Exhibition: Junker

Libby Rothfeld Junker September 9 - October 30 2021

Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a shaped wooden panel with a realistic clock painted on the surface.

The underside [of the baptismal bowl], however, was inscribed in a variety of ever-changing scripts with the names of those heads of the household who had been its owners over the course of time. [...] His father’s name was there, as was in fact his grandfather’s, and his great-grandfather’s; and now that syllable came doubled, tripled, and quadrupled from the storyteller’s mouth; and the boy would lay his head to one side, his eyes fixed and full of thought, yet somehow dreamily thoughtless, his lips parted in drowsy devotion, and he would listen to the great-great-great-great—that somber sound of the crypt and buried time, which nevertheless both expressed a reverently preserved connection of his own life in the present to things now sunk deep beneath the earth and simultaneously had a curious effect on him; the same effect visible in the look on his face. [...] At the sound of those somber syllables, religious feelings got mixed up what a sense of death and history, and all of it together somehow left the boy with a pleasant sensation—indeed, it may well have been that it was solely for the sake of that sound, just to hear it and join in reciting it, that he had once again asked to be allowed to see the baptismal bowl. [...] A familiar feeling stole over him—a strange, half-dreamy, half-scary sense of standing there and yet being tugged away at the same time, a kind of fluctuating permanence, that meant both a return to something and a dizzying, everlasting sameness, a feeling that he knew well from previous occasions and that he had been waiting for, hoping it would touch him again. It was partly for the sake of that feeling that he had contrived to have this abiding, mutable heirloom shown to him. —Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

Junker is Libby Rothfeld's second solo exhibition at Bureau. Rothfeld (b. 1990, New Brunswick, New Jersey) lives and works in Queens, NY and received a BFA from New York University. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include: Everybody Knows, SpazioA, Pistoia, Italy, 2020; Confidence in Motion, Downstairs Projects, New York, 2018; Noon and Afternoon, Bureau, 2017; 1999, Antoine Renard & Libby Rothfeld, curated by Siliqoon, Marsèlleria, Milan, 2017; A Dumb Sound, A Sweet Bell, Anne Libby & Libby Rothfeld, 315 Gallery, Brooklyn, 2017; AAa:Quien, Erica Baum & Libby Rothfeld, Bureau, 2017; Libby Rothfeld, First Continent, Baltimore, 2015; and Good To Think With, Good To Think Against, Kimberly-Klark, New York, 2015. 

This exhibition has been supported in part by the City Artist Corps Grants

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. This clock looks like an antique with a white face and very ornate woodwork.

Category 4, Amen Lover 1, (Quarter chiming triple fusee bracket clock with carved florets and gilded details by John Moore and Sons of Clerkenwell), 2021, wood, wood stain, oil paint, 26 ½ × 14 ¼ × 5 in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. This clock looks like an antique with a white face and very ornate woodwork.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a number of sculptures on the ground and a painting of a clock hanging on the rear wall.

Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a number of sculptures on the ground and a painting of a clock hanging on the rear wall.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes, one taller than the other, with red blue and yellow paint on the exterior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.

Whole Wide World (Grandpa Small), 2021, wood, acrylic paint, wood stain, cotton fabric, plastic, potted tree, gum, flagging, metal door hinge, 20 ½ × 51 × 42 ½ in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes, one taller than the other, with red blue and yellow paint on the exterior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes, one taller than the other, with red blue and yellow paint on the exterior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. This clock looks like a traditional coo coo clock with weights dangling down on ropes from the clock's face.

Genesis News (South German polychrome iron wall clock with Kuhschwanz Pendel), 2021, wood, wood stain, oil paint, 46 × 14 × 5 in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. This clock looks like a traditional coo coo clock with weights dangling down on ropes from the clock's face.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing two cartoon-like renderings of angels sculpted in concrete and a painting of a clock hanging on the rear wall.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a cartoonishly rendered angel seated on the floor with wings and hands in a prayer like pose. The angel is sculpted from concrete.

If You Care, 2021, concrete, cardboard, lath, 30 × 37 × 37 ½ in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a cartoonishly rendered angel seated on the floor with wings and hands in a prayer like pose. The angel is sculpted from concrete.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a cartoonishly rendered angel seated on the floor with wings and its hands covering its eyes. The angel is sculpted from concrete.

Wonderful Wonderful Times, 2021, concrete, cardboard, lath, 28 × 29 × 33 in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a cartoonishly rendered angel seated on the floor with wings and its hands covering its eyes. The angel is sculpted from concrete.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a number of sculptures on the ground and two metal cylinders installed in the ceiling.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes with yellow paint on the interior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.

Whole Wide World (Grandpa), 2021, wood, acrylic paint, wood stain, cotton fabric, plastic, potted tree, gum, flagging, metal door hinge, 17 × 77 ¼ × 40 in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes with yellow paint on the interior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of two conjoined boxes with yellow paint on the interior of the box. There is a dead Christmas tree in a circular cut out of the center of the box. The Christmas tree is embedded into what looks like a couch cushion with a plastic cover. There is graffiti scratched into the surface of the wooden box and bubblegum applied to it.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a wooden sculpture in the foreground and a painting of a clock hanging on the rear wall. There are two metal drums protruding from the ceiling.
Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. The wood is stained brown and the clock is metallic with green marble.

Everyone's A Killer, (Russian malachite and silver cased mantle clock), 2021, wood, wood stain, oil paint, 24 ¾ × 15 ½ × 5 in.

Image of an artwork by Libby Rothfeld of a shaped wooden panel with a very realistically rendered clock painted on the surface. The wood is stained brown and the clock is metallic with green marble.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing an installation piece made of two metal drums installed into a drop ceiling. There are round windows on the drums showing a pair of sneakers inside each. Both drums rotate with the help of a hidden motor.

The Punisher's Collections, 2021, metal, sneakers, plastic, motor, polyurethane drum, wood, dimensions variable

Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing an installation piece made of two metal drums installed into a drop ceiling. There are round windows on the drums showing a pair of sneakers inside each. Both drums rotate with the help of a hidden motor.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing an installation piece made of two metal drums installed into a drop ceiling. There are round windows on the drums showing a pair of sneakers inside each. Both drums rotate with the help of a hidden motor. This is an in motion image.
Image of a solo exhibition by Libby Rothfeld showing a number of sculptures on the ground and a painting of a clock hanging on the rear wall with two metal drums protruding from the ceiling.

Photography by Dario Lasagni.