A monograph designed in dialogue with George Trakas based on a choice of works from 1970 to 2022 made by the artist. Each piece is introduced by GT: notes, technical plates, sketches, charcoal drawings and photographies interrupted by reproduction of archives among with Avalanche, Parachute, which put the work into perspective.
For the publication of this monograph, we have chosen to focus on the artist's words. The book presents, in chronological order, works produced between 1970 and 2022, based on a precise selection by George Trakas. Each work is introduced by Trakas with notes, plans and technical plates, charcoal drawings and photographs that form the basis of a narrative punctuated by archive reproductions. Thus, Trakas' proposal for Avalanche (1971), witness to a pioneering period in recent art history, puts a language and the fundamentals of his work into perspective. Texts by Kate Linker (1976), Sally Yard (1993) and an interview conducted by Chantal Pontbriand for Parachute (1978) provide us with a critical approach to his work: its phenomenological dimension and "the environmental junction and the spatial disjunction. Several catalogue texts, either transcribed or reproduced, replace Trakas' notes: Log Mass: Mass Curve / University of Massachusetts with Hugh M. Davies, Self Passage / Louisiana Museum of Modern Art with Michael Sheridan and Quai des Trois-Dents / Parc naturel régional du Pilat in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with Pascale Soleil, former director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valence.
This journey concludes with an interview between Joan Jonas and Trakas in the presence of his daughter Maggie, moderated by Alexis Lowry,
at the time curator at Dia Art Foundation. These voices recall shared experiences in Downtown New York City – human and artistic experiences
experiences in Downtown New York City—human and artistic experiences that some people look back on today with nostalgia—and with Catherine Grout's text Initiation des mouvements that interacts with works seen throughout the book. She analyzes the relationship to the body, to space and to others
that Trakas owes to dance, studied and practiced with Simone Forti and Yvonne Raineramong others.
George Trakas (born 1944 in Quebec, lives and works in New York) is an artist who describes himself as an environmental sculptor.
He was awarded a grant from the American Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2017, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982 and was named Doctor of Humane Letters by Emory University in 2010. Trakas was a professor of Sculpture at Yale University for thirteen years. He participated in Documenta 6 and 8 in Kassel (1977 and 1987) and in the 39th Venice Biennale in 1980.
Among his most notable emblematic, perennial works are, in the United States, Newtown Creek Nature Walk and Newtown Creek Water Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, New York; Beacon Point, Dia Beacon; Berth Haven, Seattle, Washington; Source Route, Atlanta, Georgia; Rock River Union, ArtPark, Lewiston, New York; Rhodes' Bridge, Katonah, New York; Isle of View, Amherst, Massachusetts. In Europe, Reconnections, Bellmulet, Ireland; Self Passage, Louisiana Museum, Denmark; Sentiero dell'amore, Collezione Gori, Italy; Le Pont de l'Épée, centre d'art Le Creux de l'Enfer, Thiers, and Le Quai des Trois-Dents, regional park of Pilat, with art3/Valence, France.
Edited by Valérie Cudel.
Contributions by George Trakas,
Hugh M.Davies,
Catherine Grout,
Kate Linker,
Alexis Lowry,
Joan Jonas,
Chantal Pontbriand,
Michael Sheridan,
Pascale Soleil,
Sally Yard.
