Bethany Bristow - www.bethanybristow.com
Artist's Statement
My work is manifold in its process and product. I work with a variety of elements: performance, sculpture, and photography. The results seen by the viewer varies depending on the context in which one encounters the work. On the street one encounters a temporal vulnerable sculpture made from melted glass bottles and jars, feathers and corn syrup; and sometimes myself and an accomplice in the act of installing and photographing the process; or at some indefinite moment after I leave, the timely demise of the installation. Electronically one receives an announcement with details of where to find the installation, a snap shot, and sometimes an anecdote regarding the installation's proceedings. In the gallery or studio one sees large format c-prints, which verifies existence of the installations but leaves open for how long they existed and what happened to them. It is through these separate modes of distribution that I control the work's mediation. If successful, the work reconciles these differences in venue and becomes "larger than the sum of its parts", allowing the work to address a complex slate of critical issues including the impermanence of art, the viability of its commercial nature, the status of art in terms of representation, etc.
I became interested in exploring the random, chaotic and unfixed nature of urban public space for a number for reasons. First of all, I became concerned with the implicit exclusivity of selling art objects and the validation assigned by the gallery system. I felt my survival as an artist depended on liberating my creative output from that system. Secondly, the social and political climate shifts in the wake of 9/11 transformed the way that I function within my environmental context and how I impacted it as an artist. I see this work as a response to these changes and the continued psychogeographical implications of living in an urban environment. The installations thus become collaborations with the neighborhood and the structures which constitute it. Through interaction with local residents, the unexpected manifestation of the work in what might otherwise be familiar settings can provide a modern classic "New York Moment" as they may come to wonder if the work they experience is authored or random. In light of recent local and world events this work is a test to the permanence/impermanence of the self, art, the infrastructure and ultimately the entire world around us.
Bethany Bristow
CV
Born 1970, St. Johnsbury, VT.
Lives and works, Brooklyn, NY.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006
Radiant Voyage, Elaine Levy Project, Bruxelles, Belgium
2005
Scope Art Fair, project artist, New York, NY.
2001
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA.
1997
META/STASIS, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA.
1996
Howard Yezerski Gallery (viewing room), Boston, MA.
1995
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007
Fountain Art Fair, Glowlab, Miami, FL.
The Pierogi Show, Pocket Utopia, Brooklyn, NY.
Homegrown, David Krut Projects, New York, NY.
Fountain Art Fair, Glowlab, New York, NY.
Traveling Scholars, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. (catalog)
FirstAnniversaryGroupShow, Elaine Levy Project, Brussels, Belgium.
2006
Bridge Art Fair, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Miami Beach, FL.
Spilled, hpgrp Gallery, New York, NY.
Parts to the Whole, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA.
2005
Greater New York 2005, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY. (catalog)
Refound, W/O Walls, project room, Scope Art Fair, New York, NY.
Girl Talk, The Garage, Jersey City, NJ.
2004
Bottle: Contemporary Art and Vernacular Tradition, The Aldrich Contemporary Art
Museum, Ridgefield, CT. (catalog)
The Peekskill Project, Peekskill , NY.
Cell, The Rider Project, New York City
Gritty, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
Drawing Conclusions, Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY.
2002
Drawings included in flat files, Pierogi 2000, Brooklyn, NY.
2000
Emerge 2000, Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ. (catalog)
Visual Memoirs: Selected Paintings and Drawings, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis
University, Waltham, MA. (catalog)
Common Threads, The Gallery on the Hudson, Irvington, NY.
1999
A Common Thread, New Art Center, Newton, MA. (CDROM catalog)
1998
Contemporary Sculpture and Sculptor's Drawings, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis
University, Waltham, MA
1998 Decordova Annual Exhibition, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA. (catalog)
1997
¡Calido!: Contemporary Warm Glass, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Tucson
Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ (catalog). Traveled: (1998) Whatcom Museum,
Bellingham, WA. (1999) Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI.
1996
Breakthrough, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA.
Infernal Inception, Sculptural Glassworks, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA.
1994
Traveling Scholars 94, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
EDUCATION
1994 Fifth Year Certificate, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
1993 Diploma, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
AWARDS
2005 Museum School Alumni Traveling Scholarship.
1995 Pilchuck Glass School Scholarship.
1994 Clarissa Bartlett Traveling Scholarship recipient.
1993 Boit Competition Award recipient.
VISITING ARTIST / LECTURES
2007
gallery talk, Traveling Scholars, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
slide talk, SUNY Rockland, NY.
2006
visiting artist, final critique for senior thesis class, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD.
Introducing: Mary Birmingham in conversation with Bethany Bristow and Stephanie Nagorka on Public Spaces, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ.
1998
gallery talk, Infiltrate, Decordova Annual Exhibition, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA.
1997
gallery talk, META/STASIS, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA.
1996
slide lecture, Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA.
alumna slide lecture, spring semester new student orientation, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
1995
visiting artist, fifth year program, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
alumna slide lecture, fall and spring semesters, new student orientation, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
COLLECTIONS
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA.
Rose Art Museum, Brandies University, Waltham, MA.
Simmons College, Boston, MA.
private collections
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blasingame, Austin, Good Energy at Art Basel 2007, AustinBlasingame.comhttp://www.austinblasingame.com/index2/?p=163 January 8, 2008
Perez, David Michael, Tis the Season, http://rhizome.org/editorial/fp/blog.php/251 Rhizome.org,
November 29, 2007
Wagner, James, The Pierogi Show @ Pocket Utopia, JamesWagner.com,
http://jameswagner.com/mt_archives/006645.html September 16, 2007
Burket, Brent, Cary Leibovitz is my Co-Pilot, Heart As Arena, February 28, 2007
http://heartasarena.blogspot.com/2007/02/cary-leibowitz-is-my-co-pilot.html
Garnett, Joy, Stefanie Nagorka and Bethany Bristow on Public Spaces, Newsgrist.com, February
22, 2006, http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2006/02/stefanie_nagork.html,
Bristow, Bethany, Noodles, Noodles Everywhere…, glowlab.com, January/February 2006
Rosoff, Libby, Parts of What’s Up, fallonandrossof.com,
http://www.fallonandrosof.com/2006/01/parts-of-whats-up.html, January 8, 2006
Wagner, James, Bethany Bristow in the gutter, Jameswagner.com,
http://jameswagner.com/mt_archives/004983.html, July 21, 2005
Gregg, Gail, How to Talk to an Artist, ArtNEWS, June 2005
Andrews, Betsy, Getting Ourselves Back to the Garden, Gay City News, April 28, 2005
LaVallee, Andrew, Bits and Pieces Shine Through at P.S.1, Queens Chronicle, March 31, 2005
Garnett, Joy, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly at PS1, Newsgrist.net March 24, 2005
Fallon, Robert; Rosof, Libby, Bed, bath and beyond at scopeNewYork, fallonandrossof.com,
March 14, 2005
de Villava, Roxanna, 'Girl Talk' art exhibit, Jersey City Journal, March 10, 2005
Genocchio, Benjamin, The Oil Stain Is Not Part Of the Exhibit, The New York Times,
March 6, 2005
Klein, Richard, Bottle: Contemporary Art and Vernacular Tradition, catalog essay, 2004
Blackhawk (von Brandenburg, Peter), The Pall and the Call; art practice in NYC in the wake of
9/11, art.es, No. 1, February 2004
Bristow, Bethany, Easter and Other Urban Interventions, NEWSgrist.net, October 19, 2003
Blackhawk (von Brandenburg, Peter), Bethany Bristow: Other Than Eigenstates,
mediartspace.com (http://www.critical-mas.tv/BethanyBristow.html), July 2003
Klein, Richard, Emerge 2000, Aljira Contemporary Art Center catalog essay, 2000
Carlock, Marty, People & Places: A Common Thread in Newton Exhibit, The Boston Globe,
March 7, 1999
Cohen, Joyce, Regional Reviews: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park/ Lincoln, Art New
England, October/November 1998
Streubing-Beazley, Kristen, Curators Choice: the DeCordova Annual, ArtsMedia Magazine,
July/August 1998
Silver, Joanne, The DeCordova Gets in Your Face, Boston Herald, June 19, 1998
Temin, Christine, Bold 'DeCordova Annual', The Boston Globe, July 1, 1998
Capasso, Nick, 1998 DeCordova Annual Exhibition, catalog essay 1998
Bristow, Bethany, 1998 DeCordova Annual Exhibition, catalog essay 1998
McQuaid, Cate, Artists to Translate Work Into Words at Gallery Talk, The Boston Globe,
November 18, 1997
Temin, Christine, Young, Gifted - and Here, The Boston Globe Magazine, May 25, 1997
Lubow, Edward, ¡Calido!, Some Like it warm, American Craft Magazine,
Stuhr, Joanne, ¡Calido!, Contemporary Warm Glass, Tucson Museum of Art Catalog 1997
Temin, Christine, Glass Acts, The Boston Globe, June 6, 1996
Perrott, Jeff, Critical: Infernal Inception: Sculptural Glassworks, ArtsMedia, June 1996
Pappenheimer, Will, Reviews: Bethany Bristow, Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, Number
63, Summer 1996
Millis, Christopher, Hearts of Glass and Flimsy Instruments at the Mills, South End News,
April 25, 1996
Stapen, Nancy, Galleries, The Boston Globe, November 24, 1995
Temin, Christine, Rambunctious ‘Traveling Scholars' Show Up at MFA, The Boston Globe,
November 23, 1994
Stapen, Nancy, Tastes of Mingled Palettes, The Boston Globe, June 23, 1994
