During the final weeks of Polish artist Pawe Althamer's first US museum show, the artist will invite the public to a one-day exhibition of new sculptures made on-site and will distribute pieces of Draftsmen's Congress to New Museum visitors.
Since the opening of "The Neighbors" in February, Althamer has worked in partnership with a range of artists, friends, and collaborators to create sixteen new sculptures. During this period, Althamer also ran sculpture and film workshops with neighbors and a group from the Bowery Mission. Together, they will present a one-day exhibition of the new works on Thursday April 17, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., in the New Museum's storefront space at 231 Bowery. The exhibition will be free and open to the public.
After working closely with the Malian master sculptor Youssouf Dara on a previous project, Althamer invited him to work in New York during this exhibition. Dara often incorporates references to Dogon traditions and stories in his pieces, and a number of his artworks will be shown as part of the one-day sculpture presentation. In addition, Dara has installed a selection of his smaller pieces in the Museum Store window. The presentation on April 17 will also feature a large group self-portrait created by Althamer and his collaborators.
Draftsmen's Congress-the collective painting project that has been evolving on the Fourth Floor-will come to a close on Sunday April 20. Over the course of the past ten weeks, the blank white space of the New Museum's Fourth Floor gallery has been transformed through the gradual accumulation of drawings and paintings by thousands of Museum visitors and ninety invited community organizations, including school and adult education groups, hobbyists, political activists, and many other formal and informal organizations. From Wednesday April 23 through Sunday April 27, Draftsmen's Congress will be disassembled during the Museum's public hours: the painted walls will be cut up and distributed to visitors for free.
Since the early 1990s, Althamer (b. 1967 Warsaw, Poland) has established a unique artistic practice featuring an expanded approach to sculptural representation and consistently experimental models of social collaboration. Althamer is predominantly known for the figurative sculptures he creates of himself, his family, and various other individuals within his community. Beyond simple portraiture, these sculptures, in addition to the other activities he is involved in, highlight the complex social, political, and psychological networks in which he lives and operates. In many of his previous museum exhibitions, Althamer has used the visibility and resources of the organizing institution to benefit different local communities. For "The Neighbors," Althamer initiated a coat drive for the Bowery Mission, the Museum's neighboring organization, which has been serving the homeless and hungry since 1879. Since the show's opening, visitors donated over 130 coats.
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