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Tinsquo's curatorial project, Adjacent To Life, presents 9 to 5: Barista to Boatbuilder, A Tribute to the Workers of Venice, PERFORMANCES ON CANVAS by Yolanda Hawkins in collaboration with William Niederkorn.
People sometimes talk about Venice as though it were a museum, but it is not. Venice is a living work of art that would be an empty shell were it not for the people who work there.
In an effort to honor the work life of Venice, Yolanda Hawkins highlights the importance of the labors of those who make Venice happen. Sometimes unappreciated and performed under trying circumstances often invisible to visitors, the labors of these workers deserve recognition. With the workers themselves as her teachers, she endeavors to celebrate and capture with careful study and seriousness their intelligence, charm and skills.
9 to 5: Barista to Boatbuilder is an exhibition of performance works on canvas that were included in a book Hawkins published for Venetians under the title “Da Marangona a Marangona.” The Marangona is the huge bell in the Campanile tower in St. Mark’s Square that historically signaled the beginning and the end of the workday (like our 9 to 5) for the shipyards of Venice. The bell’s name is derived from the word for carpenter. This exhibition records the third major theme of Hawkins's ongoing work in Venice, developed through her observations and interactions with people there. The first phase was performances for Venetians; the second, performances with Venetians, and this third phase is performances about Venetians.
One of the most vibrant features of Venice is its commercial prudence – not only for the maintenance of Venetian infrastructure, which operates at a level of fortitude that requires science as well as art, but also the thrivingly active Venetians providing whatever is necessary or desirable in the most artful ways: fruit and vegetable sellers, fish mongers, butchers, baristas, perfumers, jewelers, shop assistants, ice cream makers, push cart vendors, waiters, artists, trash collectors, gondola builders and gondoliers.
Performances by Hawkins of each of these roles in Venice, documented in photographs and published in her book, are here displayed as larger scale canvas prints.
Yolanda Hawkins is a longtime resident of the East Village whose work encompasses multiple mediums of the fine arts as well as performance, theater (directing and acting), and art books. She is a founder, director and the president of True Comedy Theater Company and was a co-founder of the art collective Group Material and a member of Artists Meeting for Cultural Change. She has participated in group and one-person shows in New York and Venice.
William Niederkorn is a photographer, writer, artist and composer who has lived and worked in the East Village for decades.
9 to 5: Barista to Boatbuilder is on view through August 5 at the Adjacent to Life pop-up gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). The reception for the artists is Sunday, July 24, 4-7 pm.