Raque Ford

Frederick McKindra’s exhibition text for Raque Ford’s A Better Liar describes the installation as an ”immersive experience [created] at Good Weather [which altered] the entire floorspace of the gallery into a colorful, multi-paned reflective dancefloor” through which visitors were invited to ”activate the space by treading atop the artwork, scuffing the floor while discovering [vellum] sheets printed with text and imagery [which appeared beneath the clear panels] like debris scattered throughout the floor.”

One of these texts—Ford’s poem Tonight—is ”laser cut into the floor’s [acrylic] tiles...with fragmented excerpts—“Am I sure I am blind in the dark when I beg to touch everything?”—posing age-old existential questions about the solipsistic nature of language.” McKindra posits that as the work takes ”a vulnerable utterance and splay[s] it across an entire floor”—a space which is ”designed to invite convening”—it then intrinsically ”demonstrates a desire to reach beyond oneself.” An action accentuated by the ”use of diaristic language...both intimate and exuberant,...[which detaches] itself fro ...

This contextualization occurred through a vigorous program which continued Ford‘s experimentation with dancefloors and their ”function as a space for communion and collective expression.” As the work was ”eroded by foot traffic [and activities related to the program], the piece itself [was] transform[ed]...hold[ing] traces of weathering” that are apparent on the surfaces of the sixteen standalone wall works—which were deconstructed from the installation at the conclusion of the exhibition—”each with its own discrete visual utterance.”

A integral part of the creation of Raque Ford’s work presented in Good Weather’s booth at Liste is the program that transpired at the gallery over the course of her ten-week long solo exhibition ”A Better Liar” (February 26–May 6, 2023) inaugurated by an evening of stand-up organized by Max Guy titled Some Differences Between Poetry and Standup which featured Dan Clyne, Mike Lopez, Jesse Malmed, Caitlin Ryan, and Breanne Trammell.

The program continued with a dance performance by Megan Capps (accompanied by music from Clubby the Disco Baller), a listening session and beat tape release by Wesley Taylor, a set by improvisational jazz players Josh Berman (Cornet), Tyler Damon (Drums), Fred Jackson (Saxophone), and Jason Roebke (Bass) assembled by Mike Reed, a duo performance by Das Audit (Craig Kalpakjian and Sean Keenan), and a concert by shoegaze band Precocious Neophyte.

The final weekend of programming kicked off with an evening of karaoke titled Swan Song hosted by Alexandra “Lo” Drexelius and Noël Morical and crescendoed into a multi-genre dance party organized by Jenna Lyle with DJ Francine spinning Filipino disco records, DJ Lycra playing a transitional set of groovy club music, and DJ makeen concluding the party with a two-hour set of meditative industrial techno. The program culminated in an hour-long afternoon session of breathwork and meditation guided by Good Weather’s director Erin Riley on the final day of the exhibition.

Raque Ford (b. 1986 Columbia, Maryland) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Solo exhibitions include Good Weather (Chicago), Greene Naftali (New York), 321 Gallery (Brooklyn), CAPITAL (San Francisco), and Shoot the Lobster (New York). Group shows include Albright Knox Gallery (Buffalo), Greater New York at MoMA PS1 (New York), Good Weather (Little Rock), Morán Morán (Mexico City), Greene Naftali (New York), Kai Matsumiya (New York), Roberta Pelan (Toronto), and SculptureCenter (Queens). Ford’s work is in the collections of the High Museum of Art (Atlanta) and The Museum of Modern Art (New ...