12/7/09
10/26/09
SHOW: NEFER/NFR @ Capricious Gallery
Date: Thursday, November 5th
Location: Capricious Gallery
103 Broadway, 917-438-7015
Time: 6pm-9pm
Artists: Molly Surno, Kenya Robinson, Sarah Frances Kuhn, Dave Shull, Olivia Wyatt and Shaun Kessler, Suzette Guy, and Leif Ritchey
Curated by: Molly Surno
Luiza Sa from CSS will be DJ'ing and Abby Walton will be doing free nail art at opening.
The deep and spiritual relationship that we have with adornment will be explored in this dynamic group show of Brooklyn-based artists. Each piece is a meditation on the history of human decoration which will take form via photography, sound, sculpture, and installation. Ancient Egyptians were the first to remove body hair and wear wigs and since then, the obsession with self-decoration has evolved into a sometimes passionate, masochistic, celebratory, sensual, grueling, and lengthy ritual. In some cultural niches, fashion and/or trends take on such powerful meaning that they signify a belonging, tribal cohesion and cultural identification.
For better or worse, the connection between attraction and goodness is as old as civilization. Visible is all divisions of society from children's tales to advertisements human behavior equates flawlessness with glory and respect. Beauty comes from Latin bellus meaning pretty, which is akin to the Latin word bonus meaning good-more. Embedded in Egyptian vocabulary is the word Nefer (nfr ) which means both 'good' and 'beautiful.' Together these artists investigate bodily desires through the power, sorrow, loneliness, celebration and sensuality of ornamentation, glitter and garnish.