Marinaro is pleased to announce Giving Good Fwar Gwaar, Phoebe Washburn's first solo show with the gallery.
Fwar Gwaar: The state of being in an active and productive trance-like condition where larger external forces are eliminated, removed, or abandoned. The act of generating and manifesting invention through the practice of force-feeding specific information, data, or experience and the spontaneous ceremony that emerges from this action.
Phoebe Washburn is known for her large-scale installations, built from reused two-by-fours and collected scrap wood. The structures serve as housing for systems, machines, and various modes of production that the artist has invented—some of which include sod production, a grey water system, human-powered vending machines, fountains that map baseball games, and other systems that employ unconventional methods and procedures. Rarely static, these installations change as the system unfolds in time and space.
For her first solo show in ten years, Washburn will create a new colossal wood structure that will debut a continuous performance over four weeks. The system and machine in this work will be generated by the artist herself in the form of an unscripted performance. The artist will complete different tasks, chores, and rituals which will set into motion a series of new problems resulting in more tasks. This will demand reaction and adaptation over time, making each visit to the gallery a unique experience.
Phoebe Washburn (b. 1973) received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Washburn’s solo shows include exhibitions at the Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense, Denmark; National Academy Museum, New York, NY; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles among others. She was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and Greater New York 2005. She has participated in group shows at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO; Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY; and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; among others. Washburn lives and works in New York, NY.