Nicholas V. Elbakidze; “If Walls Could Talk” (10-page curation), 2018

I chose to curate my drawings in such a way that they are removed outside from their original design placement and shown in a new smaller, yet still power, format. I chose to showcase my drawings in the Universe Center because of the buildings architecture and contemporary atmosphere. My drawings are extremely minimal and abstract in nature so I wanted them to be displayed in a setting of equal design. My new formating finds new refuge within the stairwell.  Reading from left to right:

1. I connected all 10 of my drawings with one another using the steel binding clips to create a single long strap of linked paper which I decided fit quite nicely with the flow of the concrete stairs in contrast with the large windows showcased in the University Center. The brass of the handrail and the steel of the clips complemented each other very well.
2. I created a rectangle out of the connected papers which I placed on the handrail beside the stairs. I arranged these papers in a format which allows them to be viewed from both the interior and exterior of the building giving artistic design for all.
3. Exterior view of the second curation.
4. By arranging the drawings on the handrail overlooking the stairwell I created a double-sided design very similar in nature to my original Installation work.
5. Reverse view of the fourth curation as seen in the stairwell.

By curating my partner’s drawings I was given to opportunity to create a new design formation which I could not have done before with my drawings as mine had holes punched into them allowing them to be hung from a pipe on the ceiling. I found that my partners drawings looked childish in design (not application or skill) so I arranged them as if they were the remnants of a child’s drawing frenzy. By placing the drawings in a seemly random formation I created the look of randomness, just like how a child is random in his/her uneducated piling of discarded papers. I was inspired by the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and his 1990 work “Untitled” (Death by Gun) at which he neatly placed a stack of papers in a room and allowed his audience to take a paper if they so chose for the stack. I wanted to create a kind of tension within my newly curated work, making the viewing audience want to intervene and organizing the disorganized mess of papers, like a parent of child cleaning home. I see this being created into a work of the same concept but rather of being made of fragile paper being redesigned of brass or bronze s that the tension within the work could not be edited or changed and remained still.