Greengrassi is presenting Pae White’s fifth exhibition at the gallery in late January. The work, titled Genau or Never, is a reconfiguration of an unrealized commission originally planned for Gloucester Road tube station. In this iteration, a small portion of the original plan has been processed through a randomizer as a way to recontextualize it within a space with a new set of concerns. While the previous version utilized nearly 5000 tubes of neon referencing ornamental motifs from a mythical magic carpet, the new version is what occurs as that carpet unravels: unencumbered by its former logic and site, the ornament is set free, generating its own logic for its new environment.
The 700+ neon tubes used here represent a variation on white, each specifically selected because of its resemblance to daylight. Exposure to this kind of illumination enhances feelings of wellbeing; the tonal shifts that result from the different LUX levels in the neon allowing it to function as a giant “SAD” lamp during a seasonally dark time.
Pae White lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include O R L L E G R O, Museum für Angewandt Kunst, Vienna (2013); Too Much Night, Again, South London Gallery, London (2013); In Love with Tomorrow, Langen Foundation, Dusseldorf (2013); and SUMMER XX, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2012). Her work was featured in Soft Pictures, Foundazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2013); in Art & Textile, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2013); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2013); Mardin Biennale, Turkey (2012); San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego (2012) and in Print/Out, MoMA, New York (2012), among others.
Pae White: 24th January – 24th February – greengrassi 1a Kempsford Road (off Wincott Street) London SE11 4NU