Explore the work of our latest Artists-in-Residence as their open up their studios for the public!
About this event
In Process @ The Watermill Center is our ongoing series of open rehearsals, workshops, artist talks and studio visits that invite the community to engage with the work of our international Artists-in-Residence. The Watermill Center invites audiences of all ages and backgrounds to gain unique insight into the creative process of artists, cultivating an understanding of how artists from across the globe develop new work.
All attendees must be fully vaccinated, and present proof of vaccination during check-in. For a full list of COVID Safety Regulations, please click here.
About The Artists
Pawel Althamer (b. 1967, Warsaw, Poland) works predominantly in sculpture, collaborative action, installation and performance art. Interested in social and artistic transformation, Althamer makes work that reimagines reality in an attempt to subtly shift conventional perceptions—social, political, psychological. Althamer’s solo exhibitions include Lentos Museum in Linz (2020); Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki (2019); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2014); Secession, Vienna (2009); Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2007); Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2006), and Westfälischer Kunstverein, Munster, Germany (2002). Group exhibitions include the Venice Biennale: Il Palazzo Enciclopedico/The Encyclopedic Palace (2013); Gwangju Biennial, South Korea: Mainbo–10,000 Lives (2010); Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007); Berlin Biennial: Von Mäusen und Menschen/Of Mice and Men (2006), and the Istanbul Biennial (2005). In 2004 he won the Vincent Award, hosted by the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands. He lives and works in Warsaw. Althamer is a recipient of the 2021 Inga Maren Otto Fellowship at The Watermill Center.
Saxophonist Michael Foster & percussionist Ben Bennett have been performing as a duo for nearly 10 years. Using the saxophone and drum duo as a starting point, their work seeks to probe and prod the history and limitations of the tradition of the free jazz duo by interjecting elements of performance, silence, space, and density. Their collaborative work serves as an aspirational outlet for their shared interests in Zen meditation, performance art, pranks, and as a critique of performative acts of catharsis. They have toured the US and Europe extensively, having performed at Roulette, Issue Project Room, Brötz, Watermill Center, Oberlin, Bard, and many other venues large and small. In addition to their work as a duo, they often collaborate with Ben Gerstein, Jacob Wick, Joanna Mattrey, Brandon Lopez, Nate Wooley, and others.
James Ulmer’s paintings pull from lively drawings, translated into play of positive and negative space in solid, minimal forms. Bold shapes emerge out of Ulmer’s constructs through both the subject and the amorphous setting. Vibrating color combinations further upend the relationship between foreground and background. Ulmer’s simplicity belies the carefully calculated compositions, which oscillate between naiveté and minute attention to details of edge and placement. His paintings put forward the pure inspiration and enjoyment that painting can bring. James Ulmer has currently held solo exhibitions at Marvins Gardens (Brooklyn), (New York), Selected group exhibitions include Peanuts, curated by Eddie Martinez Eighteen Gallery (Copenhagen ) A Being in the World, curated by Jayson Musson Salon 94 (New York), Eric Firestone Gallery (East Hampton) and Steinsland Berliner Gallery (Stockholm Sweden). Ulmer received his BFA in Illustration and Design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He currently lives in Queens, New York.
Additional Information
All attendees must be fully vaccinated, and present proof of vaccination during check-in. Those unable to show proof of vaccination will be turned away. For the foreseeable future, unvaccinated children are unable to attend. Masks are required indoors.
Please arrive 10 minutes early to allow for the check-in process.
The Watermill Center is committed to providing accessible programs and services for all patrons and artists with disabilities. For further information about any accessibility issues or needs, please email us at info@watermillcenter.org.
Image courtesy Pawel Althamer
