Mar 5th 2010

Steven Husby: we speak the way we breathe

@ PEREGRINEPROGRAM

500 W Cermak Rd, 727, Chicago, IL 60616

Opening Friday, March 5th, from 6PM - 9PM

On view through Friday, April 2nd

The word “aspire” has two meanings: to have a noble desire or ambition; and to rise aloft. The one needs no introduction. The other is less familiar, but connected to the first. Every aspiration describes a path between two points—the point of origin, and the point of no return. And every aspiration implies that one point is escapable, and the other possible.

An aspiration is a desire to achieve something high or great, as well as the object of such a desire. But within the discipline of phonetics, the word “aspiration” takes on a third meaning. Here it refers to the audible breath that accompanies speech. This meaning is connected to another: the act of breathing itself, which is repetitive, always circling back to where it began.

In one sense then, to aspire is to move up and away from where one is towards some place “higher,” where one is not. But in another, to aspire is always to return to where one began.

The paintings presented are clearly aspirational, but in what sense? Towards what point do they aim? From what point do they originate? And to what point do they return?

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