BRIAN BALDERSTON: (stud)wall

1ST ANNUAL DC ARTIST SOLO SHOW

NOVEMBER 08 – 29, 2003

Conceptual artist and member of the Decatur Blue arts collective, Brian Balderston takes on his first solo exhibition with stud(wall): a constructure in three acts, a site-specific installation at Transformer.

Addressing structure as inherent to the ability of any system to form and sustain itself, Balderston creates with stud(wall) a planned environment referencing and questioning basic and understood systems of design, operation and construction. Building a gallery within a gallery, Balderston sets up a controlled system to investigate the boundaries of what his chosen materials allow as well as a pre-ordained manner of assembly.

The materials Balderston incorporates wood, metal, paint, sheet rock are formed to create an aesthetic experience of a finished structure while simultaneously exposing aspects of the system beneath the surface. Conceptualized as an action in three parts: the debut, the pivot, and coda (an end and a beginning), the process of change within stud(wall) - whether considered progressive or regressive , relates the experience of change, and not necessarily value.

By exposing elements and steps in the process of the stud(wall) construction, and in turn its deconstruction, Balderston examines the use of physical elements and assumed patterns, and their metaphorical relationship to the underpinnings of social structure.

Brian Balderston received his BA in philosophy from Hanover College in Indiana. He is currently pursuing an MFA in new genres at the San Francisco Art Institute.