A group show curated by Marie-Salomé Peyronnel
with works by Pétrel-Roumagnac, Andrew Erdos, Riitta Ikonen, Takao Shiraishi, Gustavo Prado and Fabrizio Moretti.
Opening reception: Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 5 - 8PM
Exhibition dates: May 31 – June 14, 2017
The group show Summer Night Wishes, curated by Marie-Salomé Peyronnel, evokes the importance of nature in the city, the impact of man on landscapes, and acknowledges the vital (and sometimes irrecoverable) role of movement and cycles in nature. It echoes the transitions the neighborhood of Little Italy is going through and that are embodied by the ominous future of Elizabeth Street Garden, doomed to be replaced by condos. Summer Night Wishes invites the audience into dreams and reveries of artists, using these times of transitions and possible losses to imagine and dream for a better future, for ourselves as much as for our environment.
About the artists:
French duo Pétrel-Roumagnac (composed ofphotographer Aurélie Pétrel and scenographer Vincent Roumagnac) reinterprets the A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare. Their photographic installation is activated at night, a time of transition between sunset and dawn, where everything can happen: elements are moved, reorganized and/or added. The pictures are printed on various materials such as plexiglass, plaster, stones etc. Some evoke nature, some evoke craft and human action. The ones on plexiglass act like a mirror and reflect the garden where the pictures are displayed in stacks. It’s a « mise en abîme » of this new stage.
Finish artist Riitta Ikonen's practice uses nature as the stage for her performances as much as a tool and media for her artworks. She has cut the wilted flowers that winter left behind in the garden and recycled them into a giant protective figure inspired by tribal masks.
Fabrizio Morretti is a musician (The Strokes, Little Joy) and a visual artist. In Elizabeth Street Garden, he presents for the first time ever his piece « Brett », a delicate and poignant installation using sunlight to bring to life the ghost of a passed loved one. Every day at a particular moment, a sun ray strikes the mirrors, and thanks to very precise calculations, Brett’s image appears on the wall/floor.
American artist Andrew Erdos’ work investigates the complex relationship between humankind and its environment. He shows one of his glass mountains sculptures, a series based on the question of how long it takes for glass, a human creation, to erode and go back to his first status of sand aka. of nature.
Brazilian sculptor Gustavo Prado displays a work made of mirrors from his series The Measure of dispersion. This one is inspired by the ancient myth of Daphne turning into the tree after being touched by Apollo. Like Bernini’s sculpture of Daphne and Apollo, Gustavo Prado’s tree sculpture attempts to encapsulate perpetual movement while also playing with the ancient myth by bringing together the sun and the tree. Last April, he was been commissioned by Coachella music festival to create a gigantic piece from the same series in the Californian desert.
Finally, Japanese artist Takao Shiraishi has made a wooden map of Pangea, the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago, before the continents we know today broke apart. This is part of a series of Pangea maps he staples wildy in the streets of cities around the globe.
About the curator: Marie Salomé Peyronnel is a French independent curator and writer based in
Brooklyn. Last March she curated « Minus the sun» at Spring/Break art show (New York) The group show was exploring how artists reveal themselves under cover of night. In 2016, Peyronnel curated the exhibition « Hypogea » featuring works by Radouan Zeghidour at the Catinca Tabacaru Gallery in New York as well as «Reproduction» at Spring/Break Art Show presenting 7 French young artists in different media including Elsa-Louise Manceaux, Radouan Zeghidour and Pauline Guerrier. In July 2016 she presented the performance « Brick Bloom Catch » by painter Clara Claus at the Chimney in Bushwick, with live music by Nikhil Shah, Joakim Bouaziz and Emilie Weibel. She is a curatorial resident at Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn. Her first book Le Livre qui console was published by Flammarion (France) in 2014.
When?
Opening reception: Saturday, May 27 – 4-7PM
Exhibition dates: May 27 – June 12, 2017
Where?
Elizabeth Street Garden, Elizabeth Street between Prince st and Spring st, New York 10012
Press contact : mariesalomeart@gmail.com