Guest-curated Project at Museum Gallery Entrance
On View January 29 – March 2, 2025 | Gutter Box
ARTIST STATEMENT
In the piece https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/johannes-van-der-aack-an-old-woman-seated-sewing Conner explores the cosmic banality of existence through various materials, references and spaces. On one side of the Gutter Box's interior is an anamorphic painting of a skull that takes the entire length of the space, Conner forgets where the image comes from, or so he says. On the outside of the Gutter Box is a foldable chair from Conner's studio with casts of lemons attached – one cast is whole, one is halved, and one is squished, making a direct relationship to temporality as it's represented in still life painting.
The title of the piece is an internet link that takes you to an image in the National Gallery's collection, the image is titledAn Old Woman Seated Sewing, painted by Johannes Claesz. van der Aack. Not much is said about the painting or the artist. He was a Dutch Painter, his father was a Wine Merchant and he was a Deacon in a Guild. This painting appears to be one of the few pieces that has survived the painter's obscurity. The everydayness of the image is incredibly banal, and might be something we gloss over, understated and perhaps reflective of many painters' legacies. This feels incredibly relatable. Like a lemon, placed on a side table, following the mortal coil of one's peel. Behind the self sits a reflection, bent in confusion.
ABOUT GUTTER BOX
NCMA Winston-Salem is proud to host Gutter Box at the Main Gallery entrance. Gutter Box is a sculptural object and contemporary art gallery conceived and built by artist Louis Watts and made from a retrofitted newspaper distribution box donated by Indy Week. It is a blank space, a void paused in the center of daily activity. It is a chamber of potential between the space, artists, and audience. It once was used to disseminate information via newspaper but has been repurposed as an unexpected white cube gallery space.
Originally the box lived outside of Lump, an artist-run gallery in Raleigh, NC. The project now lives in front of NCMA Winston-Salem. Gutter Box offers artists of all disciplines, interests, and locations an opportunity to bend their ideas into this funky little white box. It also provides the passer-by with a brief and surprising encounter with a contemporary gallery space.
Learn more about the project at https://www.gutterboxgallery.com/