David La Spina
14 Doubles
August 28 - September 11, 2016
Reception:
Saturday, September 10
7-10pm
Motel is pleased to present 14 Doubles, a traveling exhibition culled from the Charlie Hustle Homestead archives, an organization founded by Brooklyn-based photographer, David La Spina.
Established in 2015, the Charlie Hustle Homestead is focused on preserving the childhood home of American baseball icon Pete Rose. The Homestead creates outreach through oral history, the preservation of artifacts related to post-war baseball in Cincinnati, and the organization of the Charlie Hustle Classic, an annual reenactment game staged near the homestead on the Ohio River. The items presented in 14 Doubles are only a fraction of The Homestead's vast collection, including Charlie Hustle's high school uniform, cleats, bat and an inscribed ball, an archival team photo with young Charlie Hustle serving as a ball boy for Gumz Cafe’s baseball team, a token from Gumz Cafe (where his father organized the gaming activities,) a press plate from the 1959 Western Hills yearbook, and three 16mm films: a bio from the museum, an anecdote told by an old teammate, and the only surviving footage from his high school years.
David La Spina (b. 1981, Cincinnati) is a photographer based in Brooklyn. 14 Doubles at Motel is the latest of his projects that incorporate local historiography, including Viewshed, published by ROMAN NVMERALS, 2015, Fantasy Baseball exhibited at Primetime, 2014, Picturesque Cincinnati exhibited as part of FOTOFOCUS 2012 at The Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati, Mamaroneck: History of a Village published as a limited edition by J+L books, 2008, and in Blind Spot magazine in 2007. La Spina completed his B.F.A. with honors, Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005; M.F.A., Yale University in 2009; previously he was a Visiting Artist at The Cooper Union and a faculty member at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.