William Lamson, SUBLUNAR "The pursuit of flight, no matter how flawed or hopeless the attempt, places the amateur in the heroic position of trying to transcend his place on earth. This project investigates the flight endeavor as it represents the desire to escape earth and the hope of surpassing human limitation." —William Lamson, 2007 In his second exhibition with PIEROGI, William Lamson's new body of works, SUBLUNAR, marks a seemingly radical and demanding shift in the artists production. Coming out of a tradition of subjective photography, Lamson's earlier practice involved travelling though the United States photographing people, places, and things. Now he works with concepts as an entry point to his image making process. These ideas are manifested through photographic and video documentations of performances - as well as installations. But, as in his earlier photographs, the work in SUBLUNAR is motivated by a process of search and discovery. "The problem for the intellectual is to try to deal with the impingements of modern professionalization [...] by representing a different set of values and prerogatives." -Edward W. Said. In response to Said's lecture, Lamson built a three meter paper airplane, and began photographing it at night. The resulting series is at once strikingly clear and oddly obscure, humoristic and pitiable.The exhibition will consist of a series of photographic and video works as well as an installation. Each work documents the attempt (and failure) to escape earth as a metaphor for the human impulse to surpass natural given limitations. In the photograph No 15, 3/11/2006, we in many ways see an almost reversed moon landing; the white orb is an object of this world, not the moon itself - and, although the human figures might look as if they wear so-called Jetpacks, that we know from science fiction, they are in reality leaf blowers. The image depicts Lamson's interest in human beings' (in)ability to fly; this ability is limited to a predefined time and space and is only possible with (lots of) external help. In that sense, failure is imminent. Many of the works produced for this show are set in desolate landscapes. Places like Joshua Tree and Monument Valley are not only grandiose back drops but enable many of the activities that Lamson sets out to attempt. For example, in the video "Monument Valley Flight Attempt" the artist carries a large paper airplane to the edge of a cliff and throws it into the air. This hopeful gesture is abruptly interrupted as the plane flies downwards. In the succeeding video, entitled "Crash," we follow the plane in medias res, from first-person perspective, as it goes straight down to the valley floor, breaking the camera lens and coming to rest under a rock. As in Lamson's earlier photographs, the SUBLUNAR series works also have a suppressed narrative. They are a representation of actual events, and at the same time they contain their own stories. They also allow the viewer to come up with their own interpretation. In one of the most uncanny photographs in his Encounter series (2005), "Ball," we see a round, large white object in a living room. This, or a similar object, is also found in SUBLUNAR. In "Levitation Exercise," a 2:33 minute video loop, something that looks like a glowing moon floating in the night sky, starts to fall. When it falls low enough a man pushes it up again. As the video proceeds, the ball and the man move farther into the distance until only the ball is visible. The photographs in this series differ between magically beautiful images and images revealing the mechanisms behind the magical beauty. For instance, in "No 21, 6/16/2006," a C-print, we see a man with his right hand stretched up into the air. Extending from his hand is a thin white line that continues up into the air, out of the frame. This gesture, to communicate or extend oneself upward, regardless of how temporary (fleeting?) the prospect for this might be. Then, in "No 15, 3/11/2006," we see four humans in the characteristic white uniforms, all equipped with a leaf blower, balancing a large white balloon in the air above them. William Lamson (*1977) received his MFA at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. This year he had solo shows in Seattle and Sydney. Selected group shows in 2007 includes "Orpheus Selection: in search for Darkness at PS1," New York and "Flight of Fancy" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe. This is his second solo show with PIEROGI. He lives in Brooklyn.

William Lamson - SUBLUNAR Der Traum des Fliegens - egal wie fehlerhaft und hoffnungslos der Versuch auch scheinen mag - versetzt den Akteur in die heldenhafte Position, seinen Platz auf der Erde überwinden zu wollen. Das Projekt "Sublunar" untersucht diese Flugbemühungen, indem es das Verlangen danach wiederspiegelt, der Erde zu entkommen und die menschlichen Beschränkungen zu überwinden. - William Lamson, 2007 Die Ausstellung wird aus einer Serie von Fotografien, Videoarbeiten und einer Installation bestehen. Alle Arbeiten dokumentieren den Versuch - und das Scheitern - des Künstlers, sich der Erdanziehungskraft zu entziehen und dienen als Metapher für den Impuls des Menschen, seine natürlichen Begrenzungen zu überwinden.