William Pope.L, Maybe, 2009-2010. MDF board, sardine cans, plastic bag, cardboard box, nails, electrical extension cord, paint, graphite. 96 x 96 x 18 inches. [A large white MDF board rests against a gray wall. A series of metal sardine cans are placed across the MDF board in a loose grid.]

Art, given the right circumstances, could get very small, hermetic and quiet—or big and messy. It could look like, to quote the painter and poet Etel Adnan, “the big mess of having a life.”

— Arnold J. Kemp

Artists Space is pleased to announce LIFE—a group show, curated by Chicago-based artist and educator Arnold J. Kemp. In the words of its curator, this exhibition “is an armature that supports the continuation of a conversation that I was having with the artist Pope.L (1955 - 2023) for four years before his untimely passing.” Spanning the entire ground floor, LIFE—a group show features a dynamic array of forms—paintings, sculptures, objects, architectural interventions, videos, live performances, and newly commissioned poetry, that express the joyful, mundane, and atrociously unstable textures of sheer existence.

Participating artists include: Lindsay Adams, Zarouhie Abdalian, Israel Aten, Nick Bastis, Nayland Blake, Gregg Bordowitz, Carolyn Castaño, Patty Chang, Mike Cloud, D’Talentz (Nikita Gale, Aryel René Jackson, Tomashi Jackson, Ashley Teamer), Christopher Garrett, Renee Gladman, Robert Glück, Lydia Grey, Léonie Guyer, David Hammons, Geoffrey Hendricks, Xylor Jane, Margaret L. Kemp, Kristan Kennedy, Jinn Bronwen Lee, Eric N. Mack, Devin T. Mays, Malcolm Peacock, Pope.L, Nick Raffel, Ed Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Mindy Rose Schwartz, Cauleen Smith, Cameron Spratley, Catherine Sullivan (with George Lewis and Sean Griffin), Collection of Sur Rodney (Sur), Mami Takahashi, Christine Tien Wang, Fred Wilson, and poets David Buuck, Tonya Foster, Erica Hunt, and John Keene.