Artist: Harry Gould Harvey IV
Exhibition title: The Confusion of Tongues!
Venue: Bureau, New York, US
Date: January 26 – February 27, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York
Note: Exhibition text is available here
Between me and youse…
We lost track of the light, it flickered away
Between the gray gusts of changing times.
Trying to track the trails of where the birds had flown.
Skimmers and seagulls chucking clams from their beaks, crackin’
Muscle shells on church spires,
Smokestacks top factory peaks.
We can try and rebuild from the rubble and ash beneath so long as the fires stay calm,
And we can still breathe.
Not a line left in the sky.
Of where the birds had flown…
Bureau is pleased to announce The Confusion of Tongues!, Harry Gould Harvey IV’s first one-person exhibition with the gallery. The above poem was written by the artist and speaks of Harvey’s native Fall River, on Massachusetts’s Mount Hope Bay, once a major manufacturing hub and port city. The Confusion of Tongues! synthesizes many strands of the artist’s thinking around the history, architecture, culture and ecology of the south coast region. The exhibition features Harvey’s signature hand-framed drawings, replete with symbolic geometry and diagrammatic text, framed with carved, foraged wood. Harvey also debuts works of much larger scale, including three wooden sculptures composed of architectural supports salvaged from a Gilded Age mansion in Newport Rhode Island. The gothic vernacular that viewers are accustomed to in Harvey’s work is scaled up in these sculptures; private altars expand to grand arches and corbels. Harvey has recently begun casting small hand molded wax objects into white bronze, which bracket, support and adorn the salvaged wood structures. All the works in the exhibition bear the trace of many hours of labor by the artist, from the milling, working and carving of wood, to the minute pencil details of written text and drawing. The many bronze elements throughout the exhibition shine brightly, painstakingly polished to a mirror finish by Harvey. The comparative luster and permanence of the bronze contrasts with the ephemeral nature of the wood, which here is stripped, charred and burned black. For Harvey this process neutralizes the grandiose gothic constructions, built by anonymous laborers for robber barons, while also unearthing the wood’s embedded history and origin.
Harry Gould Harvey IV (b. 1991 Fall River, MA) lives and works in Fall River, MA. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Coniunctio, with Kyung-Me, Bureau, New York, 2019; EARTH CRISIS, with Samantha Durand, Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York, 2018; Amen, Thanks Computer God!, with Jesse Sullivan, Freddy, Harris, NY, 2018; Prudence, Patience, Hope & Despair, Motel, Brooklyn, 2018; Harry Gould Harvey IV with Species, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, 2018. Harvey is a founder of the curatorial project Pretty Days and co-director of the Fall River Museum of Contemporary Art, Fall River, MA. Harvey is preparing for a two-person exhibition with Faith Wilding at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island for 2021.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Confusion of Tongues!, 2021, exhibition view, Bureau, New York
Harry Gould Harvey IV, Knot Line Left in the Sky of Where the Birds Had Flown, 2021, Charred 18th century English Walnut, Charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, MDF, colored pencil and charcoal on archival matboard, 49 × 33 ¾ × 2 ⅛ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, Knot Line Left in the Sky of Where the Birds Had Flown, 2021, Charred 18th century English Walnut, Charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, MDF, colored pencil and charcoal on archival matboard, 49 × 33 ¾ × 2 ⅛ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, A Plastic Bag a Vulture a Phantom of Industry, 2021, Charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, MDF, beeswax, colored pencil and charcoal on archival matboard, 35 ¾ × 25 ½ × 1 ¾ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, ART SAVES <3 I, 2021, Charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, charcoal and colored pencil on archival matboard and MDF, 13 ¼ × 6 ½ × 2 ⅛ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, As Stackin’ Racks Out of Smoke Stacks Turning Murk into Love ̿ ̿’̿’\̵͇̿̿\з=(•_•)=ε/̵͇̿̿/‘̿’̿, 2021, Charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, barbed wire from Fall River, beeswax, charcoal and colored pencil on archival matboard and MDF, 15 ⅝ × 6 ½ × 2 ⅛ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, ART SAVES <3 II, 2021, Charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, charcoal and colored pencil on archival matboard and MDF, 11 ¼ × 6 ½ × 2 ⅛ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, A Proposal for a New Statue of Liberty toward the Epoch of New ‘G*d’, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 66 ¼ × 81 × 14 in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, A Proposal for a New Statue of Liberty toward the Epoch of New ‘G*d’, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 66 ¼ × 81 × 14 in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, A Proposal for a New Statue of Liberty toward the Epoch of New ‘G*d’, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 66 ¼ × 81 × 14 in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, A Proposal for a New Statue of Liberty toward the Epoch of New ‘G*d’, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 66 ¼ × 81 × 14 in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, I Was Standing in a Window a Calling My Mother’s Name Crying Mother Mother Save Me as I Fell Back in the Flame, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 71 ½ × 63 × 5 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, I Was Standing in a Window a Calling My Mother’s Name Crying Mother Mother Save Me as I Fell Back in the Flame, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 71 ½ × 63 × 5 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, I Was Standing in a Window a Calling My Mother’s Name Crying Mother Mother Save Me as I Fell Back in the Flame, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 71 ½ × 63 × 5 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, I Was Standing in a Window a Calling My Mother’s Name Crying Mother Mother Save Me as I Fell Back in the Flame, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports on blackened bolts, OSB, beeswax, 71 ½ × 63 × 5 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, So I Hope Her Soul Has Gone to Rest and Away in Heaven She’ll Go Oh Away Away in Heaven and Away from the Burning Mills, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, acrylic, casting wax, OSB, beeswax, 71 ¼ × 62 ½ × 4 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, So I Hope Her Soul Has Gone to Rest and Away in Heaven She’ll Go Oh Away Away in Heaven and Away from the Burning Mills, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, acrylic, casting wax, OSB, beeswax, 71 ¼ × 62 ½ × 4 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, So I Hope Her Soul Has Gone to Rest and Away in Heaven She’ll Go Oh Away Away in Heaven and Away from the Burning Mills, 2021, Charred architectural salvage from The Newport Mansions, cast white bronze, acrylic, casting wax, OSB, beeswax, 71 ¼ × 62 ½ × 4 ½ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Old Church Is in Need of Fumigation, 2021, Charred Old Growth Eastern White Pine floorboards from Fall River, Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, Old Man’s Beard, colored pencil on MDF, clay from Swans Island, steel, asbestos tile, beeswax, lead, mold, 63 × 25 ¼ × 25 ¼ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Old Church Is in Need of Fumigation, 2021, Charred Old Growth Eastern White Pine floorboards from Fall River, Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, Old Man’s Beard, colored pencil on MDF, clay from Swans Island, steel, asbestos tile, beeswax, lead, mold, 63 × 25 ¼ × 25 ¼ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Old Church Is in Need of Fumigation, 2021, Charred Old Growth Eastern White Pine floorboards from Fall River, Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, Old Man’s Beard, colored pencil on MDF, clay from Swans Island, steel, asbestos tile, beeswax, lead, mold, 63 × 25 ¼ × 25 ¼ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Old Church Is in Need of Fumigation, 2021, Charred Old Growth Eastern White Pine floorboards from Fall River, Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, Old Man’s Beard, colored pencil on MDF, clay from Swans Island, steel, asbestos tile, beeswax, lead, mold, 63 × 25 ¼ × 25 ¼ in.
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Space between Your Temples Lay the House of Whose Name Could Never Be Spoken, 2021, Charred 18th century kneeler from Providence, sardine can from Portugal, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports, charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, hand polished zinc, MDF, cast white bronze, Dimensions variable
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Space between Your Temples Lay the House of Whose Name Could Never Be Spoken, 2021, Charred 18th century kneeler from Providence, sardine can from Portugal, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports, charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, hand polished zinc, MDF, cast white bronze, Dimensions variable
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Space between Your Temples Lay the House of Whose Name Could Never Be Spoken, 2021, Charred 18th century kneeler from Providence, sardine can from Portugal, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports, charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, hand polished zinc, MDF, cast white bronze, Dimensions variable
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Space between Your Temples Lay the House of Whose Name Could Never Be Spoken, 2021, Charred 18th century kneeler from Providence, sardine can from Portugal, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports, charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, hand polished zinc, MDF, cast white bronze, Dimensions variable
Harry Gould Harvey IV, The Space between Your Temples Lay the House of Whose Name Could Never Be Spoken, 2021, Charred 18th century kneeler from Providence, sardine can from Portugal, used motor oil from Sinister Motorsports, charred 18th century English Walnut, charred Black Walnut from The Newport Mansions, beeswax, hand polished zinc, MDF, cast white bronze, Dimensions variable
Harry Gould Harvey IV, Celastrus Orbiculatus versus Smilax Rotundifolia, 2021, Cast white bronze, blackened bolts, 7 × 4 × 5 ½ in.