Nao Bustamante
Deathbed, 2010
Archival inkjet print
20 x 30 inches

NAO BUSTAMANTE: DEATHBED
June 19 - July 17, 2010

Baer Ridgway Exhibitions is pleased to present Deathbed, an exhibition of performance, photography installation and video by renowned artist, Nao Bustamante. Upon entering the gallery, one will see ten different treatments of the photograph Deathbed (pictured above) followed by a video projection on a screen of Bustamante's live reconstruction of the photograph. During the opening reception, as the viewer walks behind the screen they will see a live performance of the artist lying on a slant board with a miniature set between her and a video camera framed and capturing the image. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, this video will continue to be projected on the screen and the set will remain intact.

"Like many children I had an obsession with death and the idea of not being or being transformed into something else all together. I would lie in bed at night and imagine myself, dead, in my satin lined casket and would try to breathe very shallow to bring about a thin state of being, a sliver of awareness of being inside and outside of my body at the same time. Conjuring the worked up emotional state of my family and friends, in mourning, as they passed to pay their respects, I'd console them from above.

In 2003, I joined thousands of other pilgrims at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home at Madison Avenue and 81st Street in Manhattan to see the queen of salsa, Celia Cruz, lie in state. The image of Celia on her post-mortem tour burned into my mind. She was wearing all cream colored garments and had pearl shaded nail polish and held a gold crucifix. She "slept" in a cream colored satin interior, and bronze exterior coffin. Her hair, which was colored in her signature golden hues, was arranged like a sleeping mermaid on the pillow, her eyes were shut with brush of silver shadow. Her lips carried a faint and restful smile. Celia was prepared to die and arranged much of the tableau. In Deathbed, I continue the mediation of childhood, but attempt to call up the precise moment at which a life is exiting the body; the surprise and release of leaving." - Nao Bustamante

Nao Bustamante is an internationally known and loved artist, originally from California, she now resides in New York. There she canoes with her poodle, Fufu (who also has an IMDB page). Bustamante's precarious work encompasses performance art, video installation, visual art, filmmaking and writing. The New York Times says, "She has a knack for using her body." Bustamante has presented in Galleries, Museums, Universities and underground sites all around the world. She has exhibited, among other locales, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the New York Museum of Modern Arts, Sundance 2008, 2010, and the Kiasma Museum of Helsinki. In 2001 she received the prestigious Anonymous Was a Woman fellowship and in 2007 named a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, as well as a Lambent Fellow. Currently, Bustamante holds the position of Associate Professor of New Media and Live Art at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.