Paul Kotula Projects is pleased to present Sleepwalker, on view through December 17. Sleepwalker recognizes the omnipresence of trauma and loss in America and the ambiguous consciousness of its reality. It brings together visual and sound artworks by seven American artists to affect emotional and intellectual responses to the preciousness of life and the varied extents of loss, human and otherwise, and/or their potential cause. It does this without specificity to any singular event.
The exhibition takes its title from Somnambulo (Sleepwalker) by 2001 MacArthur fellow Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (Chicago, IL). Originally presented in “Human Technology” (with Matt Collishaw and Tony Oursler) at Revolution, Detroit in 1996, his 1995 audio begins with five gunshots that are digitized to sound like a thunderstorm, then white noise. The urgency and currency of Somnambulo (Sleepwalker) remains, just as does it with the other the works included in the exhibition.
Along with Manglano-Ovalle, the exhibition features work by gallery artists Cynthia Greig (Northport, MI), Tony Hepburn (1942-2015) , Peter Williams (1952-2021), and Anne Wilson (Chicago, IL). It also includes a sculpture by Karyn Olivier (Philadelphia, PA), whose work has not been seen in Detroit since her MFA thesis work at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2001, as well as Rebecca Casement (Flint, MI) whose sound work and sculpture make their Detroit debut here.
Please note: the gallery will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25, for the Thanksgiving holiday.
