Joseph Grigely

Air de Paris

An installation view of a white gallery with florescent lighting. On the wall to our left a large, horizontal work is hung on the wall. Its frame is white and the interior is composed of many small, multicolored notes with writing. Further down the wall to our left there is an opening that likely leads to another part of the gallery. On the back wall a large square work in a white frame is hung like a diamond. Beside it is a much smaller work composed of individual notes on colored paper tacked to the wall with an overall shape of a square. On the right wall five small works in black frames hang in a row.

An installation view of a white gallery. To our left, six small works in black frames are hung in a row. After zooming in, it is clear that they are photographs of people writing notes. On our right, three vertical works in white frames are hung on the wall. Each work is a framed page from a musical score. On the floor below is a video monitor with two speakers next to it. The screen is bisected through the middle with a thick black line, on either side is a picture of a woman who seems to be leaning against a railing in front of water.

A tighter view of the wall with six small photographs in black frames. After zooming in the images each seem to focus on people's hands in the process of writing notes. The images are both vertical and horizontal. The photographs are small, surrounded by thick white matting and a black frame.

An installation view of a brightly lit gallery. The room zig zags to the left as if two rooms have been connected at an angle. The photograph is taken from the right looking deeper into the room to the left. On the wall to our right two wooden shelves have an arrangement of small books with the covers facing out, rather than the spine facing out. Beside the shelves hangs a small work made up of notes of different colors and sizes, all with snowmen drawings. The notes are pieced together into one rectangle. On the wall to our left, three small framed photographs are hung on the wall. Beyond them is a table made of painted wood and some works on the back wall too small to see clearly.

A different angle of the bookshelves described in the last image. Here, we are facing the floating shelves directly. There are two shelves, which inhabit the corner of two walls. Although the image becomes pixilated after zooming, the books mostly seem to be by the artist. On the right of the shelves is a framed drawing. It depicts the words "Be Nice". Each letter is formed with four lines of different colors. On the left of the book shelves is group of six different notes with drawings of snowmen in pen. The notes are of different sixes and colors but fit together to make a rectangle.

An installation view of a brightly lit gallery with a table seen from a distant in a couple of images prior. The table is made of different colored wood. Some is pink, maroon, white, green, pale blue and natural wood. The supports of the table are sometimes at angles unusual for a table. The table surface is part plywood and part particle board. Behind the table a number of works are hung on the wall. Starting from the left, we can see three medium sized framed newspaper clippings that seem to be half page spreads, all of musicians. The forth work is composed of a group of multicolored notes that are placed together to form a rectangle. This text is included beneath it (text taken from a larger version in the publication pdf): "Untitled Conversations, Storyline: What is it that makes a conversation a conversation? For a long time I had believed - following a pragmatic course of thinking - that a conversation consisted of an exchange of words between two or more people. At least this is how my dictionary defines it. But now I’m not so sure. Every time I ask someone to write something down for me, only so much gets written. A few words maybe. Or a few hundred. Or maybe none at all. It’s the conversations wi- thout the wordsthat somehow seem special--and how they leave a lingering feeling of a particular place and time." The last work is a large drawing or printed image in a white frame. After zooming in we can see it is made of thousands of lines of red and orange and black text.

An installation view of a gallery wall with two hung wall works. On the left is a square work hung as a diamond. The work is composed of a framed piece of paper in a white frame. After zooming in, it appears to be a piece of paper used as a table cloth in a restaurant and covered with notes. The work is titled, "Paula’s Birthday Party, 1998/2016." On our right 14 small pieces of colored paper are arranged to make a larger square. There is text on each piece of paper, and sometimes a drawing but it's too small to read and blurry after zooming. The work is titled, "Fourteen Untitled Conversations, 2001/2013."

An installation view of a new section of the gallery. In the foreground are two tables placed together to form an L. Both tables are shallow vitrines with glass tops. Inside the vitrines are documents and books. On the top of the glass on our left is a stack of what appears to be postcards. On the table to our right, is a blown glass dome resembling the top of a cake stand. Behind the tables are three hung wall works. To our right, we can see a dark monitor with the words "par Pierre Joseph Grigely" in blue type. Next to it is a wall work, a number of small notes arranged in a row. Beside the work is the following text (taken from the publication PDF: "Untitled Conversations (Portraits of Joseph, v.1), 2016 Storyline: One of the problems of communicating with language is that, however much it says, it never seems to say enough. Perhaps this explains why, on some occasions, I have conver- sations with people who do more than just write words - they draw pictures too. Sometimes the pictures illustrate their thoughts, and sometimes the pictures are their thou- ghts. Even at times when they draw pictures of me. You can say a lot of things with lines that you can’t say with words." The last work is composed of multiple small colored noted. Most are line drawings of animals but on our left is a note that says "I did a past life regression once. I was in the desert and very low. Maybe a beetle."

Another view of the two vitrines in a white gallery. This angle shows the other side and is taken higher, displaying more of the contents including pamphlets, notes on paper napkins, and CD's. On the wall behind the table hang four wall works. Each is composed of notes in various formations with small black framed texts accompanying them. These texts can be read in the "publication" PDF available on the project page.

Another view of the vitrine and its contents, this time from the other side. To our right, are various newspapers layered on top of each other with photographs or advertisements of people writing notes. Beside them are small notebooks and pamphlets. Two wall works are hung on the wall beyond, and part of the book shelves and the other part of the gallery is visible to the right.

A close up of the contents of the vitrine. On our left a blue note has casual handwriting saying, "What? Not in a bar! I thought you said ass." Above and to the right are three CD cases with handwritten notes as covers. One is yellow, one pink and one white. The yellow one says, "the loudest horn. right in my fucking ear. it is so loud. night now." The pink cover says "Jesus will hear ours" and the white cover says, "pretty pathetic". On the bottom right of the vitrine is a group of short pencils and a an invitation in a zip lock bag. At the top in bold letters it says, "Collectania" The following lines read: "December 7 - 14 1998. Media Union Gallery. University of Michigan - North Campus. Open Daily 1-6 PM. Reception sat 12 -12 / 7-9 PM. A Pencil stub is a pencil that has reached its creative apogee-- it is something that gets bigger as it gets smaller. -Joesph Grigely."

Another close up view of works in the vitrine. On our right is an open book titled "Migrateurs" with a scan of a handwritten note that says, "He's being very rude about me. I unfortunately am too small to fit in a wonder bra! It's not something I would have told you about even if you could hear - I would still have written it down!" The word rude is underlined in the note. Other books are also open in the vitrine. There is a stack of business cards near the top with print reading "Brutally Early Club. 6:30. Mexico City." There is a score titled "Ordinary Conversations. Number 39. by J.C. Grigely and Co. Fine Manuscripts." On its right is an open page, like a notebook page, covered in multidirectional lines of handwritten text.

Another close up view of the contents of the vitrine. In the foreground are four paper napkins. The first has a line drawing of a snowman and a vertical line of text reading "the architect of ___ (cannot make out this word) cafe". The next napkin reads, "Gus just said - 'I'm a slut'". The third reads, "Most people don't recognize me clothed! The last says, "with a brown cow?" The blown glass dome resembling the top of a cake stand sits on the glass top of the vitrine. A horn shaped glass handle is attached on the right.

Joseph GrigelyAir de Paris

Exhibition Images

Joseph Grigely
Air de Paris