David Kramer:
Prequel to the Sequel:
Waiting for a Hollywood Ending

Prequel to the Sequel: Waiting for a Hollywood Ending
September 9th - October 22nd 2011
Opening Party and Artist Performance: Saturday, 9/24, 4:30 - 7:30pm (performance 7pm)

Heiner Contemporary is pleased to present Prequel to the Sequel: Waiting for a Hollywood Ending, a solo exhibition of work by New York artist David Kramer. A child of the 1970s, Kramer was deeply influenced by the decade’s cultural clichés and advertisements that portrayed idealized representations of adult life. Using text, painting, and installation, he injects the glamorous images of his youth with pithy observations, personal aphorisms, and non-sequiturs to create satirized versions of the American Dream. While the works explore the disillusionment of adulthood, they also radiate subtle optimism and humor. Kramer sentimentalizes the sense of hope that comes from imagining a better life, humorously capturing the pining that almost inevitably leads to let down.

The exhibition includes 16 works on paper, 3 canvases, and a large installation reminiscent of a vintage 1970s modernist suburban living room, but built using cheap and remaindered building supplies. Together the works question the idea of the Hollywood Ending, while exposing viewers’ vulnerability to its allure. Even as Kramer mocks Hollywood clichés and stereotypes, he employs similar tactics in his own practice. Like the giant movie studio that simultaneously films parts one and two of its latest blockbuster, Kramer plans his first exhibition in Washington, DC with full-blown hubris that there will be another.

Trained as a painter at George Washington University (BA Fine Arts 1985) and as a sculptor at Pratt Institute (MFA 1987), Kramer’s work has been exhibited throughout North America and Europe. Recent shows include exhibitions at Galerie Laurent Godin in Paris (2009 and 2010), Galleria Traghetto in Italy (2007), and Aeroplastics Contemporary in Brussels (2010). Kramer has received numerous awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1989, Sculpture Space Residency in 1992, and Yaddo Residency in 2008. Armand Bartos Fine Art, New York hosted a retrospective of the artist’s work last year.

Prequel to the Sequel: Waiting for a Hollywood Ending will be on view at Heiner Contemporary September 9 – October 22, 2011. The gallery will host a performance by the artist and party on Saturday, September 24, from 4:30 to 7:30pm (performance 7pm). Heiner Contemporary is located at 1675 Wisconsin Avenue, NW.