works sited
Paper Surrogate
Anthony Lepore
June 12 - August 22, 2010
The Art & Music Department's Works Sited series is pleased to present "Paper Surrogate," a new display by Los Angeles artist Anthony Lepore. Using photographs, wood and plastic, Lepore has created a quarter-scaled replica of the display case housed within the original. This smaller edition contains a photographic snapshot of an arrangement of library books that either deal directly with the subjects of expectancy, birth and parenthood or have titles that invoke these themes despite their actual content.
Lepore's installation casts the viewer deep into a surreal and uncanny scene by contrasting sculptural anthropomorphism with the odd precision of photographic representation. Reveling in poetic allusions and wordplay, titles like: "She's Gotta Have It" "3D Creatures" and "Propagation" create an anomalous index of life and procreation. It is here that the image of lifeless books and text serves as a paper surrogate for an otherwise deeply personal event. Lepore's grouping also illustrates the potential movement of patrons through the library - a serendipitous route of exploration and discovery where one may supersede conventional subject classifications and make connections through language and play. Using a diverse selection of library books from a wide range of unrelated subjects, Lepore frames how such complex and abstract phenomena - that of birth and procreation - have been embedded in today's social and cultural imaginary.
Anthony Lepore (b. 1977, Burbank, CA) received a BFA from Fordham University in 2000 and an MFA from Yale University in 2005. His work has been shown at Marvelli Gallery (NY) and Groeflin Maag Gallery (Basel, Switzerland) and is held in the public collection of the Guggenheim Museum (NY). He is currently an adjunct professor for UCLA's art department. To accompany the display, the artist has provided a bibliography of titles that have influenced his artistic practice.
To accompany the display, the artist has provided a bibliography of titles that have influenced his artistic practice. All titles are available in the library for loan or reference.
Carson, Anne. Nox. New York: New Directions, 2010. Print.
Erdrich, Louise. The Beet Queen: a Novel. New York: Holt, 1986. Print.
Manno, Silvio. The Forestiere Underground Gardens: a Pictorial Journey. Fresno, Calif.: Ionian Publications, 2005. Print.
Muir, John. The Mountains of California, by John Muir. London: T. F. Unwin, 1894. Print.
O'Donohue, John. To Bless the Space between Us: a Book of Blessings. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print.
Parr, Martin. Common Sense. Stockport, Eng.: Dewi Lewis, 1999. Print.
Salatino, Kevin. Incendiary Art: the Representation of Fireworks in Early Modern Europe. Santa Monica, Calif.: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1997. Print.
Salten, Felix, and Whittaker Chambers. Bambi: a Life in the Woods. Leicester: Brockhampton P., 1971. Print.
Stolzenberg, Daniel. The Great Art of Knowing the Baroque Encyclopedia of Athanasius Kircher. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Libraries, 2001. Print.
Szymborska, Wis awa, Clare Cavanagh, and Stanis aw Baranczak. Monologue of a Dog: New Poems. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. Print.
