To download the press release, click here.
To download a review published in ArtReview, click here.
To download the gallery guide, click here.

Gedi Sibony: My Arms Are Tied Behind My Other Arms
January 23 – April 19, 2009

Gedi Sibony is one of the most promising young artists working today, and his unconventional sculptures propose a new way of looking at the world and thinking about art. For his first-ever solo museum exhibition, this New York-based artist presents a site-specific installation of new and recent works. Using materials such as carpet, cardboard, hollow doors, and metal pipes, he playfully evokes the effortless magic of the mundane. Sibony’s sculptures achieve a nonchalant awkwardness, a proud nudity, and an overall implausibility that bring together space, weight, and materiality in ways that seem happily accidental. In the context of the near-collapse of our
contemporary socio-political reality, these works quietly promote an economy of means, re-use, transparency, and the power and beauty of bare essentials.

A monographic catalogue published with JRP-Ringier accompanies the exhibition and includes an introduction by curator Anthony Huberman, an essay by French curator François Quintin, and an interview with the artist by Dia Art Foundation Director Philippe Vergne.

Over the past few years, Sibony’s work has become increasingly visible in prominent group exhibitions such as the 2006 Whitney Biennial, and the New Museum’s inaugural exhibition Unmonumental, underlining the contemporary relevance of his practice. The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is the first to recognize Gedi Sibony in a significant one-person museum exhibition. Other recent one person exhibitions include FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France (2008); Kunsthalle St, Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland (2007); Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2007); and gallery exhibitions at Galerie Neu, Berlin (2008); Greene Naftali, New York (2008), Zero…, Milan (2008); and art:concept, Paris (2007). Sibony was born in 1973 in New York City.

Gedi Sibony, Too Many H’s and Too Many A’s, 2009. Unprimed canvas, gallery, and light, 234 x 192 x 120 inches overall (unprimed canvas 162 x 120 inches). Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, She Replied Instantly, 2009. Wood, plastic, and colored lights, 93 x 27 ½ x 3 ½ inches. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, The Toothfinder, 2009. Wood, vinyl, tape and string, 150 x 48 x 50 inches overall. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, Mist Mister Misty, 2009. Carpet, 146 x 57.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, Made For Ribbons, 2009. Blanket and neckties, 57 x 106 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Left: Gedi Sibony, (XXXX), 2005. Carpet, 7 x 50 x 54 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Right: Gedi Sibony, Can It Can’t It, 2008. Metal frame 21 x 18 x 1 inch. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, Duck Dive, 2009. Nine painted wood panels, 144 x 43 x 1 7/8 inches each. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery, New York. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony, Queens Daughters, 2009. Semi trailer and plywood, 150 x 540 x 96 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Green Naftali Gallery. Special thanks to Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School for the generous use of its grounds for this installation. Photo by Gedi Sibony.

Gedi Sibony: My Arms Are Tied Behind My Other Arms is organized by Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Chief Curator Anthony Huberman.

Image credits (unless otherwise noted): Gedi Sibony: My Arms Are Tied Behind My Other Arms, installation views at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 2009. Photos by Gedi Sibony.

Support for Gedi Sibony: My Arms Are Tied Behind My Other Arms is generously provided by Charlotte and Bill Ford, Peter and Jill Kraus, and Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg. Special thanks to Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Art: Concept, Paris; and Galleria Zero, Milan.

General support for the Contemporary’s exhibitions program is generously provided by the Whitaker Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; William E. Weiss Foundation; Regional Arts Commission; Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; Nancy Reynolds and Dwyer Brown; Arts and Education Council; and members of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.