In a cheerful celebration of the quotidian.

In a cheerful celebration of the quotidian, Danica Phelps makes it her art to itemize and illustrate the business of her life. in succession Aug. 12, 2003, Phelps wrote that, after seven years of marriage, she's discovered sex in the arms of a woman named Debi. For this exhibition, in a state of real transparency, Phelps transported the funky furnishings of her apartment, fastening stock and futon, not to mention Debi and her dog, Lucy to this without mincing the matter supportive Chelsea gallery. In residence there for a month excepting when she was somewhere besides Phelps balanced her art upon the fulcrum of her life, sat at her drawing board, elaborated forward her notations and line drawings, talked with visitors and, presumably, during the quiet hours, made vigorous and satisfying love

For Integrating Sex into Everyday Life (1 in consequence of 235), Phelps's amplified lists of illustrations and notations were tacked along the gallery walls in constellations of various sizes. The final lists, Integrating Sex into Everyday Life (Calendars), comparatively large at 30 on 22 inches, represent the weeks-at-a-glance of her plan in graphite and watercolor. She begins with an passage dated midnight, New Year's edge and Day, 2003 [sic]. She watched fireworks with Debi, made have a passionate affection for with Debi, slept a little and wakened with Debi. She walked in the rain with Debi and exhausted two dollars for a video rental. Total expenditures for the day: brace dollars.

The piece is numbered "1" and its price, $150 is circled in the lower right-hand corner. Phelps prices the drawings accessibly, from $25 to $1600 according to to what extent much they mean to her. In this work, a figure in the rain grasps a bag showing a receptacle inside, presumably the rented video, and the first of many drawings of herself making delight in with Debi. The list of Jan. 3 itemizes the signing of a lease, a finder's feud first month's rent, security deposit, 50 cent for parking and a forage purchase. Another day, groceries price $106, and a drawing of cars entering a subterranean passage illustrates the tolls at $960 She draws herself eating broth for lunch at Matthew Marks Gallery. At the bottom of each list she paints careful, vertical bars of fresh representing cash flow from the sale of each work, who bought the drawing, the gallery's price and her carve The day's reckoning includes a similarly scaled squabble of red bars, accounting for each cost Gray bars indicate amounts charged to credit cards. There are vellum tracing paper duplicates of works sold with numbers to account for each.

And for a like reason it goes. If this mixed genre of performance and obsessive notation is not the first forward the block, it is resolutely flourishing and original, rigorous and fun

...

Home