Aleksandra Mir
New Designs: Birth, Death and Abortion

February 3 - March 5, 2005

Andrew Roth is pleased to announce the opening of Aleksandra Mir’s “New Designs: Birth, Death and Abortion.” On view there will be six oversize inkjet posters in a limited edition and an assortment of promotional objects: shot glass, dental floss, nail file, cigarette lighter, Swiss Army knife, silk scarf, shopping bag, each branded with a political slogan.

“New Designs” references previous avant-garde movements, at the same time employing the lingo of mass-marketing advertisement campaigns. Although infused with Mir’s generous wit, this is perhaps the most direct and politically charged body of work she has produced to date, employing graphic design in the service of propaganda. The slogans Please be Gentle in Fallujah, What Would You Do?, KEEP ABORTION LEGAL, Abortion Abolitionists, HELP!, and REINCARNATIONS ’05 are silk-screened to promotional objects and integrated within illustrated posters. As with her store-bought No Smoking signs strategically mounted between artworks at the last Whitney Biennial, New Designs flirts with the boundaries between mass culture and fine art.

Mir was awarded the prestigious Baloise Art Prize in Basel in 2004. The Big Umbrella , the series of photographs produced under the auspices of this grant, is currently on view at PS1 Contemporary Art Center through January. Please check Mir’s website for a comprehensive overview of her work to date: www.aleksandramir.info

With “New Designs: Birth, Death and Abortion” Andrew Roth launches a new enterprise. Previously Andrew Roth LLC, Andrew Roth Inc. will remain at the same location and will continue to deal in rare photographic and artist’s books, publish books, and present contemporary art exhibitions.