Harrison Haynes and Tory Wright : Counterfeit/Counterpart

Harrison Haynes and Tory Wright
Counterfeit/Counterpart

December 2010

A counterpart is a stand-in, a decoy, and a doppelganger for the real thing. It could be said that counterfeiting relates to an art practice that suggests a thing once removed or an interpretation or representation that implies a proposal of ‘authenticity’, a boast that could come true if the ruse works. Or, just as easily, its transparency, its fabricated nature, could be revealed. Fabrication suggests skilled labor along with the act of lying. Nonetheless, both require meticulousness, patience, practice and some amount of selfishness.

In Counterfeit/Counterpart, Harrison Haynes and Tory Wright approach
photography, appropriation and collage in opposing ways. Photographic images move into a sculptural practice and sculptural objects are compressed into two-dimensional surfaces.

Haynes’ work employs material transformation to investigate interior spaces and objects related to his experiences as a musician. A life-size print of an imitation Persian rug and a life-size, cut-out photo of a crash cymbal represent tromp l’oeil in real space through photography and sculpture, offering another kind of ‘fake’ or ‘knock-off’, and/or counterpart. Other more traditional forms of photography cohabit the show, and are hung on the walls in frames, pulling the viewer back into a more familiar relationship with ‘copies’.

Wright’s work edits and reedits artifice, surface and contrived beauty by appropriating preexisting fashion photography along side of art historical objects. The Venus of Willendorf and women styled for Gucci and Chanel are pulled away from there original location within the pages of high-end fashion magazines and art history books only to be edited once more when installed on the galleries walls and floor.

Harrison Haynes is an artist and musician based in Durham, NC. He is the drummer for the band Les Savy Fav and an MFA candidate at Bard College. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions including venues such as The Nasher Museum of Art, NC; The Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC; Saltworks, GA; and Guild & Greyshkul, NY.

Tory Wright holds an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and has exhibited at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, Bemis Center of Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE, Civilian Art Projects in Washington, DC, Cell Project Space in London, UK, and Southeastern Center of Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem among other venues.

Lump is located at 505 S. Blount St, Raleigh, NC. More information about our mission and exhibition programs can be found at lumpprojects.org.