SOUTHFIRST 60
N6th Street
Brooklyn, NY
11211 www.southfirst.org ph
718 599 4884
ÉAS IF THE FORCE COULD EXTRACT
SOMETHING SPECIAL
Katey Austin, Jennifer Bonner,
Christian Brahe, Nam Le, Stacy Bloom Rexrode, Amanda Wagstaff
3 August – 29 August, 2014
BBQ: Sunday, 3 August 3-6 PM
SOUTHFIRST is proud to present ÒÉAs if the Force Could Extract Something
Special,Ó an exhibition featuring works by recent graduates of the MFA
program in Studio Art at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. The exhibition is curated by Southfirst.
The show is
on view from August 3 - August 29, 2014, and an illustrated catalog with an
essay by Harry Turfle accompanies the exhibition. There
will be an opening reception and BBQ for the artists on Sunday, August 3, from
3-6 PM.
Katey Austin makes intricate collage compositions of lush domestic interiors from painted
and cut paper; their colors and subjects evoke the work of Pierre Bonnard. Yet
AustinÕs sense of space and color emerge from dream-experiences stemming from
the unconscious mind. Having suffered from sleep walking since she was a child,
the artistÕs Nabis-like interiors are eerie, half-remembered
dream topographies from somnambulistic journeys. Jennifer BonnerÕs images combine painting, sculpture and
photography to construct fantastical narratives in which animals, seemingly
having hailed from her native Orlando, FloridaÕs Universal Studios, make epic trips
through enchanted snowscapes. These scenes are
captured in photographic stills that, repurposed as viewfinder disks, make glowing
narratives of the imagined stories. The work brings the magic of Disney to a
long tradition of painting and the American landscape. Christian BraheÕs pen-and-ink drawings register mark-making
over the extended time span of a single film or television show. They are
almost illegibly dark, but some small figurative and narrative hints emerging
from each sheet signaling that the work is a collision between traditional fine
art practices and new media viewing experiences. Nam LeÕs works, hanging steel sculptures, evoke the early
experiments of the Russian avant-garde: like Aleksandr
RodchenkoÕs constructions, in rotating they conjure dynamic
spatial possibilities. Stacy Bloom Rexrode
recycles consumer products to create elaborate decorative works. Her Quasi-Delft Bequest (2013-14) uses the
aesthetic of Dutch pottery to incorporate corporate logos onto blue-and-white
plates; twist-ties turn into an 8-foot snowflake in a display of craft that
subtly critiques consumer culture. Amanda Wagstaff combines the practices of
printmaking with an interest in the poetry of everyday objects; her
pressed-flower monotypes extract the faintly colored liquid aura of wild
plants, while collographs explore the form of
flattened boxes. During the opening of the exhibition Wagstaff
will exhibit a performance work in which local flowers, frozen into three
blocks of ice, will melt over the course of several hours.
Southfirst gratefully acknowledges the UNC Greensboro
MFA studio art program and Singha beer for their
generous sponsorship of the exhibition.
SOUTHFIRST, founded in 2000, is located at 60 N6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn between Wythe and Kent Avenues. Summer gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday from 1 - 6 PM and by appointment. Subway: L train to Bedford Avenue. For more information, please contact Camille Freeman at 718 599 4884 or info@southfirst.org.