{"title":"Andrea Bowers","description":"\u003cp\u003eAndrea Bowers (b. 1965, Wilmington, Ohio) is an American artist whose drawings, videos and installations engage with political activism, labour history and feminist movements, treating protest ephemera and documentary material as both subject and formal resource. Her practice developed in Los Angeles through close engagement with civil rights and labour histories, situating art-making within ongoing struggles rather than at a critical remove. She has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and represented the United States at the 2017 Venice Biennale.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"couldnt-get-ahead-independent-art-space-london-1995","title":"ANDREA BOWERS, SAM DURANT, BOB \u0026 ROBERTA SMITH, GEORGINA STARR ET AL. — Couldn’t Get Ahead, Independent Art Space, London, 1995","description":"\u003cp\u003ePublished for Adam McEwen’s 1995 exhibition at Independent Art Space, London, \u003cem\u003eCouldn’t Get Ahead\u003c\/em\u003e brought together Andrea Bowers, Sam Durant, Robert Gunderman, Bob \u0026amp; Roberta Smith and Georgina Starr at a moment when none of their later trajectories were secure — and when appearing not to have everything under control was very much part of the point.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMcEwen’s reproduced press release reads almost like anti-publicity. Rather than polishing five emerging artists into professional biographies, it introduces them through embarrassment, damaged goods, procrastination, difficult dealers, self-help, crying and music. Bob \u0026amp; Roberta Smith has problems with gallery people; Durant reads self-help books; Bowers is drawn to damaged and discarded things; Starr turns awkward personal memory into fiction; Gunderman’s frustrations with the art world become material in their own right.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title lands accordingly. \u003cem\u003eCouldn’t Get Ahead\u003c\/em\u003e is self-deprecating, but not defeatist. Failure is being used against polish. Its echo of The Fall’s 1985 song of the same name feels particularly apt in an exhibition already threaded through with music, DIY culture and Bob \u0026amp; Roberta Smith’s imagined collision between Mike Kelley and Mark E. Smith.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work behaves similarly. Durant’s deliberately rough architectural models undermine the authority of “Good Design”; Starr’s homemade special effects leave their seams visible; Bowers looks toward damaged and rejected material. What ties the exhibition together is less incompetence than refusal: things are not supposed to come out quite right.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd then hindsight changes the joke.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBowers and Durant would build major international practices; Starr and Bob \u0026amp; Roberta Smith would become established figures in British contemporary art; McEwen himself would move from curating into an internationally recognised artistic career. Thirty-one years later, \u003cem\u003eCouldn’t Get Ahead\u003c\/em\u003e has become exactly the sort of early-career document its own press release seems determined not to manufacture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe original CD is integral to the object. Contributions include Sam Durant’s \u003cem\u003eProcrastination Breakdown\u003c\/em\u003e, material connected to Georgina Starr’s \u003cem\u003eVisit to a Small Planet\u003c\/em\u003e, Andrea Bowers-associated recordings and Robert Gunderman’s \u003cem\u003eHappy Song\u003c\/em\u003e. The exhibition moves from gallery to page to sound: catalogue becomes compilation album, and the show becomes portable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhysically, it keeps the same anti-polish attitude. Raised green lettering sits against a coarse, pavement-like cover; the translucent green CD is fixed at the rear; typewritten material, drawings and photographs move between black-and-white and colour with little concern for conventional catalogue elegance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart exhibition catalogue, part fanzine, part compilation, part evidence file.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublished in an edition of 500 copies and retaining its original CD, \u003cem\u003eCouldn’t Get Ahead\u003c\/em\u003e catches a transatlantic group of artists — and Adam McEwen as curator — at the useful moment before institutional recognition tidied the story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e15 × 21.2 cm. 48 pages; black-and-white and colour illustrations. Softcover with original audio CD mounted to rear. Edition of 500 copies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCondition: Good. Light handling, rubbing and age-related wear to covers and edges; internally well preserved. Complete with original CD mounted to rear.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecurely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Independent Art Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54268320481618,"sku":"IAS-COULDNT-GET-AHEAD-1995","price":125.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Bowers_Andrea.Durant_Robert.Gunderman_Robert.Smith_Bob_Roberta.Starr_Georgina.Showcatalogue_Couldn_tGetAhead.1995.jpg?v=1786778408"}],"url":"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/collections\/andrea-bowers.oembed","provider":"The New Rare","version":"1.0","type":"link"}