Not only this, but 'New language beckons us.'

Black Thorns in the White Cube + Elijah Burgher at Western Exhibitions

I will be opening a solo show in the project room at Western Exhibitions on Friday, March 6. Eight drawings from the past six months, and a large painting on a drop cloth. Info here. A group show, Black Thorns in the White Cube, featuring artists influenced by the sounds and imagery of black metal, will be opening in the main space.

ANAL SWASTIKA vs. GENITAL HOLOCAUST

I will be showing drawings, paintings, and a collaborative video in a two-person show with Steve Reinke at Lump in Raleigh, NC. Info below. Lots of love to Bill Thelen for inviting us for this project.

Lump is pleased to present 

Anal Swastika vs. Genital Holocaust 
by Chicago artists Elijah Burgher and Steve Reinke. Lump will host an opening reception on Friday, February 3rd from 7 – 10pm during the First Friday Gallery Walk in downtown Raleigh. The exhibition will run from February 3 – 25 and is on view Saturdays from 1 - 5pm and by appointment during the week.



Anal Swastika vs. Genital Holocaust

Elijah Burgher vs. Steve Reinke

Drawing vs. Needlepoint

Video vs. Video

Homosexuality! 
Transgression! 
Personal Shit! 
Tunes!

Topple the Table of Correspondences

I have a show opening on November 13th at 2nd Floor Projects in San Francisco. For more information, go here. A limited edition broadside will be produced on the occasion of the exhibition, and will include an essay by Scott Treleaven. Much love and thanks to Kevin Killian and Margaret Tedesco for bringing me out to the West Coast.

Intimacies

I will be exhibiting a new video, Ritual Action, May 25, 2011, which I made in collaboration with Tom Daws in a group show at Gallery 400. Thanks to Lorelei Stewart and John Neff for including us in the show. Information below:


Intimacies
Curated by John Neff and Lorelei Stewart
September 9-October 22, 2011
Reception: Friday, September 9, 5-8 pm


Elijah Burgher/Tom Daws | LaToya Ruby Frazier | Desirée Holman | Leigh Ledare | Laurel Nakadate | Michael Sirianni


In the six artists’ works in Intimacies the camera is an active agent in the creation of social events, not just a recording instrument in the hands of an autonomous documentarian. The primarily photographic and video works, some of which include painting and sculptural elements, focus on charged interpersonal encounters. Beyond serving as indices of such encounters, the included artworks reveal the reconfigured effects of such exchanges, disclosing the complexity of authorship, agency, and viewership in today’s world.

PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO READ ART

I will have some sigil drawings in "PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO READ ART" at Western Exhibitions in Chicago. Thanks to Scott Speh for including me in the exhibition. Information below.


Western Exhibitions will present the group show, “People Don’t Like to Read Art” in both Gallery 1 and 2, opening with a public reception on Saturday, July 9 from 6 to 9pm.

The title of the show takes its name from a 2009 drawing (not in this show) by Deb Sokolow that humorously reflects on some viewers’ aversion to reading text in visual art works. While the use of text in contemporary art is fairly commonplace, many of artists in this show move beyond the use of single words and phrases (though examples of this kind of work will be in the show) by working with paragraphs, lists, fully-formed narratives and book formats, asking viewers to take the time to actively read the work. 

The show includes works from several gallery artists: Nicholas Frank’s framed book pages from his ongoing biography, Adriane Herman’s vinyl appliqués of found to-do lists, John Parot’s paintings and drawings wryly reflecting on modern gay life, a currency collage from Mark Wagner, and narrative drawings by both Joe Hardesty and Deb Sokolow. 

Also included in this survey of works that incorporate the act of reading are several non-gallery artists who work in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, video, artists’ books, printmaking and collage, and hail from points in and outside of Chicago. We’ll be showing an artist book produced in collaboration with The Present Group from Rebecca Blakley (Oakland, CA); drawings and collages by Elijah Burgher (Chicago); sculpture by Simon Evans (Berlin); watercolors by Cat Glennon (Brooklyn); text drawings byMeg Hitchcock (New York); video and printmaking by Rachel Foster (San Francisco); drawings by David Leggett (Chicago); artist book/novel by Andy Moore (Chicago); collage/photos by Kirsten Stoltmann (Los Angeles); and artist books by Angie Waller (New York).

B-B-B-BAD

B-B-B-BAD
... an exhibition with attitudes.

June 30 - August 15

Anna Kustera Gallery
520 West 21st Street NYC

Opening Reception: Thursday June 30, 6-9pm

Featuring:
Adam Axel, Mattia Biagi, Keith Boadwee, Matt Borruso, Charles Browning, Elijah Burgher, Luke Butler, Wayne Coe, Steve Davis, Peter Eide, Scott Ewalt, Glen Fogel, Jonah Freeman, Martha Friedman, Paul Gabrielli, John Wayne Gacy, Joe Graham-Felsen, Gregory Green, Adam Helms, Lisa Kirk, Kristian Kozul, Scooter LaForge, Wes Lang, Karine Laval, Patrick Lee, Michael Magnan, Paul McCarthy, Adam McEwen, Bob Mizer, John Ensor Parker, Luc Sante, Ryan Schneider, Jeff Shagawat, Tara Sinn, Hank Willis Thomas, Wolfgang Tillmans, John Waters, Karlheinz Weinberger, Eric Yahnker

Curated by: Doug McClemont & Billy Miller

Info:
http://www.annakustera.com/
(212) 989-0082

Chromaticism

I have several sigil drawings in "Chromaticism" at NOMA Gallery in San Francisco. Info below.

Chromaticism

June 17th-July 23rd
Opening Friday, June 17th, 6-8pm

Elijah Burgher
James Chronister
Richard Kent Howie
Cybele Lyle

Curated by Liz Wing

NOMA Gallery
80 Maiden Lane, 3rd floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm and by appointment
t:  415 391 0200
info@nomagallery.com

Imperfect Articles at Volta NY 2011

I will have a t-shirt and a batch of drawings from the past six months with Imperfect Articles at Volta NY the first weekend of March. Thanks to Mike Andrews and Noah Singer for asking me to do the shirt with them and taking my work.

Roots & Culture: A Certain Ratio

I will have a number of sigil drawings in "A Certain Ratio" at Roots & Culture.  The exhibition opens on January 8th.  The other artists are Ryan Fenchel, Jonah Groeneboer, Shane Huffman, and Erin Zona.  Big thanks to Eric May for including me in the show.

Your Last Chance

I will have a handful of sigil drawings at Billy Miller's Straight to Hell outpost at the NY Art Book Fair this coming weekend.  More info here.

Who's Yr Shaman? Exhibition Catalog

A catalog was produced for WHO'S YR SHAMAN at Johalla Projects. Info below.

WHO’S YR SHAMAN? exhibition catalog now available for $10. Featuring essays by Melissa Marinaro, Elijah Burgher, Ivan Lozano. Catalog design by Terence Hannum. 24 pages, full color, total steal!

Please email melissamarinaro@gmail.com for more details.

Who's Yr Shaman?

I will have a couple of drawings in "Who's Yr Shaman?" at Johalla Projects in Chicago.  The show was curated by Melissa Marinaro, and features work by Sara Fagala, Terence Hannum, Chad Harrison, Ivan Lozano, Adam Ludwig and Rebecca Walz.  It opens August 13th.  For more information, go here.

TROLL: NEW WORK PRESENTED BY CTRL+W33D

I will have a couple of drawings in Troll, an exhibition at Envoy Enterprises organized by the good folks behind CTRL+W33D.  Description below.













CTRL+W33D PRESENTS NEW WORK BY JACOB MEEHAN, BRAD TROEMEL, KARI ALTMANN, ANDREW LAUMANN, MICHAEL MAGNAN, PATRICK DYER, DYLAN REECE, CHRIS UDEMEZUE, SCOTT HUG, BEN SCHUMACHER, CODY CRITCHELOE, MATT LIFSON, JARROD BECK, ELIJAH BURGHER, DANIEL LEYVA, LAZARO RODRIGUEZ, BEN AQUA, DA SUL KIM, TRAVESS SMALLEY, MARK SPALDING, KRISTIN SMALLWOOD, IVAN LOZANO, KHALID AL GHARABALLI, SHAWN MAXIMO, BORNA SAMMAK, FATIMA AL QADIRI, JASON VILLEGAS, PAUL CUPO, VENUS JAZMIN SOTO, ADAM RADOKOVICH AND ANTHONY THORNTON

AT ENVOY ENTERPRISES, JULY 1-15

"Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they—and the troll—understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group." - Judith S. Donath, "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community", 1999 


"Troll as gay slang is amongst the lexicon of the cant Polari used in the gay subculture in Britain which has become more mainstream with transcontinental travel and online communication. As a Polari word, troll can mean ‘to walk effeminately’, or ‘to walk, seeking sex’. Trolling can be used almost interchangeably with cruising and like much of Polari usage was probably meant to disguise what was being talked about because being gay was and still is taboo and discussing gay sex in any public area can be risky." - Paul Baker, "Polari - The Lost Language of Gay Men", 2002 


TROLL is a group exhibition instigated by CTRL+W33D to examine the act of trolling as a sexual, cultural, and ethical practice. To troll is to sift through image and text, filtering and re-contextualizing subject-significant objects; it is baiting and malicious comment made behind the anonymity of the Web, soliciting argument for the purpose of breakdown and chaos; to troll is sexual practice, to cruise for sex, to seek partners anonymous or otherwise. 

In the gallery setting, CTRL+W33D seek to exhibit works that examine various aspects and functions of the act of trolling and their influence on physical work, using trolling's threefold definition not as exclusive to the internet, but as a lens with which to view three fundamental methodologies, each in turn consumptive, productive, and destructive. 

Engender Trouble

I will have a couple of drawings in "Engender Trouble" at Iceberg in Chicago.  It is an exhibition of two new videos by Doug Ischar, "come lontano" and "CB," the latter in collaboration with his partner, Tom Daws, accompanied by a small exhibition curated by Doug of works by Erin Leland, Michael Sirianni, and myself.  Description from the press release of Doug's exceptional videos below.

New work by Doug Ischar, Doug Ischar/Tom Daws and an exhibition of new work by Elijah Burgher, Erin Leland and Michael Sirianni

‘come lontano’

come lontano (2010) is a perverse historical romance in which two lives are exposed, inter-mixed, doused with sentiment, and – hopefully - redeemed. The work revolves around a central ‘couple’ - Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas. There is a third main character, an ambiguous villain made of steel, glass and rubber. Each member of our central couple has her/his own external distractions which impinge – to varying degrees - on their brief, ecstatic encounter. This encounter was in fact a cinematic collaboration; it’s product the film Medea (1969)

come lontano is a formal experiment in which cinematic tropes serve as organizing devices for a work which anxiously seeks to distinguish itself from post-modern precedent. It hates with all its heart the notion of appropriation. It prefers theft, seduction, and passion - even if the theft is aggravated, the seduction botched, the passion unrequited. One might view the come lontano as a meager analog to Pasolini’s masterpiece, Salo, in which the pleasures of the masters – in this case the filmmaker – are taken to monstrous extremes for which no apology is offered, no acquittal sought.

come lontano is a heartfelt homage to two singular artists whose utterly different lives, personas, and politics intersected briefly in the production of one radiant film, leaving them forever changed. (NTSC; 22 minutes) World premier.

‘CB’

CB (2010) is an experimental bio-pic: its heroine, Charlotte Brontë. A collaboration between Doug Ischar and Tom Daws, CB was commissioned by the Laumeier Museum, St. Louis, for their inaugural Nightlight series; it premiered in St. Louis on June 11th.

The film was inspired by a 1976 audio recording of a séance with Charlotte Brontë, of which the film makes ample use. But the séance audio is merely the tip of the affective iceberg as its heroine turns out to have an emotional – not to mention intellectual – life of epic proportions. Her searing letters – another primary element in the video – throw the eerie platitudes of the séance into razor-sharp relief and disclose a 19th century woman whose brief life was both an artistic triumph and a relentless battle against grief, loss, and despair. Her dark moments – confided in her letters – drove the film far beyond the initial ambitions of its makers. ‘CB’ uses footage from a 1947 Hollywood production of Jane Eyre – co-staring a very young Elizabeth Taylor (un-credited) – to augment enactments of scenes inspired by the ambiguous nature – both conversation with the dead and univocal performance - of the séance audio. Staring Erin Leland, Charlotte Geissler, Jalyn Mosely, and Gwendolyn Geisler; cinematography by Mike Gibisser; concept, research, editing and direction by Doug Ischar and Tom Daws. (high-definition video; 16.5 minutes) Chicago premier.

Show at Shane Campbell Gallery

Here are some belated installation shots of the show at Shane Campbell Gallery in Oak Park, IL, which was up mid-winter through early spring:

MAGICIAN LOGICIAN (images)

Here are some pictures of MAGICIAN LOGICIAN, a two person exhibition curated by Jeff M. Ward at Peregrine Program this past December that included Michael Milano and myself.  (Thanks to Jessica Labatte for documenting the show.  Her beautiful photography can seen here.  She also documents artworks and photographs exhibitions at Frank Labatte Photography.)

Show

For more information, go here.

MAGICIAN LOGICIAN

I have ten sigil drawings in this show.  For more information, go here.

We must indeed all hang together

We Must Indeed All Hang Together

Preface (Idyll Name of Nought)