I-20 is pleased to present a solo exhibition of artwork by Ronnie Bass. This will be Bass’s second show at the gallery.
Entitled Victor School, the installation comprises video with music composed by the artist, photographic portraits, poetry and a water feature.
The video Victor School is the first installment in a series of musicals that relay the story of a man named Victor who begins a school from his home’s garage. There are three characters in the video. Within this work, Bass plays the Vice Principal (Victor) and provides the voices for the School Superintendent and the Principal. The music employs a combination of actual and synthesized acoustic instruments: a triangle, a recorder, an organ, marching band percussion and a celesta. Some video clips used in Victor School were also contributed by artist Tommy Hartung.
In this exhibition, all of the three-dimensional elements are manifestations of a self-created space and self-reinvention. The new paradigm is reconfigured from external influences and structures. The exhibition’s installation consists of elements alluding to the founding of Victor School, with founder/faculty portraits and a water fountain constructed from the earliest elements of the school’s creation.
Ronnie Bass was born in Hurst, Texas, in 1976. He attended the University of North Texas and received an MFA from Columbia University. Upcoming exhibitions include Ronnie Bass at Marginal Utility, Philadelphia (2012), and Ronnie Bass, Gilad Ratman and Carmel Michaeli at Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv (2012). Past solo shows include Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland (2010); Marginal Utility (2009); Art Forum Berlin (2009); and I-20 (2008).
Bass is currently featured in Blowing on a Hairy Shoulder / Grief Hunters, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2011-2012). Shows this year include Bass, Hartung and Sagri: Window Promos, 80WSE Galleries, New York University; Festival of Ideas for the New City, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Common Love: Common Love, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University; and Lost in Translation, Jens Fehring Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany.
Bass was included in Greater New York, MoMA PS1 (2005); and Our Land, With Guest Artist Ronnie Bass, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2007). Selected group shows include TBA:10, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon (2010); no comedy – no tragedy – no encore, curated by Bob Nickas, Light Industry, Brooklyn (2010); 9th Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Seoul, Korea (2010); White Noise, James Cohan Gallery, New York (2009); Time Out of Joint – Recall and Evocation in Recent Art, Whitney ISP Curatorial Exhibition, The Kitchen, New York (2009); PRETHUNDERDOME, White Flag Projects, St. Louis (2009); Mike Smith at the Building, The Building, Berlin (2009); Ei Arakawa: Kiss the Canvas, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2008); Performa 07, New York (2007); Carte Blanche, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York (2007); Salad Days – Second Course, Artists Space, New York (2006); and North Drive Press – The Movie, The Kitchen, New York (2006). Bass lives and works in Brooklyn.