PAUL BRIDENBAUGH
Old Kingdom

Reception: Thursday, October 4, 6-8 PM
Showing through November, 2001

To quote Jerry Saltz, in his article "Keeping the faith" in Friday's Village Voice- "When everything changes, what happens to art? "

Everything that happens to everyone is understood differently by everyone. That globalist hum people thought they were listening to turns out to have been background noise to a cacophony of conflicting contexts.

Now we know we are nothing but context and that context changes everything. When it comes to art, this means things made in one time under one circumstance will look different in another time or circumstance.

On September 11, context changed again. " Bridenbaugh's work is a commentary about society in fast motion. Paul has been documenting textual artifacts in the Bay Area for the past decade.

Some of his most well known images are photographs of the sound barrier walls found alongside freeway corridors, and videotapes of airport parking garages. Old Kingdom is a video and photographic installation that compares old and new kingdoms- the old kingdom referencing ancient Egyptian society, the new kingdom referencing contemporary society.

This work is a voyeuristic trip, seeking explanations for why things happened in certain ways in the old kingdom, and serves as a tool to understand these activities as metaphor.

Bridenbaugh's work has been exhibited in the Bay Area at Refusalon, New Langton Arts, and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, as well as various venues in New York. His work has been reviewed in Metropolis, TimeOut New York, The Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gallery hours - Tuesday through Saturday, 11 - 6 PM, and by appointment.

Please contact the gallery to request additional information or images. For more information, please contact Shmulik Krampf or Michael Lavey 415 546-0158 refusalon@comcast.net