David Zwirner JASON RHOADES. PeaRoeFoam FRONT ROOM. September 11 October 18, PeaRoeFoam Pallets, PeaRoeFoam Clock, 2002

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David Zwirner 537 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011 Fax 212 517 8959 Telephone 212 517 8677 JASON RHOADES PeaRoeFoam September 11 October 18, 2014 This presentation is a reinstatement of Jason

1 David Zwirner 537 West 20th Street New York, NY Fax Telephone JASON RHOADES PeaRoeFoam September 11 October 18, 2014 This presentation is a reinstatement of Jason Rhoades s PeaRoeFoam project, which debuted at David Zwirner in 2002 (then located on Greene Street in SoHo) in the first of a trilogy of exhibitions that also brought it to Vienna and Liverpool the same year. A seminal work within the artist s career, PeaRoeFoam was Rhoades s self-made recipe for a brand new product and revolutionary new material created from whole green peas, fish-bait style salmon eggs, and white virgin-beaded foam. When combined with non-toxic glue, they transform into a versatile, fast-drying, and ultimately hard material that Rhoades intended for both utilitarian as well as artistic use his detailed step-by-step instructions accompanied do-it-yourself kits complete with everything needed to make PeaRoeFoam. These kits played a central part in Rhoades s self-devised marketing strategy of the product and were originally packaged in Ivory Snow detergent boxes from 1972, selected for their logo featuring the actress Marilyn Chambers holding a baby. Soon after the launch of the image brand, Chambers starred in one of the first feature-length porn films ever made, Behind the Green Door, and Rhoades was drawn to the dichotomy between advertised wholesomeness and adulterated content, which in this case arguably contributed to the popularity of both. FRONT ROOM This grouping of works reflects how Rhoades initially installed his PeaRoeFoam exhibition at David Zwirner in May It brings together shrink-wrapped pallets with the do-it-yourself kits and the so-called kebab skewers made as the drying material was pressed into rectangular molds. PeaRoeFoam Pallets, 2002 Private Collection Packaged in April 2002, each pallet comprises 36 shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes that each contains eight Ivory Snow boxes (do-it-yourself kits to make PeaRoeFoam, including dried peas, salmon roe, Styrofoam beads, glue, and latex gloves). Rhoades frequently referenced other artists in his own work and the stacked boxes can further be seen to echo minimalist works by Donald Judd. PeaRoeFoam Clock, 2002 Rhoades installed a large clock at his PeaRoeFoam production sites, thus designating them as controlled workplaces where regular hours were kept.

2 FRONT ROOM (continued) PeaRoeFoam Prototype Kebab Mold, 2002 PeaRoeFoam Prototype Kebab, 2002 Charpenel Guadalajara Collection. Courtesy University Museum of Contemporary Art, UNAM Over the course of the exhibitions or PeaRoeFormances as Rhoades referred to them the still wet PeaRoeFoam mixture was pressed into rectangular molds with an aluminum pipe from the artist s earlier project Perfect World (1999) and allowed to dry. The resulting kebab skewers could be taken out and used as sculptures or building materials, depending on the needs of their makers. The Grand Machine 1st Edition, 2002 The Grand Machine 1st Edition comprises a framed LCD screen featuring imagery relating to Rhoades s PeaRoeFoam project. Its sequence of stills rotates through approximately 12,000 images from Behind the Green Door and from the production of PeaRoeFoam at the artist s studio and at David Zwirner. The Grand Machine was the name of a factory assembled in Rhoades s studio in Rosemead, near Los Angeles, where assistants first packaged PeaRoeFoam into Ivory Snow boxes.

WEST ROOM Following the original PeaRoeFormance at David Zwirner, Rhoades moved the equipment to the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK) in Vienna, reassembling it within a large

He also re-installed The Grand Machine an assembly line in his studio where assistants packaged PeaRoeFoam into Ivory Snow soap boxes and used it as a karaoke studio called The Areola.

3 WEST ROOM Following the original PeaRoeFormance at David Zwirner, Rhoades moved the equipment to the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK) in Vienna, reassembling it within a large arrangement of working tables and chairs, scaffolding, and various machinery, some of which were drawn from prior works by the artist. He also re-installed The Grand Machine an assembly line in his studio where assistants packaged PeaRoeFoam into Ivory Snow soap boxes and used it as a karaoke studio called The Areola. Its other components include a desk-shaped sound studio (Mixing Desk and Chair) and a sculpture with a microphone (Yellow Ribbon in Her Hair). They are exhibited here along with Light Wall that was also on view in Vienna. Also shown are functional sculptures made with the raw ingredients in their original containers, rubber boots, shovels, and other tools (PeaRoeFoam Bulk Pallets), as well as with the mixed product and its leftover packaging (PeaRoeFoam Pallet with Sculpture from Vienna). Light Wall, 2002 PeaRoeFoam Bulk Pallets, 2002 Light Wall was an integral part of the project s installment in Vienna, where it was arranged as a freestanding object facing several PeaRoeFoam Bulk Pallets (two of which acted as physical support) with sculptural components in the shape of yellow rubber boots and shovels. Composed of vertical white neon light tubes, it provided cool, bright illumination of the space and represented an allusion to the minimalist light works by Dan Flavin. PeaRoeFoam Bulk Pallets are sculptures composed of the materials and tools necessary for PeaRoeFoam: large containers with dried peas and Styrofoam beads of the white virgin (not recycled) kind, salmon roe in its original packaging, and several bottles of Elmer s glue are arranged atop a wooden pallet, together with a shovel, wrench, aluminum pipes from Rhoades s earlier Perfect World installation (1999), and a pair of yellow rubber boots. A branded cardboard box placed on top of the containers is intended for the mixed product. The inside of the box is printed with a poster advertising Behind the Green Door.

WEST ROOM (continued) Mixing Desk and Chair / Yellow Ribbon in Her Hair, 2002 Comprising a mixing desk and chair as well as a pallet sculpture built from PeaRoeFoam and the tools used to make it,

It relates specifically to Rhoades s installation at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK) in Vienna called The Grand Machine / The Areola, which was a factory, a karaoke machine,

4 WEST ROOM (continued) Mixing Desk and Chair / Yellow Ribbon in Her Hair, 2002 Comprising a mixing desk and chair as well as a pallet sculpture built from PeaRoeFoam and the tools used to make it, this work illustrates the many acclaimed benefits of the product. It relates specifically to Rhoades s installation at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK) in Vienna called The Grand Machine / The Areola, which was a factory, a karaoke machine, and a formal sculpture at once. Whereas the desk and chair functioned as a sound studio equipped with a mixing board, audio limiter, and CD burner, Yellow Ribbon in Her Hair, titled after the yellow web strapping atop the sculpture, features a built-in microphone. Recession Era Perfect World Park Bench, 2001 Recession Era Perfect World Park Bench is formed from aluminum pipes taken from Perfect World, his major installation originally presented at Deichtorhallen Hamburg in It was intended equally as a functional object for the public good and as fine art, and its straightforward appearance reverberated with modernist promises of utilitarian design made from mass-produced materials. PeaRoeFoam Pallet with Sculpture from Vienna, 2002 This sculpture comprises several branded cardboard boxes that each contains do-it-yourself kits complete with everything needed to make PeaRoeFoam. As if demonstrating the wide-ranging artistic use of the mixture, Rhoades created a configuration of opened doit-yourself kits on top of the cardboard boxes along with scattered PeaRoeFoam and a pair of yellow rubber boots thickly covered in the material.

WEST ROOM (continued) The Grand Machine / THEAREOLA, 2002 Private Collection One of the exhibition s centerpieces, The Grand Machine / The Areola is a major component of Rhoades s PeaRoeFoam project.

5 WEST ROOM (continued) The Grand Machine / THEAREOLA, 2002 Private Collection One of the exhibition s centerpieces, The Grand Machine / The Areola is a major component of Rhoades s PeaRoeFoam project. The Grand Machine was the name of an installation in Rhoades s studio where assistants first produced PeaRoeFoam ahead of the show at David Zwirner. Also dubbed The Areola, which Rhoades spelled out in pink neon letters above the entrance, it subtly emphasized the corporal, erotic component of the PeaRoeFoam production process (areola is the word for the colored area surrounding the nipple), which the artist elsewhere referred to as the impetuous process. For the second so-called PeaRoeFormance at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK) in Vienna, Rhoades reassembled The Grand Machine using working tables and chairs, scaffolding, and various machinery. As with the initial setup at his studio, he added a karaoke machine to the factory installation and the production of PeaRoeFoam was intended to occur in parallel with musical production. Throughout the duration of the installation, hundreds of songs were recorded either by Rhoades himself or by his assistants, museum staff, and visitors, thus adding multiple layers to the production. Contributors were specifically asked to sing with as much sincerity as possible, and the installation thus functioned as a tongue-in-cheek commentary on artists search for authentic means of expression and on the notion of subjectivity within a preordained structure.

EAST ROOM Following the final exhibition at the Liverpool Biennial in the fall of 2002, for which the artist worked inside a giant, inflatable pool the shape and color of a human liver, PeaRoeFoam

6 EAST ROOM Following the final exhibition at the Liverpool Biennial in the fall of 2002, for which the artist worked inside a giant, inflatable pool the shape and color of a human liver, PeaRoeFoam continued to be appropriated for subsequent works. Shown here are two large-scale, multi-component sculptures that represent some of the final works Rhoades produced for his PeaRoeFoam project. Iwan s Rack reflects the totality of the project, while PeaRoe Ramp demonstrates one of the many uses of PeaRoeFoam in creating functional objects. Iwan s Rack, 2003/2004 Collection of Iwan and Manuela Wirth Iwan s Rack incorporates the majority of the objects and leftovers from all three PeaRoeFormances that found a new place in Rhoades s studio. Arranged on shelves covering the full length of a large wall, they remained on the location until after his untimely death in Momentous in scale and with innumerous components that relate to separate groups of work while at the same time being integral to the installation, Iwan s Rack can be seen as a metaphor for Rhoades s oeuvre as a whole. In line with the artist s statement that he never considered his works finished, elements from the PeaRoeFormances appear in between objects belonging to earlier and later projects. As if waiting to be put in use, the gigantic constellation of works in progress acquires a dynamic quality despite the archival associations of shelved material. The entirety of the installation is shown for the first time at David Zwirner. PeaRoe Ramp (from Wastewedge, Part of Impetuous Process, 2002), with Embedded HiFi and Honda XR50, 2003 Private Collection PeaRoe Ramp is composed from PeaRoeFoam and the tools necessary to make it. A small Honda XR50 motorcycle is placed nearby as if to underscore the playful and interactive part of the production process. An inbuilt stereo system on one side of the ramp bears a label with information about the artist s subsequent Meccatuna project, partially written in Arabic, which further demonstrates the continuity between his different works. The ramp was first exhibited as part of Jason Rhoades: Meccatuna at David Zwirner in Please visit the Video Room adjacent to the exhibition to view selected interviews and historical footage of the artist and his work.

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