The collaboration between artists Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler stretched from their meeting at college in the 1970s until Ericson’s untimely death from brain cancer in 1995, and Galerie Perrotin in New York is hosting a retrospective looking back at their work more than two decades after the couple’s first show at the gallery’s Paris venue.
The couple’s partnership began at Kansas City Art Institute. Graduating with BFAs in 1978, they moved west and gained MFAs from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982. As well as working outside the bubble of the dominant New York art scene of the time, the two became known for the way their practice, which blended conceptual, interventionist and land art, engaged with the community. One such example is Camouflaged History from 1991, which saw the pair approach the owner of a house that needed painting in Charleston, South Carolina. The house was on the boundary of a historical preservation district, with strict rules about the colours that could be used on property exteriors.
After Ericson and Ziegler’s extensive dialogue with the community and the home owners, the design was finalised and the house was painted with a camouflage pattern. It used every one of the approved list of colours laid out by the Board of Architectural Review, and was a great success with the owner and the immediate neighbours while being labelled an eyesore by the more affluent residents nearby in the posh part of town. A scale representation of Camouflaged History is on display at Galerie Perrotin along with many other of the duo’s most important works, including Peas, Carrots, Potatoes and A Long Line. Mel Ziegler continues to practise in Nashville as well as being Professor of the arts department at Vanderbilt University. The retrospective runs at the Madison Avenue venue until 22 August.
Camouflaged History
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
A Long Line
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Peas, Carrotts, Potatoes
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Dark on That Whiteness
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Camouflaged History
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Give And Take
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Peas, Carrotts, Potatoes
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Perrotin,
Photo, Guillaume Ziccarelli.
