NORMA MARKLEY
Act I …candy apple. Base 93
Acts: Act 13 Yes. No. Acts: Act 1 No. No. Acts: Act 3 …yes… Acts: Act 6 Yes: (Pause)
In David Mamet’s play The Cryptogram, there are 271 instances of “yes” or “no” dialogue. In Jean Luc Godard’s film Contempt (Le Mepris), Camille asks Paul if he likes her feet, her ankles, her knees, and so forth. To each question Paul breathlessly answers “yes.” The producer from the film “answers questions by quoting from a small volume he carries with him, ending his sentences with the demand ‘Yes or no?!’” The nuances of language do not seem to exist for him. Language awakens me. Here sewn drawings of erotic couples are titled with “yes or no” variations and indirectly analyze this concept. Each drawing is sewn on a postcard, inspired by a line from Nabokov’s Lolita, “I am going to pass around in a minute some lovely, glossy-blue picture-postcards.”
Norma Markley works in a variety of mediums—neon, embroidery, collage, paintings, and prints. She describes her practice as “recombining various apple pie images of Americana” and “thoughtful symbols of throwaway culture.” Her solo shows include Y Gallery in NYC, Croxhapox Gallery in Ghent, and Shores Space in Amsterdam. Her awards include a New York Foundation for the Arts award in Drawing and a Queens Council on the Arts Grant, with residencies at Fundacion Valparaiso, Aljira Emerge, St. Mary’s on the Lake, and The Edward A. Albee Visual Arts Foundation.