September 4 - October 5, 2002

JOHN CAGE Ryoanji Drawings                   and MERCE CUNNINGHAM Drawings

Margarete Roeder Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by John Cage and Merce Cunningham from September 4 through October 5, 2002 The exhibition will be organized in three parts: firstly, an exhibition of fifteen of Cage's Ryoanji drawings from September 4 through September 28. The drawings, themselves produced by following computer-generated chance operation instructions, will be installed throughout the gallery by chance operation. Cage himself used this installation principle, most notably in his solo exhibition at Espai Poublenou, Barcelona in 1990, when his own works were arranged throughout the galleries and also in his touring retrospective, Rolywholyover, 1992, when works by other artists were displayed within the context of Cage's own exhibition. Cage's drawings will be displayed with a photograph of the Ryoanji Gardens by Ingeborg Klinger. From September 14 through 28 one drawing will be removed each day and substituted by two drawings by Cunningham; from September 29 through October 5 only Cunningham's drawings will be on display.     Cage used chance operation not merely as a generative process in his visual work and musical work, but as a guiding principle that exemplified his artistic practice. The Where R = Ryoanji drawings are based on the Ryoanji rock gardens in Kyoto, Japan. The impetus for these drawings was a request in 1982 for Cage to design a cover for the French translation of his Mushroom Book. Using a grid whose size was determined by the jacket and flaps of the book, Cage gathered together fifteen stones-the same number found in the Ryoanji garden-culled from his own collection. He arranged the stones by chance, according to the I Ching, and traced around their contours. The title of each drawing refers to how many times he traced around the stones, for example 5R/10 indicates that he traced five times (5) around fifteen stones (R meaning Ryoanji) using ten pencils, ranging from very hard to very soft. From 1983 until the time of his death, Cage continued to work on subsequent Ryoanji drawings and prints. The ancient Ryoanji rock gardens not only influenced Cage's visual work but also his music: between 1983 and 1985 he composed Ryoanji: Solos for Oboe, Flute, Contrabass, Voice, Trombone with Percussion or Orchestral Obbligato.         Merce Cunningham's drawings are the subject of the newly-published Merce Cunningham: Other Animals, Drawings and Notations, published by Aperture, New York. This book, the first devoted entirely to Cunningham's visual work, presents the vast range of Cunningham's visual invention interspersed with photographs of his choreographic work over the last fifty years. Cunningham's half-century of dance was recently the subject of the festival Merce at 50 at Lincoln Center, New York. The drawings in the present exhibition reflect Cunningham's particular interest in animals and natural forms, the vitality of his kinesthetic line the resultant of a lifetime devoted to movement. A booksigning will take place on October 4, from 5-7 PM. For further information and photographs , please contact the gallery. TOP