2009: September. Show at Taxter and Spengemann, tentatively called New York, New York 1, refers to the primary component – a 10ft brick tower built in the center of the space. 2             

1. In many ways, this title refers literally, to the fact that I was constructing my own building within a building.† But also a phenomenon of stillness. The notion that standing still is aberrant, implying a lack of progress, a lack of forward motion. I wanted to plant myself in the gallery, metaphorically and literally by creating a vertical show. A show that travels down, into the subterranean rather than upwards and out. It implied going within, standing still as time moves forward. Nowhere was this more apparent for me as in the midst of the actual construction of the tower. As the tower went up outwardly, inwardly a tunnel formed, becoming darker and receding farther away the taller we went up. By the end, the building had moved from the tangible world of brick and mortar to the utterly intangible world of metaphor.

2. The tower served the function of encasing a small hole in the floor through which a cable was hung – from the top of the tower into the basement. In fact, this act or gesture, was the central reason for the tower existing in the first place.††

†      Future proposal – design and build an actual skyscraper.

††    Original plans called for several 2x4’s to be lashed together in the form of a four-legged tripod. It was to be these contraptions that helped facilitate hanging through the floors of the building. Like something from an antiquated building site, these tripods soon became their own form of rudimentary architecture, barely held together, skeletal, stripped down and confused about what they are.

Putnam’s work has been included in various exhibitions including 2008 Whitney Biennial; the 2nd Moscow Biennial, and the Busan Biennial, South Korea, as well as shown at notable institutions, including MoMA PS1, The Whitney Musuem, The Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo. Curatorial projects have included an exhibition of Martin Wong entitled Everything Must Go at P·P·O·W and Blow Both of Us at Participant Inc. Recent projects include solo exhibitions at Locust Projects, Miami and Artpace, San Antonio.