Civilization and its Discontents at NARS Gallery

Dates: July 23 – August 28, 2011

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, July 23rd, 4:30 – 8:00PM

Curator’s Talk in the NARS Parlor Room at 4:30PM

New York Art Residency & Studios Foundation is pleased to present Civilization and its Discontents, a group exhibition curated by the winner of the first NARS Emerging Curator Program: Cat Weaver. The exhibition includes work by Olek, Nancy Drew, Stephanie Homa, Kikuko Tanaka and VanillaRoyal.

As Freud pointed out in his seminal work, the price we pay to be a part of civilization is often more than our spirits can bear without resistance or resentment.

Stepping out of the space cleared by Dada, Pop art, appropriation, and Minimalism, new artists are looking into more extreme methods of breaking free, not only by borrowing from the trappings of our civilized world, its symbols, memes and ceremonies  but also treating meaning itself as material for color, texture, and mood. These artists create a new aesthetic that works because it defies context in favor of pure form and free association.

If you’ve ever worn a T-shirt from a place you’ve never been, or felt elated by a song the language of which you did not understand, or dared to display a button for its color without paying mind to what it says, then you get it.

NARS Gallery
88 35th Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn NY 11232

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Friday: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Saturday – Monday: By appointment. Please call the NARS office to set up an appointment at 718-768-2765