(L to R): Selections From Sports Closet, 2015, performance set (steel, wood, wicker, mylar, fabric, epoxy modeling clay). Courtesy the artist. Chances, 2015, single-channel video projection on Plexiglas screen; 1:53 min. Courtesy the artist.
Selections From Sports Closet, 2015, performance. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Alina Tenser.
Selections From Sports Closet, 2015, performance, June 12, 2016. Courtesy the artist. Photo: QM Curatorial Staff.
Chances (detail), 2015, single-channel video projection on Plexiglas screen; 1:53 min. Courtesy the artist.
In this installation of two works that combine sculpture, performance, and video, Alina Tenser examines the relationship between the human body and the surfaces and surroundings it comes into contact with. Combined, the installation employs three screens which all steer Tenser’s live or recorded choreography within and between moments of privacy and public display, and demonstrate the artist’s interest in the ways objects relay their inherent function and dictate movement through shape and scale.
In the performance, Selections From Sports Closet, a folding screen shifts, collapses, and reconfigures itself to Tenser’s repetitive actions while she activates objects using gestures that resemble those of fitness and domesticity. On the second screen, installed perpendicular to the gallery wall like street signage, swaths of fabric tumble down as a disembodied hand attempts to catch them. This video, Chances, was produced with the use of screen three, a green screen, whose illusionist capabilities have become a portal for shapeshifting. The fabric cutouts appear as 2D renderings, then collapse to reveal their shape, materiality, and susceptibility to gravity.
Performances:
Selections From Sports Closet
April 10th, 6pm
June 12th, 3pm
Alina Tenser received an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and her BFA from School of the Visual Arts. Tenser has held solo exhibitions at A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY (2015), NURTUREart, Brooklyn, NY (2013); and Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2013). Her work has been exhibited at venues including The Kitchen, New York, NY (2015), Gallery Diet, Miami, FL (2015), The Suburban, Chicago, IL (2013), Jancar Jones, Los Angeles, CA (2013); and Laurel Gitlen Gallery, New York, NY (2013). Most recently, Tenser's work was shown at Kate Werble Gallery and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York, NY. Tenser received the Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship and was a resident of Recess Sessions in 2012.