Image credit: Cameron Coffman, slow crawl, 66″ x 22″ x 34″, wood, clay, resin, glass, ladybug, aphids, waterbug, plants, dirt, plastic, 2018

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 28, 7-10pm
Exhibition Dates: July 28 – August 11, 2018
Gallery Hours: Wed-Sun, 12-6pm

Imagine the chapters in a long book as individual, freestanding fragments. Take this collection of distinct plot twists, allegories, flashbacks, and scenic descriptions and shuffle them. There is always something compelling about the exquisite corpse—its reliance on chance, its absurdist form that is at once distorted, grotesque, and yet still enticing.

This exhibition brings together a disparate grouping of images, anecdotes, and narratives that coalesce into a cohesive portrait of the now. They rely on drama, on fantasy, and on farce. Some stories plumb the depths of history. Others examine their immediate surroundings. Many are deeply rooted in the personal and explore identity through the lenses of race, gender, and nationality. Process is the focal point in some pieces, where the journey towards the end takes on more significance than the end itself. Other works are more concise portraits; and while they might employ a plainer vocabulary, they are no less complex.

There is a grandmother as she is hoisted from her deathbed. Elsewhere, on a different empty bed, crumpled unmade sheets mark the trace of a distant lover. In other spaces, one finds a hand lit on fire, but inexplicably luminous and unscathed. And there is another hand whose thin arm connects to the body of a snake, its outstretched finger resting on a strange box of bugs and dirt. There are layered stories told in song, gathered in found internet footage from gospel church choirs. There are pieces of buildings—bricks, stained concrete, chipped walls—whose nicks and dents tell of one location’s past. Here we are transported to ancient, foreign lands. At the same time, we dwell on the political implications of the rapidly changing neighborhoods and gentrifications of our own city.

As in all recollection, there is both sadness and joy. Where there is heartbreak today, there was once intrigue, piercing chemistry, and so many bouquets of flowers. One might get blisters on their feet from salsa dancing all night, but the memory of a late night out trumps the morning hangover.

Adrian Abela
Alex Anderson
Carey Coleman
Cameron Coffman
Coleman Alexander Collins
Jenny Gagalka
Mariam Graff
Shasha Dothan
Nasim Hantehzadeh
Louis Heilbronn
John Hulsey
Todd McQuade
Kamaria Shepherd
Sean Sprague
Hiejin Yoo

Curated by Simone Krug and Eric Kim