Erin Shirreff: Still, Flat, and Far

September 15 - December 5, 2010
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 15, 6-8pm

The Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present the first solo museum exhibition of the work of Erin Shirreff (b. 1975, Kelowna, British Columbia; lives Brooklyn, New York). Consisting of all new work, this exhibition includes video, sculpture, and works on paper that conjure familiar objects, sites, and recollections. Shirreff's work explores how images of extraordinary landmarks and artifacts become seared into cultural memory through their persistent reproduction, and how our vision of them is shaped as much by their reproduction as by our own experience. Through such subject matter the artist manipulates images of objects, architecture, and landscapes to reveal the subtle and inescapable role of the camera's eye.

This exhibition is organized by curator Lucy Gallun, and will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated brochure.

images: Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media

Trained as a sculptor, Shirreff works in multiple media, including photography and video, and her work suggests evocations as diverse as the archeological cataloging of ancient tools, the observation of planets through telescopic devices, and the hulking presence of minimalist sculpture in the landscape. For this exhibition, the artist elegantly mines the terrain of mediation and representation through a variety of formal strategies, including pigment prints and a video work that utilizes images of the moon. The exhibition also includes sculptures molded from compressed ash. Their forms might recall the sharp angles and planes of minimalist sculpture, though their hollow frames and seemingly fragile construction belie this association.

Shirreff received an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University and a BFA from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her recent and upcoming exhibitions include a two-person show in the Front Room at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Knight's Move at Sculpture Center in Queens, Greater New York at MoMA PS1, Between Here and There at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Immaterial at Ballroom Marfa.

Related Public Programs

Exhibition Walkthrough (ICA Members Only)
Wednesday September 15, 5PM
With artist Erin Shirreff and curator Lucy Gallun

Conversation: Erin Shirreff with Kaja Silverman and Lucy Gallun
Wednesday, December 1, 6:30PM
Join the artist as she discusses her work with Katherine Stein Sachs CW'69 and Keith L. Sachs W'67 Professor of the History of Art Kaja Silverman. Introduction by ICA's 2009-10 Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow Lucy Gallun

ICA acknowledges the generous sponsorship of Barbara B. & Theodore R. Aronson for the exhibition publication. ICA is grateful for the support of The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; The Dietrich Foundation, Inc.; the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art; friends and members of ICA; and the University of Pennsylvania.

Images, top to bottom: Erin Shirreff, Signature (detail), 2010, Archival pigment print on matte paper, 23 1/2 x 32 inches with fold. Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Cooley, New York. Erin Shirreff, UN 2010 (still), Color HD video, silent, 17-minute loop. Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Cooley, New York.


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