LIT UP
Presented at The Pitch Project in Milwaukee, WI. October 2014- January 2015.
In the summer of 2013 GURL DON'T BE DUMB made the trek to the ACRE, a residency in Steuben, Wisconsin. As residents they held a series of studio visits and curated an exhibition on site. GDBD mounted the one night exhibition sticklip: KOUNTY S in their camp loft lit entirely by flashlights. However something more monumental happened for the two. One late, foggy night the duo crept over to the sound studio under which lived two river kittens rescued from the spring flood. Lo! Next to the studio, shrouded in the mists of a driftless Wisconsin midnight was a single streetlight in an overgrown field glowing above a bush. The image was clear, the camera was set, and the two cracked open cans of beer while the shutter was left open exposing the lighted bush. The kittens, who had remained hidden, suddenly appeared beneath the feet of the tripod and frolicked for the GURLS while the latent image set. A metaphysical shift had occurred, the moment was magical, and suddenly the two had a clear body of work ahead of them and only ten days of camp left.
The photographs, video, and sculptural pieces in LIT UP are that resulting body. Made up of lampooned modern gestures, sincere performative drinking, and the notion of camp life as both material and content, this work is the clear picture of two GURLS making serious work of hard play.
