FUTURE PAST: PINK GALLERY

MAY 11TH - JULY 8TH

 jonathan leE

Future in the past is a grammatical tense where the time reference is in the future with a vantage point that’s in the past. Time has felt abstracted by the events of the last few years. Utilizing materials from the past, I explore how things both change and remain. The contemporary and historic are always in dialogue with one another.

Record works

This series is made from 80 copies of Barry Manilow – Barry, his 7th album released in November of 1980. This was the peak of Manilow’s global reach and his only album to go Platinum in both the US and the UK. There were 35 separate pressings of the record including editions from the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Japan, Singapore/Malaysia/Hong Kong, Canada, Brazil, Greece, Venezuela, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and Mexico. Special editions included Terre Haute, Keel, Monarch, Santa Maria, Sonopress, and various Club Editions. Now, Barry is one of the most common “dollar bin” records I encounter.

Congress (Class H – Social Sciences)

The Library of Congress Classification system divides all knowledge into 21 basic classes, each identified by a single letter. Most of these classes are further divided into specific subclasses, primarily identified by two-letter combinations. H is the classification for the Social Sciences, a lens through which to look at the Barryer works.

Congress (Class H – Social Sciences) H, HA, HB, HC, HD, HE, HF, HG

Congress (Class H – Social Sciences) HJ, HM, HN, HQ, HS, HT, HV, HX

Congress (2022-23) (x16), 9.5” x 9.5” ink, due date slips, and pva on paper board (framed), $275/ea. ($3600 full set)

LIBRARY works

These pieces are made from discarded materials from VCU Libraries featuring marks made between the 1950s to the early 2000s. Generally, libraries work to break down barriers and provide information access for all.

Strange Windows (2022) (x6), 7.5” x 5.5” library cards, card pockets, and adhesive on bristol vellum (framed), $150

Tiny Tondos (2022) (x6), 7.5” x 5.5” ink, date due slips, and pva on paper board (framed), $150

Jonathan Lee is an artist and librarian living and working in Richmond VA. His work explores ephemeral memory, secret histories, and social constructions, often through abstracting activated materials.

The materials I use are marked by exchanges and interactions of unknown consequence: a decision or gesture, an emotion or undertaking, an action or moment with the potential to trigger another. They each have the power to reveal things about our past, present, and future; not just because of what they are but who we are. By altering the original form and function of these materials, I investigate how information is created, interpreted, and renewed through individuals, communities, and systems. Each work responds to both the materials and the maker; a collection of personal and communal experiences where patterns and connections are both made and broken. These abstractions offer an alternative apparatus for taking in and questioning information.