Click here to watch of video of The Nineteenth Hole in action at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, created by Chynna Campbell with music by Sutu.
The Nineteenth Hole is an unconquerable putting green, which relates the challenges of the game of golf with the universal frustration of being unable to fulfill one’s ideals. The unattainability of being able to sink the ball into a hole opens up questions pertaining to how achievement is defined, and questions whether expectations of success impose a “win or lose” view on life. Santos’ work examines the relationship between existing opinions and the unstable and shifting play of everyday appearances. To this end, she alters structures and creates scenarios to assert improbable circumstances and imaginative places that disrupt the viewer’s existing perceptions of reality and question the state of their lives.
The public location and context of Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is an ideal setting for the work as people come to the Essex Street Market to shop and eat for leisure. A putting green is a complementary leisurely experience, which draws people into the space with the prospect of successfully achieving another activity within the market. Upon realizing the impossibility of the set up and the betrayal of an unplayable putting green, The Nineteenth Hole becomes a continual reminder of the things that cannot be attained nor conquered; this becomes more so for repeat visitors to the market.
Jenny Santos was born in Windsor, Ontario. She received her BFA from OCAD University in 2007 and her MFA in Fine Arts at School of Visual Arts in 2012. Santos works predominantly in sculpture and installation. She has participated in group exhibitions, including shows at Visual Arts Gallery, Allegra LaViola Gallery, Art in Odd Places Festival: Ritual in New York, and Project 165 in Toronto. She is currently working on an installation project for an upcoming solo exhibition at NURTUREart Gallery. In 2012, she was one of the recipients of the School of Visual Arts Alumni Award. This is her first solo exhibition in New York.
Ana Barajas is a Toronto based independent curator. She received her MVA, Curatorial and MA, Contemporary Art History from the University of Toronto. Barajas is also the Director of YYZ Artists’ Outlet, a non-profit artist-run centre.
Additional press about The Nineteenth Hole can be found at:
The Village Voice 10 Weekend Ideas Under $10: Room 237 & The Shining at Videology and Play Golf at Cuchifritos
bmore <art> New In Town: The Lower East Side
FatJunkie The Nineteenth Hole – an installation by Jenny Santos
Cuchifritos is FREE to the public and handicap accessible. Located inside Essex Street Market at the south end nearest Delancey.
Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is a program of Artists Alliance Inc., a 501c3 not for profit organization located on the Lower East Side of New York City within the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. Cuchifritos is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the following for their generous support: Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York City Economic Development Corporation and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers, without whom this program would not be possible.
This exhibition was supported in part by The Ontario Arts Council