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Joan Crawford Slapping Library

Joan Crawford Slapping Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
86.61 x 43.31 x 15.75 inches

Skin Penetration Library

Skin Penetration Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 television, 1 VCR
118.11 x 31.5 x 15.75 inches

Buildings Collapsing Library

Buildings Collapsing Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
106.3 x 47.24 x 15.75 inches

Tom Cruise Jumping Library

Tom Cruise Jumping Library
2000
MDF, paint, 3 televisions, 1 VCR
90.55 x 82.68 x 15.75 inches

Impact Library 2000

Impact Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 integrated television/VCR
118.11 x 31.5 x 15.75 inches

Applause Library 2000

Applause Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
86.61 x 43.31 x 15.75 inches

Running Chickens Library

Running Chickens Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 integrated television/VCR
118.11 x 27.56 x 15.75 inches

Rage Library 2000

Rage Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 integrated television/VCR
106.3 x 47.24 x 15.75 inches

Cutting Library 2000

Cutting Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 integrated television/VCR
125.98 x 39.37 x 15.75 inches

Monsters Triumphing Library

Monsters Triumphing Library
2000
MDF, paint, 4 televisions, 1 VCR
82.68 x 90.55 x 15.75 inches

Jack Lemmon's Legs Library

Jack Lemmon's Legs Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
118.11 x 31.5 x 15.75 inches

Trees Library 2000

Trees Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
129.92 x 19.69 x 15.75 inches

Pouring Alcohol Library

Pouring Alcohol Library
2000
MDF, paint, 1 integrated television/VCR
106.3 x 47.24 x 15.75 inches

Smoking Library 2000

Smoking Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
106.3 x 47.24 x 15.75 inches

Counting Money Library

Counting Money Library
2000
MDF, paint, 3 televisions, 1 VCR
98.43 x 55.12 x 15.75 inches

Climbing Ladders Library

Climbing Ladders Library
2000
MDF, paint, 2 televisions, 1 VCR
129.92 x 19.69 x 15.75 inches

Pushing Supermarket Carts Library

Pushing Supermarket Carts Library
2000
MDF, paint, 3 televisions, 1 VCR
98.43 x 55.12 x 15.75 inches

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Opening reception: Friday, April 28, 6-8 pm

Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition of work by Tobias Rehberger. The opening reception is Friday, April 28 from 6 to 8 pm.

Tobias Rehberger's work consistently endeavors to disorient the viewer's perspective of familiar environments and practical objects through a manipulation of space, light, and utilitarian design elements. In Jack Lemmon's Legs and Other Libraries, Rehberger constructs an elaborate system of shelving niches to encase thirty-three televisions and seventeen VCRs. Each concealed television shows one of seventeen different video libraries which "catalogue" seventeen types of occurrences. The video compilations consist of such circumstances and actions as cutting (trees, meat, skin), hitting (Joan Crawford slapping someone, apples falling from trees and hitting the ground, cars hitting walls), running chickens, Tom Cruise jumping, and scenes featuring Jack Lemmon's legs. Collectively, these fragments offer a visual, absurd anthology of the world according to Rehberger.

Recessed into shelves, the television screens are not visible—all that can be seen is the flickering light thrown off by the screens. Rehberger displaces the conventional utilization of the television thus heightening the tension between the functional aspect of the object and its aesthetic qualities.

Tobias Rehberger has upcoming solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Frac Nord-Pas de Calais in Dunkerque. His work is also currently on view in Against Design at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.
For further information, please contact the gallery at info@petzel.com, or call (212) 680-9467.