Stuart Sherman: Selected Videos

When Adam Art Gallery asked artist Nick Austin which artists he responded to, he mentioned Stuart Sherman (1945–2001) an American performance artist, playwright, filmmaker, essayist, sculptor and collagist. Join us for a rare screening of examples of Sherman’s video works selected by Austin and provided by Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). Often recording the artist at a little table set up in public space, on which everyday objects are set out as his performative props, Sherman’s moving image works provide an eccentric counterpoint to Austin’s paintings and sculptures. Little known outside the alternative circles of New York’s downtown avant-garde scene, Sherman’s works are a revelation. Don’t miss this opportunity to survey a range of his works.

With the kind assistance of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York, Adam Art Gallery is screening Stuart Sherman: Programmes 1, 2 & 3. These selections of later video works by Stuart Sherman, produced in the 1980s and '90s, continue the artist's idiomatic manipulations of everyday objects and situations. Throughout his artistic career, Sherman never limited himself to any one art form, and these works show his agility in adapting his practice to the unique syntax of video. Though he makes use of direct camera addresses and basic video editing, the conceptual witticism of his minimalist Spectacles performances is evident, as it is in his own poetic written encapsulations of each work.

Programme 1
Gray Matter, 1987, 1 min, color, sound
Video Walk, 1987, 1 min, color, sound
Don't Hang Up I'm Freezing, 1993, 4 min, color, sound
A Glass of Fish, 1993, 2 min, color, sound
Cheers!, 1993, 2 min, color, sound
Black and White & Grain, 1993, 1 min, color, sound
The Leap, 1993, 3 min, color, sound

Programme 2
Berlin (West)/Andere Richtungen, 1986, 6 min, color, sound
Son of Scotty and Stuart, 1993, 5 min, color, sound
Bill Rice's Beer Garden, 1994, 5 min, color, sound
Me and Joe, 1994, 4 min, color, sound
8 Eggs, 1994, 5 min, color, sound

Programme 3
Newsbreak, 1994, 3:47 min, color, sound
Holy Bible, 1994, 3:25 min, color, sound
Ah Choo!, 1994, 39 sec, color, sound