Nancy Shaver

 These are things people wear.  This green long-sleeve shirt could be worn by a child, though it is decorated with a banal slur, along with squirrels and acorns.  This is a black and white photograph from 1973 or '74 of a small garment with heart-shaped patches.  It may be true that the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky wore this suggestively accentuated, bead-laden costume.  These are a pair of embroidered pants which are made for the idea of legs.

 

We might have grasped these knobs and pulls.  Poof balls on springs top this hat tooled in pressed tin and thread.  The stitching is a distinct feature of these applique Mola blouses: attentive, careful, and slow.  The reverberating patterns are built up by layering fabric, forming outlines around outlines.  One helps another person dress themselves, in teaching or assuring dignity, by gently placing the material over their head, then finding the arm holes from inside, guiding each arm into each sleeve.

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You could use this in the home.  Here is a yellow dress.  This is a refusal.  This snow shovel was made and braved by hand.  This mitt holds burning hot metal while we weld.  The shells on this surface are embedded in perpetuity.  Our evening clutch is built of impossibly small beads.  This folding screen shatters the optical field slowly.

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There is a closeness between the parts.  These are the negative areas in the cut holes.  There are spacers between the objects, which are there to admit space.  The surfaces are either disinterested or indifferent.  This is replete with love, this took no time to make.

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-Beka Goedde

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This will be Nancy Shaver's second solo show at Derek Eller Gallery.  The exhibition will include new sculptures and discrete objects by the artist, along with work made in collaboration with Robin Greeson, a collector of textiles and antiques who has been an influence on Shaver, as well as works by Venessa Bell (1879-1961).

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Nancy Shaver's (b. 1946) work has recently been included in Outliers and American Vanguard Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, traveling to High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, VIVA ARTE VIVA, 57th International Exhibition of Art, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy and Greater New York, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY.  In 2015 she mounted a solo exhibition at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefileld, CT and in 2014 was included in Robert Gober: The Heart is Not a Metaphore, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.  Her work will be featured in One Day at a Time: Manny Farber, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA later this year.  Between 2002 and 2011 she mounted five solo exhibitions at Feature Inc. New York, NY.  Nancy Shaver lives and works in Jefferson, NY.

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The artist would like to extend continual thanks to sculptor John Jackson for fabrication of work, as well as thanks to friends and artists who have contributed thoughts along the way.

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Derek Eller Gallery is located at 300 Broome Street between Eldridge Street and Forsyth Street.  Hours are Wednesday - Sunday from 11am to 6pm and Tuesday by appointment.  For further information please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com.