Christian Xatrec: X = (not) X Exhibition Dates: April 12 - May 5, 2001 Opening Reception: Thurs. April 12, 6 - 8pm Emily Harvey Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by Christian Xatrec, titled X = (not) X. The art of Christian Xatrec consists of subtle philosophical objects that question our relations with the world around us. They also challenge our knowledge of the world in elegant, witty comments on life at the turn of a new century. At a deeper level, they bring artist and viewer together in Socratic dialogue on postmodern times -- a vision of concept art reconstructed by Buster Keaton and the young Ludwig Wittgenstein. Xatrec uses humble materials to shape a hybrid of deadpan vaudeville comedy and Viennese positivism. The low-key, nearly industrial style of these objects hints at the early twentieth century technology of Keaton's films and Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The understated tone of the work hides a cavalier approach to art and ideology that Xatrec carried off with the panache of Fred Astaire. Xatrec's work is difficult to describe. Metaphor and rhetorical sophistication contradict material humility to give this work cultural resonance. It is a theater of thought and memory. Christian Xatrec was originally trained as an architect. For many years, he has been a one-man art movement inventing a kind of art that did not yet exist and collecting the objects of the self-invented artist he became. - Ken Friedman, Stockholm, Sweden, February 2001 Emily Harvey Gallery 537 Broadway at Spring (2nd Floor) New York, NY 10012 Tel: 212 925-7651 Fax: 212 966-0439 For immediate release: March 1, 2001
