Tag Archives: Exhibitions

Irpin Ukraine: Please Don’t Forget Us

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A 60-foot-long photograph of a civilian car cemetery in Ukraine

I recently visited Ukraine and I would love you to see the installation of one of several works I will be making from my visit. Please come on this Saturday to see the 60-foot-long photograph of the car cemetery in Irpin, full of the bullet and shrapnel-ridden cars destroyed as residences fled the city.

This is the first of two public art installations I’ve planned. The second will be a large walk-in cyclorama of a bombed apartment block in Borodyanka.

On March 6th 2022, Russians shelled the road that hundreds of civilians were using to escape the fighting in Irpin. Men, women and children were killed while fleeing in an attack that was called a likely war crime by the Human Rights Watch. Parts of the city were occupied by Russian forces until they were forced out at the end of that March. They left behind over 250 civilians dead, a quarter of the 62,000 residents homeless, and 70% of infrastructure damaged. 

This is a vulnerable moment for Ukraine, with the stopgap spending bill set to expire on November 17th, and support for aid waning among Republicans in Congress.

This installation is up-close and visceral. It serves a witness to just some of the horror and destruction Ukraine has experienced, a memorial in life-sized detail.  It was stitched together from over 30 high-resolution images and can be viewed in high resolution at: pwbuehler.prodibi.com/a/jvlqx2okwlexyzv

Spring/Break Art Show, Sept 7-12, New York

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Spencer Tunick and I brought together our art practices as well as 125 intrepid spirits to create a series of panoramic photographs for Spring/Break Art Show. The settings were a field, an orchard, a forest and the middle of a river. One of the panoramas was turned into a cyclorama, or walk in photograph that is 8 feet tall and 25 feet long, wrapping around you inside an 8′ diameter cylindrical frame covered with mirrors.

You can see a short, 7-minute video created by Rusty Tagliarini / Antiquity Echoes documenting the day at https://youtu.be/ELspnucxvRI.

More information about Spring/Break Art Show at SpringBreakArtShow.com.

Installation at Spring/Break Art Show
Behind the scenes – drone footage creating the first panorama

“American Trilogy” at Spring/Break Art Show

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installation view 2

Installation view of the exterior of “American Trilogy” at the Spring/Break Art Show

For the first time I showed more than one of my walk-in panoramas under the title, “American Trilogy.” It was curated by Larry Walczak. The show was held on the 22nd floor of #4 Times Square during Armory Art Week.

“American Trilogy: Ferguson” places viewers on the spot where Michael Brown was killed by police. I remembered the rioters, tear gas, military assault vehicles and rooftop snipers from the nightly news, but when I was there it was a quiet neighborhood, and on the line where he fell was a makeshift memorial of hundreds of stuffed animals, flowers and notes. The panorama was part of a Black Lives Matter event in Times Square in 2015 as well as installed in a Brooklyn public high school for Black History Month.

“American Trilogy: Arlington” places viewers in front of Muslim soldier Humanyun Saqib Khan’s headstone. His Gold Star parents spot at the Democratic National Convention and were mocked by then-candidate Donald Trump. On Khan’s headstone is the Muslim Star and Crescent and surrounding headstones have Jewish, Christian, Mormon and Buddhist symbols. The panorama was originally installed in Erie Pennsylvania, a red part of a swing state, the week before the Presidential election.

“American Trilogy: Washington” places viewers in front of the White House during the Women’s March on Washington, where they are surrounded by protest signs and a sea of pink pussy hats. It debuted at Spring/Break.

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Interior of “American Trilogy: Washington” and two women viewing.

Detail of "American Trilogy: Washington, 2017"

Detail of “American Trilogy: Washington, 2017”

Happily, the exhibit received a lot of press. My favorite quotes were:

“He really seems to be on to something here–standing there looking out at the makeshift memorial for Brown, a black teenager who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a white police officer, was really moving.” Nicole Disser, Bedford & Bowery

“We are living in unprecedented times. Sometimes, it helps to travel outside frames that are most familiar to us, the narratives we are spoonfed. Step into the panoramas of ‘American Trilogy’ and you just might walk out with a different perspective about a person, place, or cause you thought you knew all about.” Daniel Kessel, Bushwick Daily

“They are technical tours de force, but more importantly they are eloquent reminders of the obstacles facing contemporary America.” Robert Ayers, Ocula