March 6, 2012

11:00am – 9:00pm

 

Conceptual artist Serkan Ozkaya made David (inspired by Michelangelo), a double-size, golden replica of Michelangelo’s David, for the 9th International Istanbul Biennial in 2005. Based on Stanford University professor Marc Levoy’s computer model, Ozkaya’s sculpture was constructed by six people over the course of six months.  Days prior to the opening of the Biennial, the sculpture collapsed shortly after installation. After the collapse, the artist restored the damaged replica and cast two additional copies, one that remains in Turkey and one of which has been recently acquired by 21c Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. 


The museum traveled the sculpture throughout the city for its New York debut on the morning of March 6th, and it arrived at the Storefront Gallery via a lowboy trailer in the afternoon. The work was on view outside Storefront for Art and Architecture until 9pm.

 

@storefrontnyc

#doubledavid

 

About the artist

Serkan Ozkaya (b. 1973, Istanbul, Turkey) is a contemporary conceptual artist whose work deals with topics of appropriation and reproduction, and typically operates outside of traditional art spaces. Ozkaya lives in New York City. He holds a Ph. D in German Language and Literature from Istanbul University and an M.F.A. from Bard College, New York.


Ozkaya’s latest works include Spaghetti Chair, made from fifteen sticks of spaghetti; David (inspired by Michelangelo), made from a 3D rendering program at two-times the size of the original; a site-specific sculpture called A Sudden Gust of Wind, simulating the sudden and unexpected scattering of papers; the hand-rendering of newspapers including the Turkish daily Radikal, and the front page of the Louisville Courier-Journal; and a contribution to a walking museum, Atlas, wherein Ozkaya constructed a rock to be strapped to the curator’s back and promenaded daily throughout the streets of New York. Ozkaya is the author of nine books, including Genius and Creativity in the Arts: Schoenberg, Adorno and Thomas Mann (Pan Publications, Istanbul, 2000), It’s Not What it Looks Like! I Can Explain (Baglam Publications, Istanbul, 2003), Today Could Be a Day of Historical Importance (artwithoutwalls, Louisville, 2010), and The Rise and Fall and Rise of David (inspired by Michelangelo) (21c Museum and Yapi Kredi, Louisville, 2011).


About 21c Museum

21c Museum is North America’s first museum dedicated to solely collecting and exhibiting the art of the 21st century. The 9,000-square foot Museum is part of the 21c Museum Hotel, located in downtown Louisville’s art and theater district. Opened in 2006, 21c was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, arts patrons who are committed to bringing works of art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate contemporary art into daily life. 21c Museum features permanent installations and special exhibitions by both emerging and established artists. Currently on view is Alter Ego: A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea, organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art and Telfair Museums, Savannah, in collaboration with 21c Museum. Over 35 exhibitions have been featured at 21c since its opening, including Cuba Now, Simen Johan: Until the Kingdom Comes, Creating Identity: Portraits Today, All’s Fair in Art and War: Envisioning Conflict, and Hybridity: The Evolution of Species and Spaces in 21st-Century Art.