Études is not an online exhibition, but instead a signpost somewhere between; an event by the artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay that would have, but has not, taken place; an indication of ongoing working with material and subjective intimacy; a making-public of this unfinished process.
The études (studies) presented here have emerged from an ongoing preoccupation with floral & botanical matter as a material and subject for art works by Nemerofsky. This research, still in the process of unfolding, foregrounds intimate and bodily-led explorations of arrangement, juxtaposition, advance and withdrawal.
Several video works are presented as études, with their presence here being an intention for a future live event, developed with curator Seán Elder for Grand Union. The works presented here have been developed through Nemerofsky’s residency at Fondation Fiminco (Romainville, FR).
Artist BIO
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay (1973) is a Montreal-born artist, diarist and researcher. His work mediates emotional encounters with musical, art historical, and queer cultural material, encouraging deep listening and empathic viewing. In his work you will find audio guides, bells, bouquets, ceramic vases, enchanted forests, folding screens, gay elders, glitter, gold leaf, love letters, imaginary paintings, madrigals, megaphones, mirrors, naked men, private libraries, sex-changing flowers, sign language, subtitles, woodwinds, wrapping paper, and the voices of birds, boy sopranos, contraltos, countertenors, and sirens.
His work has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Tiroler Kunstpavillon (Innsbruck), Dazibao Centre de Photographies Actuelles (Montreal), and the Staatsbibliothek (Stuttgart); and numerous group exhibitions including the Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt), The Power Plant Gallery of Contemporary Art (Toronto), Kunsthallen Nikolaj (Copenhagen), the Schwules Museum (Berlin), and the Red Brick House (Yokohama), among others. His sound and video work is part of the permanent collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), The Polin Museum for the History of Polish Jews (Warsaw), Thielska Galleriet (Stockholm), and The National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa).
Nemerofsky is currently one of nine inaugural artists-in-residence at the Fondation Fiminco, a new cultural institution in Romainville, France.