Field Notes. Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, Bronx New York September 15–November 29, 2015.
“With Space as Substance”, Matthew Friday relocates a mobile and modular research station that contains a variety of cartographic and scientific instruments. Operating as a provisional laboratory, camping platform, library and exhibition installation, the piece will include a portable, pigment-processing mill powered by the prototype for a 19th-century solar engine. Set up as a diorama, the research station’s equipment will be demonstrated at two Wave Hill art projects—one for families, the other for adults—this fall. […] Friday’s own analysis of the river can be seen in the diagrammatic paintings, overlaying his research and philosophy about the river with information about its health today. To create these paintings, Friday harvests a wide range of plants that play a critical role in the river’s ecosystem, dries them and makes dyes using a sustainably engineered mill that he devised. Using these dyes, Friday has created a series of diagrams that explore species migration, geological and meteorological transformation of the Hudson Valley, as well as ongoing and potential responses to these issues. The large painting is made with remediated toxic mud from General Electric’s dredging sites, combined with coal collected from power plants in the Hudson Valley.”
excerpts from an interview with Wave Hill Senior Curator Jennifer McGregor. The full interview is available here.
