Courtyard Installation by Benjamin La Rocco in Progress
Benjamin La Rocco: Left Out in the Rain
An Equity Gallery Courtyard Installation
Oct 8th — Oct 31st, 2020
Outdoor Opening Reception Thursday October 8, 6PM - 8PM
“There’s nothing you can own that can’t be left out in the rain.”
-Chinese proverb
The objects featured in the inaugural Courtyard space behind the gallery all come from Benjamin La Rocco’s domestic, urban life spanning over the last 10 years. He tried to leave them as he found them but his affection for them – their forms – has led him to alter them to varying degrees. He cleaned them, preserved them, painted them and kept them.
But mostly, he has organized them. He wants to know how a space he enters is situated geographically and wants to use the objects in that space to direct himself physically in a clear way.
La Rocco wants to know if it’s possible to consecrate objects through placement. Many traditional cultural and religious ceremonies indicate that this is so. But it’s the experience that interests him and the sanctified space that it implies. The ancient stone circles were set up to situate humankind cosmologically. He is interested in finding out if and how this same sort of psycho-physical process might be possible and desirable in our virtually oriented, technologically accelerated society. He fears the loss of our connection to the things we discard but understands the loss to be entailed by the kind of civilization we have chosen.
Among the objects that predominate in his selection at Equity Gallery are wooden offcuts, old CD’s, computers and plumbing fittings. The largest fittings are from waste lines, a part of buildings most heavily relied upon, but generally ignored aesthetically. He is interested in things ignored, broken, outmoded, leftover.
The small space at the back of Equity Gallery is a nexus of wires, a means of egress and a small, rough, typically urban and quintessentially utilitarian space, which is what La Rocco takes the most interest in. It’s like the objects he prefers and that is why the artist has tried to interfere with it as little as possible, though his interference is of course great.
La Rocco notes that “When you get too attached to the objects in your life, it becomes a problem. But if you ignore them, that becomes a big problem too. Therefore, it’s advisable every so often to leave the things you care about out in the rain.”
*The opening reception for Farrago will take place outdoors, with limited viewing sessions. We require all attendees wear masks and adhere to the NY State Social Distancing guidelines.