CONVERSATIONS

2017

Joseph Grigely, Somebody Talks About the Desert, The Wet Drips Down from Tropical Eaves, 2017. 96 sheets of paper, pins, framed 93 x 202 cm, 97,5 x 206,5 x 6 cm.

2016

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (Portraits of Joseph, v.1). 2016. Framed text and 6 sheets of paper, pins, overall 15,5 x 98 cm, frame 13,5 x 18,5 cm.

"One of the problems of communicating with language is that, however much it says, it never seems to say enough. Perhaps this explainswhy, on some occasions, I have conversations with people who do more than just write words - they draw pictures too. Sometimes thepictures illustrate their thoughts, and sometimes the pictures are their thoughts. Even at times when they draw pictures of me. You cansay a lot of things with lines that you can't say with words."JG

2012

Joseph Grigely, People Are Overhearing Us, 2012. Pigment print on Dibond, acrylic glass, 44 x 148 inches.

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Joseph Grigely, Bulletin Board II, 2012. Pigment print on Dibond, acrylic glass (two panels), 47 1/2 x 126 1/2 inches, 121 x 321 cm.

2010

Joseph Grigely, Bulletin Board, 2010. Pigment print on Dibond, acrylic glass (two panels), 47 1/2 x 126 1/2 inches, 121 x 321 cm.

2008

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (Fishing Conversations), 2008. Framed text, 10 pencil and ink on paper, pins, frame 14 x 19 cm.

"These are conversations with my fishing buddies. Every autumn I usually go to Maine for a week to fly-fish for landlocked salmon. I stay at asmall cabin beside a river in the Rangeley region, and not far away is another cabin that is usually occupied by three other fishermen. Often,we will fish together. The problem is, when you are deaf like I am, it's hard to have a good conversation across a river, or from one end of acanoe to the other hand - writting and passing notes can be a challenge. Sometimes wewill pause from our fishing to sit on a rock and talk,but occasionally we'll keep talking while we are fishing. The papers often get dropped in the river, and somethimes it will also rain - like mostfishing trips, things tend to get wet."JG

2007

Joseph Grigely, What happened after I left?, 2007. 275 sheets, ink and pencil on paper, pins, 127 x 432 cm.

"It can be installed flat along a wall or in a corner (with white papers on one wall, colored papers on another wall).The theme of the verbal narrative is what similar to what linguists call 'relational grammar'--each conversation not relates to the one next toit. The title of the piece ("What happened after I left") establishes for it a deliberate context of 'overhearing' conversations--the thingspeople say in the absence of other people."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Tom Ass, 2007. Two pigment prints (published Devening Projects + Editions, Chicagp), 15 x 10 cm - 15 x 10,5 cm.

2005

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (Food), 2005. Fifteen sheets of paper, pins, 33 x 53 cm.

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (I did a past life regression once), 2005. 6 sheets of paper, pins, framed 45,3 x 60 cm.

2003

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations, 2003. Ink and pencil on paper, 10 sheets, pins, template, 33 x 41 cm.

"Since 1994, Grigely has recombined and rearranged these disjointed scraps of dialogue into sets he often names Untitled Conversations -which may then be followed by themes or rubrics, numbers or colors. In all of the artist's Untitled Conversations, the texts remainunidentified by signature, origin, or date. It is through precisely such works that Grigely emerges so vivdly as the auteur in a precise andsubtle play with his very absence, as well as through appropriated and re-contextualized fragments, articulated in discontinuous and non-linear narratives."JG

1998

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (The twists and turns that conversation take), 1998. Framed text and 6 sheets of paper, pins, 21 x 88 cm, frame 13,5 x 19 cm.

"Since 1994, Grigely has combined and rearranged these disjointed scraps of dialogue into sets he often names Untitled Conversations - which may then be followed by themes or rubrics, numbers or colors. In all of the artist's Untitled Conversations, the texts remain unidentified by signature, origin, or date. It is through precisely such works that Grigely emerges so vivdly as the auteur in a precise ans subtle play with his very absence, as well as through appropriated and re-contextualized fragments, articulated in discontinuous and non-linear narratives."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Mumblebook), 1998. Framed text and 7 sheets of paper, pins, 60 x 30 cm, frame 32 x 55 cm.

"Since 1994, Grigely has recombined and rearranged these disjointed scraps of dialogue into sets he often names "Untitled Conversations" -which may then be followed by themes or rubrics, numbers or colors. In all of the artist's "Untitled Conversations", the texts remainunidentified by signature, origin, or date. It is through precisely such works that Grigely emerges so vivdly as the auteur in a precise andsubtle play with his very absence, as well as through appropriated and re-contextualized fragments, articulated in discontinuous and non-linear narratives.

Every now and then when I'm having a conversation, someone or something will interrupt it. Sometimes we're able to pick up things at thepoint where we were interrupted, and sometimes we're not--it all depends." J.G.

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Names), 1998. Framed text and 16 sheets of paper, pins, overall 53 x 76 cm, frame 10 x 13 cm

"Whenever I meet someone for the first time, the fact that I am deaf becomes apparent at the moment we introduce ouselves. It's almost impossible for me to lipread names. It doesn't matter so much if it's a common name or an unusual name--they're all very hard to lipread.After one or two attempts at this I usually ask people to write down their name for me. It's a little slow, maybe, but in the end it works outpretty well." J.G.

1997

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (Conversation at a restaurant table), 1997. Framed text and 2 sheets of paper, cadre 13,5 x 19 cm. © Sidney Guillemin.

"When you're deaf, as I am, some conversations are rather difficult. The best places to talk are not necessarily the most suitable for writing.In cars, for example, especially when they roll. Or in bed, especially when the lights are off. But, there somewhere a place that is great fortalking and writing, the table of a restaurant. People are close to each other, we have time, and there is usually full of papers for writing. JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (I had to set up cat litter), 1997. Framed text, one sheet of paper, pins, overall 26 x 18,5 cm, frame 13,5 x 18,5 cm.

"Every now and then someone will write down for me something that seems utterly banal in one context, and oddly unusual in another. Ithink it has to do with the fact that when people write things down, the entire process presupposes a sense of importance: that whatever isbeing inscribed is significant by virtue of the fact it is being inscribed. This is particularly true when people write down things that don'tseem to need writing down--things that might otherwise be said with a nod or a gesture, or things that need not be said at all."JG

1996

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Numbers), 1996. Framed text, 4 sheets of paper, pins, 50,5 x 37 cm, frame 13,5 x 19 cm.

"For a long time numbers perplexed me. They're pretty hard to lipread, and it seemed like I was always asking people to write them down. Butthey're not really as simple as they seem. l'm not sure why this is so--only, that numbers, when they say something, never seem to sayenough."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Still-Life Drawing, Alexandra), 1996. Framed text and two sheets of paper, pins, frame 13,è x 19 cm, paper 2 x (15 x 10cm).

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Music v.3), 1996. Framed text and six sheets of paper, pins, 17,5 x 97 cm, frame 13,7 x 19 cm.

"Despite my deafness, and perhaps also because of it, I have an insatiable curiosity about music. Whenever I'm in bars wth friends, or if we'reat a party, I like to ask people what kind of music is playing, or what it sounds like. Not all of their answers make a lot of sense to me, butsome of them do."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Condillac, Rousseau and the History of Deaf People), 1996. Framed text and fabricated photograph - version 2, pins, 23,7 x 39,5 cm, frame 13,5 x 18,5 cm.

"Every now and then I wonder about the history of deaf people, and how this history has been represented at various times. Enlightenmentthinkers like Condillac and Rousseau had this idea that language consituted the humanizing element of our nature as human beings. Forthem it was language hat separated man from beast. There's a remark somewhere by Condillac, I think, who said that had Descartes bennborn deaf, he would have walked on all fours. That's beastliness for you. It's little wonder the that the earliest educators of the deaf soughtto teach children to speak. If it makes sense, though it's also a little pathetic. When you look through piles of photographs of the 19th and20th century deaf institutes, you can find a lot of images of children being taught to speak. But you have to look really hard to find aphotograph of deaf children being taught sign language. That's because deaf children taught each other sign-- as deaf people have alwaysdone. It's kind of cool. The trouble is, administrators and other "authorities" have ideas of their own--ideas about how to teach the deaf,what mode of language to use, and things like that. Most don't seem to realize that language is a lot like electricity: it takes the path of leastresistance. Left to its own, it takes somes interesting and unpredictable paths."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Sex), 1996. Framed text and one printed sheet of paper, pins, 24,5 x 18,5, frame 13,5 x 18,5 cm.

One day not too long ago, I found myself on the upper reaches of Madison Avenue in New York City. It was a cold and slightly snowy afternoon in December at the beginning of the holiday season, and as I walked downtown, I passed by the Sherry-Lehmannwine store. Sherry-Lehmann is not like most wine stores--there is only one bottle of each wine on display, and when you find something you want, a clerk will take your order and descend to the cellar to fetchit for you. It's a service-oriented store, where contact between the staff and the customer is esteemed. Maybe that's why, when I entered, the store was festive, even bustling, full of conversation of different kinds--queries, advice, comments and questions. Or so I thought. When people are talking, you never really know what they're talking about unless you hear them or ask them. Normally I'm intimidated by a store like this, but for some reason I stayed, and looked and gazed at the bottles of wine that stood on the shelves. After a while, I found a couple of bottles of Bordeaux that I wanted to buy, and a very polite clerk took my order, disappeared to the cellar to fetch it, and returned rather shortly--and then a strange thing happened.

She took,so it seemed, at least ten minutes to wrap the four bottles she had brought up from the cellar. Part of the reason it took her so long was because she got involved in a very engaging exchange with one of the other clerks. They stood together at the counter, the two of them--she slowly wrapping the bottles, he slowly adding up numbers of an account--and while she wrapped and headded, they were talking, smiling, laughing, and really enjoying themselves.

I was perplexed, of courde, and tried, as well as I could try, to imagine what they were talking about. The wine ? The holidays ? It had to be something about the holidays--it was written all over their faces. When the clerk finally handed me my package, I thanked her politely, and, pardoning myself, I explained to both of the clerks that I was deaf and a little curious as to what they had been discussing. It seemed, so I said, such a pleasuradble conversation--would they mind telling me what it was all about ? I don't suppose they had to believ me, or even tell me what they were talking about--but they did."JG

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Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversations (At Home with the artists of Stichting B.a.d.), 1996. Framed text and 18 sheets of paper, pins, 63,5 x 76 cm, frame 10 x 13 cm.

1995

Joseph Grigely, Untitled Conversation (Speech is Shaped Breath), 1995. Framed text and one sheet of paper, pins, overall 28 x 43,5 cm, frame 13,7 x 19 cm, paper 28 x 21,5 cm.

All images Courtesy the artist and Air de Paris, Romainville