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GREG SMITH: ABSENT WORD DOUBLE
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Susan Inglett Gallery is pleased to present Greg Smith's solo exhibition, ABSENT WORD DOUBLE, on view from 18 March 2022 through 23 April 2022.
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GREG SMITH, miss month, stick figure coil, , , , right word, , , net work space, rain, space, 2022
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Greg Smith stages exhibitions that consider the possibilities and problems presented by our current technological deluge. Absent Word Double is an experiment in which the artist limits his vocabulary to the 2048 words contained in the BIP39 protocol (normally used to secure digital addresses). Here the word list is used as the sole basis for everyday language.
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GREG SMITH, twenty double twenty eight next banner leader spirit that love people swarm, 2022
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The artworks in Absent Word Double are a series of gestures and mechanisms that try to fill the resultant holes left by Greg Smith’s BIP39 language-cull. Constraint here becomes a crucible, a laboratory for replacing what’s missing. A calendar, for example, is scattered through the gallery, but it lacks those six months that didn't make the cut. The artist provides his own replacements; lost time is restored with ruffles, wax, commas, and old men. What to make of this campy new economy, hamstrung and handmade? Wrapped up in loss, full of holes, scattered, exuberant, corrupted by money, artificial, and “functional”, Absent Word Double offers a doppelganger of the utopian urge, internal skepticism included. In the wise words of the 2048,
Only people that embrace chronic divorce truly under stand life under endless decline among that crucial vivid fever camp govern axis. -
I think of this project as a small-scale laboratory to explore how we think, interact with one another, and use tech. Embracing the BIP39 word list is being exiled to a banal, clumsy language, so there's always a strong undertow of lament. But at the same time, the language's break with failed conventions lunges for new possibilities for cooperation, governing, and collective decision making.
— Greg Smith
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I’d like to see a whip smart Congress meet with everyone dressed as if they’re at Carnivale.
— Greg Smith
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Here in Absent Word Double, artist Greg Smith has cultivated an environment that subverts the hip, crisp, clean aesthetics associated with tech. No attempt is made to conceal the laborious nature of their making — hardware, power sources, and errant strands of fiber assert the hand-made and the ephemeral. Visceral chunks of wax punctuate cascading banners of synthetic fabric, reclaimed wood scraps are put to new purpose while bearing all the marks, holes, and cuts associated with past functions.
Greg Smith's wabi-sabi aesthetic contrasts with his artwork's concrete functionality. Throughout the exhibition, invitations to a range of DAOs are encoded carefully through BIP39 phrases, though the text is awkward and seems to reach for something more. Dish core invite announces — via a scrawled, clumsy whiteboard message — an earnest community meeting on Discord to distribute unclaimed exhibition assets. Everywhere there is a mix of no-nonsense functionality and flouncy, patchy, pieced-together constructions full of artifice.
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GREG SMITH, miss april, 2022
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Much of the work in Absent Word Double comprises a “calendar” for the year 2048. Each artwork represents a page of the ledger, complete with “calendar girls” in the form of delicate, ghostly graphite renderings of aging men. The calendar pages take a range of forms, from recognizable grids with crossed-off days to months woven into pages taken from the artist's favorite books; the days sit in the voids created when Greg Smith removed all non-BIP39 words from the text. Then there are more abstract manifestations: whimsical, hulking fabric banners sport waxy appendages that reach out aggressively from the surface plane. And a sequin-mirror telescope anchors an absent month horoscope while tethered to a shabby, swinging screen door.
Why limit oneself when communication already contains so much opportunity for error? The artist has an answer,
When color boring upon canvas barely there, can process explore that joy, horror, hidden sadness, silent silver that make life? Among nothing blood shadow language, must you stomach still another awkward double caught upon you? -
GREG SMITH, chronic divorce: month upon month among time scale multiply when never under stand what end appear like, 2022
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2048 Words of the BIP39 Word List
abandon acoustic advice alcohol amount anxiety army asthma avoid bamboo ability acquire aerobic alert amused any around athlete awake banana able across affair alien analyst apart arrange atom aware banner about act afford all anchor apology arrest attack away bar above action afraid alley ancient appear arrive attend awesome barely absent actor again allow anger apple arrow attitude awful bargain absorb actress age almost angle approve art attract awkward barrel abstract actual agent alone angry april artefact auction axis base absurd adapt agree alpha animal arch artist audit baby basic abuse add ahead already ankle arctic artwork august bachelor basket access addict aim also announce area ask aunt bacon battle accident address air alter annual arena aspect author badge beach account adjust airport always another argue assault auto bag bean accuse admit aisle amateur answer arm asset autumn balance beauty achieve adult alarm amazing antenna armed assist average balcony because acid advance album among antique armor assume avocado ball become beef bike blue bounce broken burger camp carry celery cheese before bind blur box bronze burst can cart cement chef begin biology blush boy broom bus canal case census cherry behave bird board bracket brother business cancel cash century chest behind birth boat brain brown busy candy casino cereal chicken believe bitter body brand brush butter cannon castle certain chief below black boil brass bubble buyer canoe casual chair child belt blade bomb brave buddy buzz canvas cat chalk chimney bench blame bone bread budget cabbage canyon catalog champion choice benefit blanket bonus breeze buffalo cabin capable catch change choose best blast book brick build cable capital category chaos chronic betray bleak boost bridge bulb cactus captain cattle chapter chuckle better bless border brief bulk cage car caught charge chunk between blind boring bright bullet cake carbon cause chase churn beyond blood borrow bring bundle call card caution chat cigar bicycle blossom boss brisk bunker calm cargo cave cheap cinnamon bid blouse bottom broccoli burden camera carpet ceiling check circle citizen clip coil consider course crew crystal dance deer deputy city clock coin control cousin cricket cube danger defense derive civil clog collect convince cover crime culture daring define describe claim close color cook coyote crisp cup dash defy desert clap cloth column cool crack critic cupboard daughter degree design clarify cloud combine copper cradle crop curious dawn delay desk claw clown come copy craft cross current day deliver despair clay club comfort coral cram crouch curtain deal demand destroy clean clump comic core crane crowd curve debate demise detail clerk cluster common corn crash crucial cushion debris denial detect clever clutch company correct crater cruel custom decade dentist develop click coach concert cost crawl cruise cute december deny device client coast conduct cotton crazy crumble cycle decide depart 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GREG SMITH: Absent Word Double
Past viewing_room
