Working with film and trompe l’œil paintings and drawings, Sietsema presents three films, including Figure 3, comprising a number of still images of archaeological objects, including what appear to be pre-colonial artefacts from the South Pacific. In fact, they were constructed by the artist. In Encre Chine, objects are placed on a work table and covered with thick black ink, removing the objects functionality. Anticultural Positions is a silent film presenting the text from a lecture on his work that the artist claims he gave ‘at the New School, Monday, February 23, 2009, at 6 pm’ in New York. The text, however, is taken from an essay of 1952 by Jean Dubuffet.
Paul Sietsema (b. 1968, Los Angeles, USA) lives and work in Los Angeles. His films, paintings and drawings address the production, consumption, and proliferation of cultural objects. Sietsema’s practice reflects his interest in the possibility of an artwork to mediate information or meaning through an engagement with the aesthetic languages of a specific time period be it historical or contemporary. Solo exhibitions have been organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (2013); the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013); the Kunsthalle Basel (2012); the Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia, Madrid (2009). His work has been included in Question the Wall Itself, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2017); A Slow Succession with Many Interruptions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2016); and Drawing: The Bottom Line, S.M.A.K., Ghent (2015).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Figure 3, 2008
16mm film, black-and-white and colour, no sound
Approx. 16’
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery.
Presented with the support of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Anticultural Positions, 2009
16mm film, black-and-white and colour, no sound
Approx. 30’
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery.
Presented with the support of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Encre chine, 2012
16mm film, colour, no sound
Approx. 15’
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery.
Presented with the support of Matthew Marks Gallery.
