Kenosis in the Supervoid at Station Independent Project
Image above: ©Brent Birnbaum, Untitled / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Kenosis in the Supervoid Co-Curated by Shane Harrington and Leah Oates
Images above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Opening Night
Artists: Michael Anderson, Brent Birnbaum, George Bolster, Arnaud Brihay, Klay-James Enos, Shane Harrington, Lee Ranaldo and Tim Maxwell. Kenosis in the Supervoid refers to the merger of two opposing processes. Developing, creating and showing art in contemporary western culture may be viewed as such a synthesis. Often devoid of practical benefit and arguably evolutionarily abstract, art making in itself appears at once anomalous as it does essential.
Image above: ©Tim Maxwell, A Shadow at Shadow's Length (Wall Mat) by Tim Maxwell, Ball Pen Ink and Gesso on Paper, 60x50, 2014 / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
"There is a reality that is not a product of rational deduction, that is not accounted for by strict rational discourse. There is a spiritual dimension to human existence and the universe. But this is not irrational; it is non-rational. Faith allows us to transcend what Flaubert called our "mania for conclusions". A mania he described as one of humanity's "most useless and sterile drives." -Chris Hedges, political journalist (and Atheist).
Image above: ©Brent Birnbaum, Untitled / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Whether we broach the perimeters of exploratory physics at CERN or try to reconcile logic with mental illness and addiction at home, human life seems incapable of shaking its biases, coping mechanisms and eccentricities. From within a civilization where conflict and division, either on the political or personal scale, are the daily quota, perhaps this cumbersome, unifying condition we hold is something to be cherished rather than lamented.
Image above: ©Shane Harrington, MAM, ECT machine 2016 / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
[The 'supervoid', which is 1.8 billion light-years across, is the largest known structure ever discovered in the universe. Scientists do not know why it is so barren. In Christian theology, kenosis (Greek: κένωσις, kénōsis, lit. emptiness) is the 'self-emptying' of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will.]
Image above: ©Michael Anderson, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Artist Bios:
Michael Anderson, (born 1968, New York City), is an internationally respected collage master. Anderson has invented a way of making collage in monumental scale by tearing down street posters and reassembling them to produce large-scale compositions. He has been exhibited at Art|Basel, The Armory Show and numerous other art fairs around the world. Anderson also has the largest collection of graffiti stickers in the world. His solo exhibitions, collaborations and residencies include: Independent studio in Kreutzberg, Berlin, Germany and Mexico City (1999); Artist residency, La Panaderia, Mexico City (2000); The Harlem Collage Shop Studio in Harlem, New York, USA; Solo exhibition "Harlem Collage Shop" (2008), Galeria Marlborough, Madrid, Spain; "Media Violence" (2008), Marlborough Chelsea, NYC; "Collage Geomancy", Marlborough Chelsea, (2009); "Target Billboards to ToteBags" with designer Anna Sui and Mother Ad Agency, Times Square, NYC, USA (2009); Ace hotel Lobby Graffiti Sticker permanent Installation, W29th St & Broadway, New York (2009); Independent Studio, The Athens Collage Shop, Kalamida 7, Psyirri, Athens, Greece (2011); Dos Equis "Most Interesting Artist in the World," exhibitions and parties in Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Diego and NYC (2012); Winner, Red Bull Canvas Cooler NYC Competition, Brooklyn, New York (2013); Permanent graffiti sticker installation, Weiden + Kennedy, New York.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Michael Anderson
Brent Birnbaum received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a BFA from the University of North Texas in Denton. He has exhibited all around the world most recently at Marta Herford, Germany where he held a performance titled Mistory, which offered participants a way to release objects that once held strong personal attachments. His work has been included in The New York Times, Artforum, Vulture, and countless other publications. Brent's next solo show will open in July at Denny Gallery on the Lower East Side.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Brent Birnbaum
George Bolster grew up in Ireland. He lives and works in New York City and has exhibited in museums and galleries in Europe and America. He is a recipient of numerous awards from the Irish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of England. In 2013 he was given a residency award from the Rauschenberg Foundation. He is at present artist in residence at SETI Institute in collaboration with NASA Ames, Montalvo Arts Center/Lucas Artists Residency Program, Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Nevada Art Museum and New Museum (NUMU), Los Gatos, CA from 2016-2018.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz , George Bolster
Arnaud Brihay is a Belgian artist, born in 1972. He lives and principally works in Lyon, France. He studied photojournalism and audio-visual communication at I.H.E.C.S. Brussels and holds also a master from EM Lyon. Brihay's photographic work reflects his frequent travels and trips around the world, wanderer catching loneliness, strangeness or intimate scenes which he gently violates.
Image above: ©Arnaud Brihay, Hereunder (girls on a bench) / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Klay-James Enos is an East Village native. He graduated with a B.A. from Alfred University in 2012,where he studied English literature and art history. He recently showed in a solo exhibit, "Details," at Ottendorfer, the oldest public library building in New York City. Enos has been featured in neighborhood group shows at Theater for the New City, the Tompkins Square Library Gallery, and Michael Mut Project Space.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Shane Harrington
Shane Harrington is an Irish born artist who creates drawings, videos and music. He is an adamant subscriber to an ancient sect of Hindu philosophy called Advaita Vedanta. He enjoys listening to math-rock and is fairly sceptical about the top tier of the art world.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Shane Harrington
Lee Ranaldo co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981, and has been active on the New York music and art scene for the past 35 years. His Lost Highway drawings and Black Noise prints (drypoints on vinyl records) were exhibited in NYC at the VOLTA art fair in March 2015. He was artist-in-residence at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax in July 2013 and at Villa Arson in Nice, France in April 2014. He is currently completing a new LP as well as working as a music producer for HBO's Martin Scorcese-Mick Jagger produced VINYL series. His Hurricane Transcriptions (based on wind recordings made during Hurricane Sandy) was recently presented at the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall in NYC.
Image above: Lee Ranaldo, Infinite (2008), drypoint on vinyl record / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Tim Maxwell was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1978 and lives and works in New York City. He received his BFA from Penn State University in 2002, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2004. Maxwell's drawings are influenced by Celtic illuminated manuscripts, medieval depictions of the Last Judgment, human ornamentation, and the self-help quality of punk and hardcore music. He has had solo shows at Marvelli, Derek Eller, and RARE Gallery and has been included in group exhibitions at White Columns and Massimo Audiello Inc. in New York, as well as Galerie Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker and Art on Paper magazine.
Image above: ©Monika Piatkiewicz, Tim Maxwell
Curator Bios:
Shane Harrington Shane Harrington is an artist/musician from Ireland. He graduated with honors from Limerick School of Art & Design in 2009 where his thesis DIY Counter Culture received the highest grade in the College's history 150 year history. Harrington has worked at Ormston House, Eva Biennial and was a member of LIKE Studios all in Limerick, Ireland. Throughout his teens and early twenties Shane toured across Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe playing experimental music, exhibiting his work and curating art shows. He moved to New York in 2012 where he now works at both The Isamu Noguchi Museum and Station Independent Projects, while also maintaining a rigorous recording schedule, as well as his own artistic practice. Harrington curated a group show of local and international Irish artist titled "Irish Art Does Not Exist" at Station Independent Projects in 2014 which was sited in ArtFCity, Visual Arts Ireland, NY Arts Magazine, The LO-Down, Re-Title and Two Coats of Paint.
Image above: ©Tim Maxwell, Whilst Falling We Thought it Best Not to Think Too Much (A Plan), Ink on Paper 11x14, 2014 / Courtesy of Station Independent Projects
Leah Oates Prior to opening Station Independent Projects, Oates curated exhibitions in the New York City area at The Pulse Art Fair, The Scope Art Fair, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Asya Geisberg Gallery, Chashama, Artists Space, Nurture Art and The Kauffman Arcade Gallery and in the Chicago area at Randolph Street Gallery, The Peace Museum and The Noyes Cultural Arts Center. Shows curated by Station Independent Projects have been written about in WNYC, The Brooklyn Rail, Artforum, The Village Voice, NY Arts Magazine, Chromogram, New Art Examiner, The Chicago Tribune, New City, Blouin Art Info, Collector Daily, Bedford and Bowery, Lid Magazine, French Photo, I-Ref Magazine, Sleek Magazine, Musee Magazine, Slate, Photo District News, Women's Wear Daily, The Tory Burch Culture Blog and Le Journal de Photographie. Oates has a B.F.A. from The Rhode Island School of Design, an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Fulbright Fellow for Post- Graduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. Oates has exhibited nationally and internationally.
