As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In the case of visual artist Bryan Zanisnik, that treasure would be the random assortment of junk he’s gathered from various Abrons’ storage spaces, combined with bits and pieces from his childhood home. The articles for this collection include: police costumes, hardware shelving, random pieces of cardboard, his collection of toys, comic books, baseball cards, and other icons of boyhood — combined to create Every Inch a Man, his expansively cluttered site-specific performance and installation.
Every Inch a Man centers around Zanisnik reading Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel while inside of a specially designed life-size Plexiglas container. Except for the intermittent breaks to eat lunch with his parents, Bob and Carol Zanisnik, who are often incorporated into his work, and to tinker with his growing installation, the artist will “perform this incongruity day in and day out as an absurdly Freudian compulsion to relive adolescent, and familial trauma.” Five hours a day, four days a week, for five weeks.
Zanisnik’s work often blends cultural narratives with personal histories in order to address issues of aging and regression, masculinity, the patriarchal family, Freudian psychology, and Americana culture.
Every Inch a Man is curated by the 2011-2012 AIRspace curator-in-residence, David Everitt Howe.
Abrons notes: An accompanying, fully illustrated catalog will feature essays by curator David Everitt Howe and critic Wendy Vogel, a comic by Eric Winkler, and an artist portfolio by Bryan Zanisnik. Designed by Alex Lesy, the catalog will have a limited edition run of 350 copies, each containing a unique Polaroid insert.
Opening reception March 30, 6 – 8pm // Performances Weekly, Thursday-Sunday, 1-6 pm // March 30 – May 6 // 466 Grand Street.
