all we ever wanted was everything

Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
November 5 - December 4 2010

Fia Backström
Shannon Ebner
Patricia Esquivias
Spencer Finch
Joachim Koester
Alice Könitz
Gonzalo Lebrija
Mathias Poledna
Danh Vo

Literary contribution by Michael Ned Holte

Curated by galería perdida

all we ever wanted was everything commissions nine artists to question the importance of the single image. For this exhibition, a selection of diverse artists will design a single black and white image to be produced as a run of one thousand posters, free for the taking. The resulting nine stacks without context or explanation remain waiting as sculpture, installation, publicity. Which will be chosen? Which
will be favored and by whom? These images articulate episodic moments in history, abstraction and storytelling, developing their own narratives as defined by their use. They represent an acknowledgment of the poster's history from political tool to contemporary strategy. As such, they take on new meanings determined by their new lives. The images are far-reaching, sharing between them interests in photography, text, and formal properties as well as revisiting a populist form tethered to its social,
cultural, and political roots. These stacks parallel our desires, as they are subject to change: on a wall, in the trash, wrapped around a present...