Alyssa Gorelick
Touchdown, (2009)
10 x 8 inches,C-print
Edition of 5
Price: $75
TOUCHDOWN
Position hands crossed at wrists, palms facing in towards the chest—rest this way for as long as you can. Grip fingers and raise, crossed thumbs touch. Waving fingers flaps the wings and thumbs control the beak—do not break hands apart unless intention is to squawk. Touchdown—swoop land run catch prey catch planes and fly. Be swept be taken be plucked and die .
Red white blue means nothing otherwise to wings—feathers – fingers – talons – rings – roses painted red—add & remove hue. The plane begins descent, hold up arms to signal and be seen—pinch through holes from one side and feel the way through. What does the field look like on the front side? Holding on tighter will increase the curve, but nothing that can’t be fixed later with the right tool or tools—if you can’t touch paper what happens to the rules? Finger pricked on thorn (red is what comes out of bodies, not a color), a smooth landing (people in the cabin clap). Some of us thought we weren’t going to make it and we panicked—all of that turbulence brought up questions of worth. We didn’t want to crash before being served dessert.
Alyssa Gorelick perpetually conducts experiments using the camera. She is currently combing the field of botany and studying metal work, searching for ways to confuse perceptions of photographic space, material and image. She has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam and London and has taught at the International Center of Photography and the Community Arts Partnership Program at CalArts. She received an MFA at CalArts in 2006 and lives and works in New York.