William Lamson: Badwater

February 6–April 11, 2020
Grossman Gallery

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Badwater is a complex installation of objects, materials, and processes that create an abiotic ecosystem, a network of non-living things that, while inanimate, continue to exert their material agency. In a time when extreme weather conditions have become a reality around the world, Badwater uses a climate controlling infrastructure to create an accelerated cycle of flood and drought. Inspired by the saltwater spring in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin, and the resilient ecosystem around it that has evolved to withstand these harsh conditions, this piece is a generative work that brings these quiet geologic forces into the gallery and allows them to develop over the duration of the exhibition.

William Lamson is an interdisciplinary artist whose diverse practice involves working with elemental forces to create durational performative actions. Set in landscapes as varied as New York’s East River and Chile’s Atacama Desert, his projects reveal the invisible systems and forces at play within these sites. In all of his projects, Lamson’s work represents a performative gesture, a collaboration with forces outside of his control to explore systems of knowledge and belief. Lamson’s work has been exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, including the Brooklyn Museum, The Moscow Biennial, P.S.1 MOMA, Kunsthalle Erfurt, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, and Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles. In addition, he has produced site specific installations for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Center For Land Use Interpretation, and Storm King Art Center. His work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and a number of private collections.

Free for all! No tickets required.

Presented by Lafayette Art Galleries.