer surrounding an intimate art experience. The title of the project—The Invisible—will be the largest sign posted on the awning and will serve as an advertisement to remind people to look for what Partegàs calls “this invisible thing” that takes place when creating and looking at art. Partegàs explains, “Finding inspiration, creating art, negotiating ideas, making changes, and categorizing the entire experience that has transpired are all invisible processes.” Regarding the other texts, she continues, “Multiple Silences’ alludes to the gaps or empty spaces during the pure contemplation of an artwork; ‘Simultaneity’ refers to the possibility of different events, thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences happening at the same time; and ‘Source Surface Matter’ are aspects of an art work that we require to be able to communicate effectively.”

Partegàs believes that the work performs a seamless, almost instantaneous “bait and switch” on its audience where the familiar becomes rapidly out of context. Dreamlike, words seem to bubble up from the unknown, spilling out into the everyday, producing new forms and ideas not normally seen on Main Street.

The Aldrich will host an Exhibition Reception on Sunday, March 9, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm. The reception is FREE for members. Refreshments will be served. Round-trip transportation from New York City is available; please call the Museum at 203.438.4519 or visit www.aldrichart.org for reservations. The reception will take place at the Museum located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield.

Ester Partegàs was born in La Garriga, Spain. She studied in Berlin and Barcelona and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Partegàs has exhibited her work at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Rice University Art Gallery, Houston; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; and Centre d’Art, Santa Monica, Barcelona. She took part in the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007) and the Busan Biennale in Korea (2006). She currently has a solo exhibition on view at Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia, Madrid. Partegàs is represented by Foxy Production, New York, and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is renowned as a national leader for its presentation of outstanding new art, cultivation of emerging artists, and innovation in museum education. Regular Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm. For more information, please call 203.438.4519 or visit www.aldrichart.org.