Bivalence: Working Space 12 presents the work of eight artists selected to participate in Artists Alliance Inc’s Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 LES Studio Program. The exhibition queries the tensions that arise from the sculptures, videos, and installations, asking the viewer to consider what truth—or truths— of individual experience these contemporary works bring to the fore.
In Bivalence, Carrie Elston Tunick’s video lyrically depicts the universality of emotion, while Liene Bosquê’s glowing miniatures speak to the way in which iconic architectures reverberate within the mind. Jan Baracz achieves a similar playfulness in his work, although via entirely different means. Through activating her character’s woven costume and masks, Ari Tabei (aricoco) explores foreign locales—including CUCHIFRITOS—with subtle physicality. Kyoung eun Kang also utilizes her body in performance, shakily traversing a New York street while atop stones sent from her home overseas. This ambiguous act of remembrance is echoed by David Kagan’s insertions of his childhood-self into various found landscapes. Nearby, Naoko Ito’s biomorphic sculpture and Molly Dilworth’s dynamic banner transform the gallery’s environment, focusing the visitor’s attention on the relationship between site and form, observer and artwork.
Bivalence is curated by Jennifer Wilkinson, M.A. Candidate in Art History at Hunter College and Exhibitions Coordinator at the James Gallery. She is currently working on the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Jim Dine’s sculptures, which will be published by Artifex Press in Fall 2012.
LES Studio Program is a studio residency run by Artists Alliance Inc, designed to strategically benefit artists by giving studio access for the development of new work. The program also provides professional development through studios visits and exposure to the broader community in collaboration with Residency Unlimited. Eight artists are selected through an open call process each year and provided with free studio space for six months. The residency culminates with an exhibition at CUCHIFRITOS Gallery/Project Space to present their work, organized by a guest curator.