Joseph Grigely

Air de Paris

Installation view of a small gallery with grey floors, white walls, and fluorescent overhead tube lights. Five unframed color prints hang on the wall beneath plexi glass. They are hung at different heights with irregular spacing. Each appears to be a reproduction of a handwritten name on colored paper, some ruled and some not. From left to right, there is Rita McBride on pale blue paper, Elizabeth on mustard yellow, Wolfgang Winkler on bright orange, Hilke Kellie on pale green, and Ed Ruscha on bright pink. On our right, dangling from the ceiling is a bunch of what appear to be small desktop speakers with black cords.

Installation view with, on our left, five desktop speakers dangling from the ceiling, and on our right, another color print reproduction of a hand-written name in blue ink on teal blue paper that reads Frans Cie. The speakers are hung at different heights from thin metal wires, and their black power cords are bunched together at the ceiling and then disappear into a small hole at the top of the nearest wall.

Installation view from the opposite side of the cluster of dangling desktop speakers with the teal print reading Frans Cie on our left. In front of us and to our right are two more prints. One on pale white paper is too small to read. The other, on mint green, ruled notebook paper reads "Yoko Ono," and a couple lines beneath it "Emily Harvey."

A row of notebook pages tacked up on the wall, increasing in length from left to right. To the left of the row is a paragraph of printed text on white paper with a black frame. The text reads "A lot of conversations that I have with hearing people are fragmentary and involve very few words—a phrase here, a phrase there—an interruption here, an interruption there. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine the twists and turns that some conversations take. It's as if you never know for sure where a conversation will go until you find yourself there." Scrawled on the six papers to the right of the framed text, some of which are paper scraps like an American Express card offer, are various conversation fragments, including "I have a dead bird in a bag," and, "we have a lot to drink about."

Tacked to the wall is what looks like a circular paper doily with bright orange details and the words "fuck you" in all caps written on it in pencil. Below this is another framed paragraph of the following printed text: "Occasionally someone will write down for me something that seems utterly banal in one context, and oddly unusual in another. I think it has to do with the fact that when people write things down, the entire process presupposes a sense of importance: that whatever is being inscribed is significant by virtue of the fact that it is being inscribed. This is particularly true when people write down things that don't seem to need writing down--things that might otherwise be said with a nod or a gesture, or things that need not be said at all."

Framed text to the left of a column of four notecards or notepad pages, which all have handwritten numbers and notes scrawled on them. The framed text reads: "For a long time numbers perplexed me. They're pretty hard to lipread, and it seemed like I was always asking people to write them down. But they're not really as simple as they seem. I'm not sure why this is so—only that numbers, when they say something, never seem to say enough."

Two white sheets of paper covered in crowded, handwritten text tacked up on the wall. Below them is another framed text that reads: "When you're as deaf as I am, some conversations are pretty difficult. The sort of places that are great for talking aren't always great for writing. In cars, for example, especially when they're moving. Or in bed, especially when the lights are out. But the one places that's great for both talking and writing is at restaurant tables: people are close to each other, there's plenty of time, and there's usually a lot of paper to write on."

Three sheets of paper with lines for musical notation tacked up on the wall. Handwritten text is scrawled across their surfaces. Below them is another framed text that reads: "I met Tamara G. quite by chance in New York, where she was spending a few months working on a project. She's from Frankfurt. During the time she was in New York we got to know each other a bit. Occasionally we would go out together to have coffee, or to go to exhibition openings—anything that would give us the opportunity to talk about art and work in an informal context. Tamara has a very nice and distinctive accent when she writes, and I often wonder if her voice sounds like it looks."

Joseph GrigelyYouAir de Paris

Exhibition Images

Joseph GrigelyYou
Air de Paris