September 7 - November 24, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 7 6-8 pm
Curated by: Dick Goody
Featuring: Nick Archer, Enrique Chagoya, Melanie Daniel, Maira Kalman, Amer Kobaslija, Andrew Lenaghan, Tayna Marcuse, Rebecca Morgan, Lamar Peterson, Simon Roberts, Orit Raff, Thomas Trosch, and Mark Yankus.
Synopsis
This exhibition explores notions and taxonomy of visual paradise. The subjectivity surrounding paradise is parsed via the depictions of motifs as progressive, optimistic existential indicators: home, food, identity, métier, harmony, euphoria and so on. In an era of crisis and dissimulation, this exhibition presents a conduit to inspire the viewer to repose in a visual culture that is less pessimistic and more open to the abundance of a positive and inclusive world view. Its ideology finds parallels in Nordic notions of hygge and the wisdom and enlightenment that compels us towards the actions of contemplation, assimilation and illumination.
Its educative context surrounds the need to bring people and art together in an open neutral environment which is both positive and reflective. Its point is to counter an inward-looking culture of anxiety mediated by screen-based social media and relentless crisis-oriented propaganda news cycles.