The Flow Chart Foundation is pleased to present the closing reception for Plus fugitif que la lumière, a survey exhibition of artist and writer Daniel Rothbart, featuring an improvised musical meditation at 3:30 for the finissage by Jeffrey Lependorf, a master player of the shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute), to conclude Daniel Rothbart’s exhibition at the Flow Chart Space. For approximately 40 minutes, he will blend traditional Zen meditation and avant-garde musical techniques and traditions in musical response to the works on display.
Artwork in this exhibition is featured in the book More Fugitive Than Light: Poems of Rome, Venice, Paris, 2016-2017, with collages by Daniel Rothbart, a collaboration between scholar and poet Richard Milazzo and the artist. Rothbart is best known for his “immersive sculptures” which, in the words of Juan Puntes, “conjure fluid, futuristic life forms—reimagining our bond with the natural world.” He is also a collagist who guilefully introduces sculptural imagery into found postcards, photographs, and film stills.
Against the western wall is a constellation of Rothbart’s sculptures. Of a recent floating sculptural installation in the Hudson River, Richard writes: “Your sculptures look like strangely inspired solar outcasts. Sublime or sublimated space junk – and I mean that kindly. One of them looks like an umbrella beckoning to an apocalyptic monsoon; another, a three-headed mythic creature that has veered off its cosmic course and seems to be soaking in the peace and quiet of this watery cul-de-sac; and still others, a necklace of emeralds (or are those glowing nuggets of Plutonium?) searching for the throat of a Béatrice…”
Collage works from More Fugitive Than Light hang on the the eastern wall. “How wonderful and erotic,” Richard writes, “are the two creatures in Nymphaeum, oddly bathing in a cistern or underground portal in Venice –- the doors tightly shut and the water as still as darkness… Rather than invading the space like an alien visitor, they appear to be inhabiting rather naturally a world of their own making.”
On the northern wall visitors can watch short films that include footage of Rothbart’s floating sculptures in the Hudson River and Ramle, Israel. Also on view is Dinner with Robbe-Grillet in Naples, a short film that features commentary on Rothbart’s collage work by Wayne Koestenbaum. The media loop also features coverage by FRANCE 3 on Rothbart’s 2024 exhibition of sculpture and collage at the Galerie Depardieu in Nice.
