Watercolors Lost in Airports (LHR on 01/14/2014)

2014 - Installation (Installation)

“On April 13 a painting was lost at JFK airport while going through the security screening. On April 19 a painting was lost at CDG airport while going through the security screening. On April 20 a painting was lost at DUB airport while going through the security screening. On May 16 a painting was lost at JFK airport while going through the security screening. On May 20 a painting was lost at LED airport while going through the passport control check. On May 27 a painting was lost at TXL airport while going through the security screening. Over the past couple years I have been losing works I have made as I go through the security or passport screenings in airports. They are usually watercolors, but sometimes drawings or oil paintings. Each work is placed in some kind of package, and labeled with a contact name and address. They are then intentionally lost at the place where attention is at its highest concentrated point. Where the individual moves through a sieve with all eyes on him or her, including eyes with x ray vision, eyes that can detect the presence of metals, and eyes that can see individual records and travel histories. At this moment a package slips out of my hands, or accidentally falls on the floor, or is left behind in a tray. In most cases the packages go into the airport void. They are discovered by security, inspected, and go through the process that lost items receive. Maybe they are described on a data sheet, and then put in a pile in a closet. Maybe they are meticulously catalogued in some kind of ordering system for lost items. Or maybe, the security officer takes the watercolor out of its package and pins it on the wall. In a few cases the airport security has contacted the person whose name is written on the package, and it is sent to them. In these cases I have requested that the receiver keeps the packages mailed from the airports sealed. The six losings listed above are being exhibited at the New Galerie in Paris. The gallery’s name and address was written on the packages. The exhibition includes print outs of emails and digital photographs I sent describing the pieces that were about to be lost. If the packages are returned to the gallery, they will be placed in the exhibition.” – David Horvitz

Although the practice plays a central role in the work of David Horvitz, his work is at the opposite of fine art objects. The conceptual work of the artist employs various mediums necessary for each intervention; yet, performance, the idea of the game and the exchange with the public are central. The artist often uses newspapers, web pages, postcards as a means of exchange with his audience and memories of actions carried out around the world. The notion of time is important in the artist work – noting the influence of On Kawara – and the environment is apprehended as an interactive and virtual land art. His work, presented through modest media and exhibition, is poetic, generous not only in virtue but in practice – many works are freely downloadable on the web – with social resonance and great inventiveness