NEW YORK — After two decades, Galerie Perrotin is revisiting the iconic works by social interventionist duo, Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler. The couple began their collaboration in the late 70s, which spanned more than 20 years until Ericson’s death from brain cancer in 1995. The artists, who went under the radar, make a comeback in New York with a series of major installations and never-before-seen sketches pivotal to their practice.
“This was about two people getting together and creating work,” said Ziegler about presenting their pieces again after Ericson’s departure. “I see it now as a piece of history and Kate is a part of that as much as anything else.”
Ericson and Ziegler were among the artistic pioneers of social practices. They developed interventionist strategies based on local iconography and communities across America. Their conceptual practice is most evident in “Camouflaged History (1991),” where they traveled to Charleston, South Carolina and challenged the community’s ideology behind the city’s more affluent historic neighborhood and its stringent building codes. They found a house outside the historic city's demarcation line and painted it in camouflage under the local Board of Architectural Review’s prescribed list of approved house colors.
“What was important for us is that we didn’t feel like we were imposing an ideology on communities,” said Ziegler. “It’s not political in a way that there’s a right and wrong. It’s questioning the ideologies.”
The exhibition at Galerie Perrotin New York, 909 Madison Avenue, is open through August 22.
