What Nourishes Me Kills:  Naury Garcia-Joaquin

April 25 - May 26, 2012
Artist Reception: Thursday, May 3rd, 6-9 PM

Amos Eno Gallery is pleased to present a series of recent mixed-media works and a premier video by assemblage and sculptural artist Naury Joaquin.  Joaquin explores feminism, nostalgia and decadence, set in a symbolic and allegorical scenario in which two worlds collide: the search for the past—a kind of incomplete mourning; and bittersweet longing in tandem with the question of transformation through the ever-present passing of time. The nostalgic and surreal atmosphere present in her artwork is driven by a feminine principle: the Mother Goddess, who is the giver of both life and death, which is equally apparent in her work.  This leads to a world of imagery that is simultaneously disturbing and intriguing, while in constant transformation. In these moments Joaquin’s work becomes layered with multifaceted echoes surrounded by a sinister romanticism. 

Ms. Joaquin attended the Altos de Chavon in Romana, DR, from 1996-1998, earning her associate’s degree in the program “2+2”, working in conjunction with Parsons School of Design. In 1999, she attended Pratt Institute earning a BFA in painting, followed by the completion of her MFA at the Pratt Institute as well. She joined Amos Eno Gallery last fall and this is her first solo exhibition with the gallery.  Her work was recently pictured at Hoboeye magazine and she recently showed a dynamic body of work at the Wilmer Jenning Gallery.  Joaquin lives and works in New York City.

 

Anti Liu Sculpture

March 28 — April 21, 2012
Artist Reception Thursday, April 5th, 6-9 PM

Amos Eno Gallery is pleased to present an assembly of small-scale sculptures by Anti Liu, who works in various adaptable mediums. With this recent body of work, Liu hovers between fascination and destruction of human relationships. He questions the effects of one’s roots and culture through an interweaving of humor, madness, fragility, aimlessness and immobility of current circumstances. Liu comments on current affairs and political action in a playful manner, which recognizes the severity of the issues at hand, yet transforms them into a show one is watching or a game one is playing.
Liu has participated in many national and international solo and group exhibitions, and he has been noted in numerous publications. His public sculpture can be seen at several locations here in New York State, including Adelphi University, Long Island University, and the Unison Arts Center at New Paltz. He currently teaches sculpture, three-dimensional design and ceramics at Adelphi University. Anti Liu Sculpture is his first solo-exhibition with Amos Eno Gallery.

Metasexuals: New Work by Erik Patton

February 29 – March 24, 2012

Artist Reception
Thursday, March 1st, 6-9 PM

Erik Patton is interested in the performance and construction of sexuality and gender. His process is multi-layered: he constructs 3D collages, which consists of projecting images (from his metasexual image database) onto friends, photographs the 3D collage, and then paints and collages on top of the photograph. His aim is to create metasexuals whose identities are not constrained by contemporary gender or sexual identity preconceptions.

The metasexual image database is an amalgamation of Patton’s metasexual superstars, and include: Linder Sterling, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Jack Wrangler, images by A.L. Steiner, Alyssa Milano, film stills from Kansas City Trucking Co. (1976), drawings of his Kinsey scale, and James Franco, among other metasexuals. Many of these superstars emerged from his Gay Is The New Black series.

Patton graduated from Harvard College (2003), where he studied art history and studio art, and is currently supplementing his studio practice and training with post baccalaureate classes at Hunter College in Visual Arts. His work has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine, International Contemporary Art, and MoMA PS1 studio visit, and he has been included in juried shows at ISE Cultural Foundation (NYC), Brooklyn Artist Gym (NYC), Greenpoint Gallery (NYC), and Gawker Artist, among others. Patton has a studio in NYC, where he currently lives. 

 

Hey Beautiful!

Featuring: Vika Adutova, Jennie Booth, Annie Kyle, Midori Okuyama, Zoë Williams, Siang-Jen Yang

February 1 – February 25, 2012

Artist Reception
Thursday, February 2nd, 6-9 PM

Beauty. There is perhaps no concept more closely associated with art in the popular imagination. But beauty has been having a rough time lately. Successive avant-garde movements and each corresponding “anti-art” gesture have deposed the belle of the ball. The art world did not drive out beauty directly; rather it got rid of her partner, the ugly. Decaying ruins became Romantic; banal fixtures became Culture; Film du Soleil made the burned out wasteland a magical counter-utopia. By aestheticizing and canonizing the Gothic, the Industrial, the Abject, and the Uncanny, the art world turned “ugly” into “interesting”. And where did that leave beauty? No longer the opposite of ugly, beauty became the opposite of relevant. Never one to dance alone, beauty sat on the sidelines. Someone once offered her a Sublime corsage; it lifted her spirit, but provided no gladness to the senses.
This exhibition inquires into the role of beauty in art now. Can beauty retake the aspirational zenith of art? Or does it function as cultural décor and marketable commodity? Is art today merely designed or aesthetically purposive? These works play with, against, and for beauty, asking us to consider whether beauty can be reformed. Even celebrated. Is beauty back?
     
      - Richard Rinehart, Guest Curator