Oliver Herring

As a sequel to its Armory Show presentation at Jacobs Javits Center [Booth F12] and part of the fair’s official Off-site Program, Bank, Shanghai presents its first US pop-up by NYC-based Oliver Herring. This live performance work, attendant drawings, and videos are born from a confluence of histories, emotions, and artistic legacies that reflect our enduring search for meaning amidst disruption.

Each Performance concludes with an open dialogue with the audience and special guests: Vivien Greene, Senior Curator at the Guggenheim (Friday); Jeannette Bisschops, Independent Curator (Saturday); and Kyle Croft, Executive Director of Visual Aids (Sunday).

Please check the schedule and RSVP for the performance here: tinyurl.com/3yc4pz47

The genesis of this body of work traces back to 2020, a period marked by global uncertainty and isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the solitude of restricted spaces, Herring as Nureyev as Nijinsky as Faun began to take shape. At its heart is the inspiration of Vaslav Nijinsky’s 1912 L'Après-Midi d'un Faune, considered one of the first modern ballets. Nijinsky's choreography sought to transcend the conventional boundaries of movement, creating a revolutionary dialogue between the flatness of visual art and the dynamics of dance, an aspect that paralleled Herring’s own experience of that present moment. In this solitary performance, which unfolds in three chapters, Herring uses Nijinsky’s language of motion to guide his personal journey.

The performance is accompanied by a suite of colored pencil drawings made during the same time. In these works, Herring traces his body while moving on top of the paper, reflecting the limitations of physical and mental space brought on by the pandemic. On the gallery's lower level, earlier video works show the artist’s long-term interest in exploring movement within narrow parameters.

This presentation is preceded by another poignant journey of Herring, which Bank showcases at The Armory Show. In response to losing his artistic hero, the performer Ethyl Eichelberger in 1991, Herring began the laborious act of knitting, at first with transparent tape to express “the invisibility of being queer” and eventually in silver mylar, “as a protective armor.” A Flower for Ethyl Eichelberger, 1991-2001, helped define art in the era of AIDS and launched Herring onto the international art circuit with presentations at The New Museum, MoMA, etc. These exquisite sculptural works transcended gender associations and gained critical acclaim through their expression of the body, loss, absence, and refuge.

In these dual projects spanning over three decades and two pandemics, Herring amplifies the ongoing dialogue between personal and collective experiences of loss and transformation.