Andrew J. Greene Hope
Installation view 'Hope' The Modern Institute, Osborne Street, 2022
Andrew J. Greene’s exhibition Hope at The Modern Institute Osborne Street, presents a group of sculptures that reshape and recontextualize quotidian elements and artifacts to create disjunctive effects. Seizing on forms encountered by chance or drawn from the material culture of antique Americana, Greene stages an interplay of specificity and generality, the familiar and the strange. Evacuated tokens of pleasure or power are deployed in an investigation of the functions of ideology, taste, and meaning making in the realm of objecthood.
An illuminated, spinning, sign that displays “yes” on one side and “no” on the other side¹ is affixed to the facade of the Osborne Street gallery.
Ten used toy vending machines² are installed in the corridor beside the entrance of the gallery. Each vending machine displays a different collection of antique items.
A polished, black, granite sculpture depicting an antique film camera sits near the entrance of the gallery and points inward.³
A 48-foot-long aluminum railing is suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the gallery. The railing consists of (six) 8-foot sections, each of which is engraved with two phrases,⁴ one on each side. A doubled series of red, cardboard numbers, one to nine with zero at the end, hang from the railing.⁵ Small desktop fans are assimilated into the architecture of the railing and animate the numbers.
A mirror made to look like an antique film camera⁶ is centred on the back wall.
A motorised, life-size, swan decoy⁷ is mounted to the wall in the back corner of the gallery.
Ten used toy vending machines² are installed in the corridor beside the entrance of the gallery. Each vending machine displays a different collection of antique items.
A polished, black, granite sculpture depicting an antique film camera sits near the entrance of the gallery and points inward.³
A 48-foot-long aluminum railing is suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the gallery. The railing consists of (six) 8-foot sections, each of which is engraved with two phrases,⁴ one on each side. A doubled series of red, cardboard numbers, one to nine with zero at the end, hang from the railing.⁵ Small desktop fans are assimilated into the architecture of the railing and animate the numbers.
A mirror made to look like an antique film camera⁶ is centred on the back wall.
A motorised, life-size, swan decoy⁷ is mounted to the wall in the back corner of the gallery.
¹ The sign enlarges an “executive” decision making coin that was gifted to Greene’s father at some point in the 1980’s.2 A once-ubiquitous feature of the American commercial landscape, toy vending machines were found outside of supermarkets and restaurants.
² They were designed to appeal to children with bright colors and dispensed little tchotchkes and toys in plastic capsules.
³The sculpture is a 1:1 translation of a portion of a headstone in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.
⁴ The phrases are appropriated from storefront signage, book titles, and radio advertisements.
⁵ Jack’s Candy, a wholesale candy outlet in downtown Los Angeles displays numbered piñatas along a tensioned cable near the entrance of the store causing them to occasionally sway in the breeze.
⁶ The mirror is a 1:1 translation of an existing mirror in the men’s bathroom of a Casablanca themed restaurant in Venice, CA.
⁷ A swan decoy is used to scare away smaller fowl and prevent them from nesting on private property.
² They were designed to appeal to children with bright colors and dispensed little tchotchkes and toys in plastic capsules.
³The sculpture is a 1:1 translation of a portion of a headstone in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.
⁴ The phrases are appropriated from storefront signage, book titles, and radio advertisements.
⁵ Jack’s Candy, a wholesale candy outlet in downtown Los Angeles displays numbered piñatas along a tensioned cable near the entrance of the store causing them to occasionally sway in the breeze.
⁶ The mirror is a 1:1 translation of an existing mirror in the men’s bathroom of a Casablanca themed restaurant in Venice, CA.
⁷ A swan decoy is used to scare away smaller fowl and prevent them from nesting on private property.
Number Sculpture, 2022
Cardboard, aluminum, fans
Dimensions variable; each number approx. 55.9 x 30.5 x 7.6 cm, 22 x 12 x 3 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Andrew J. Greene, yes/no, 2022, Edition of 3, Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
yes/no, 2022
Custom-made sign
Sign: 60 x 60 cm, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in Overall: 80 x 77 x 20 cm, 31 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 7 7/8 in
Vending machine (#1), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, crystal paperweights
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (clocks), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, cast iron banks
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (clowns), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, silver banks
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (cowboy hats), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, copper ashtrays
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (fortune cookies), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, silver gift box
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (globes), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, crystal paperweights
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (horses), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, cast iron banks
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (skyscrapers), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, silver salt and pepper shakers
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (swans), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, silver candy dishes
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Vending Machine (uncle sams), 2022
Toy capsule vending machine, cast iron banks
76.2 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm, 30 x 10 x 10 in
Andrew J. Greene (b. 1988, Chicago, Illinois; Lives and works in Los Angeles), studied at School of the Art Institute Chicago. Selected solo presentations include: ‘Unconditional Surrender’, The Modern Institute, Aird’s Lane Bricks Space (2019); ‘Make New York Better’, 83 Pitt Street, New York (2016); ‘Big Apple Logistics’, Tomorrow, New York (2016); ‘Tuesday Morning’, U.S. Blues, New York (with Daniel Sullivan) (2015); ‘Victory Blindness’, Muscle Beach, Portland (2015); ‘Brisas Del Mar’, Michael Thibault, Los Angeles (2014); ‘Dogs With Fleas, Christening for a Cat’, Bed-Stuy Love Affair, New York (2013).