Peter Regli is known for his ongoing series of work titled Reality Hacking. It’s a collection of temporary and often anonymous activities and interventions in urban public spaces and the natural landscape. For example; his army of snowmen placed in a city scene (as they were this winter at Madison Square Park). From June 25, 2015, Dominique Lévy Gallery will present One Sun – One Moon, the first New York solo exhibition for the Swiss artist.
Born 1959 in Andermatt, Regli lives between Switzerland and the USA and the works of the Swiss artist has stretched over four continents. Initiated in the 1990s, Reality Hacking is made up of over 300 projects to date. The project addresses Surrealism and the meaning of Land art, Conceptual art, and installation art. Each piece relies upon the artist’s keen observation of his surroundings and unusual humor.
Regli tries to stay away from determining a specific style, medium, or material in each of his works. Instead, he explores the poetics of predictability and the obviousness of everyday objects and remote or abandoned places. Reality Hacking projects often travel, appearing in isolated and unexpected landscapes where unsuspecting viewers can encounter them. His use of exterior space, and how he uses it as the stage for his land installation art and Interventions, means his reality hacking can take the incidental form of subtle alterations in the landscape, or the intriguing effect of surrealistic confrontation.
The new exhibition at Dominique Lévy will present a selection of marble objects from Regli’s Reality Hacking No. 240, which started in 2007 and is ongoing. An ensemble of Buddha and snowman sculptures and located in the gallery space as if they are all in conversation. These sacred and totemic sculptures will scatter the gallery floor in animated pairs and groups.
Photographs showcased include an image of Reality Hacking No. 159; Ghost Barn, which documents the artist’s illumination of the interior of a derelict barn near Spokane, Washington, at night, indicating the presence of something otherworldly that persists in isolated and abandoned places. Other photographs appear to be of nondescript places like a small pond or an expanse of desert. The photographs showcased follow the same theme as Regli’s Reality Hacking, the artist designates unlikely sites to transform, and once finished with the location, leaves only a ghostly trace of his ephemeral mark.
One Sun – One Moon will be on view at Dominique Lévy Gallery from June 25, 2015 through August 15, 2015. A 272-page catalogue published by the gallery and designed by An Art Service in collaboration with the artist will accompany the exhibition.
