Naturaleza Muerta; Contemporary Mexican Painting, May 13-15, 2011

Naturaleza Muerta brings together the work of 5 emerging Mexican painters: Javier Areán (1969), Lilia Basulto (1982), Javier Peláez (1976), Rafael Rodríguez (1977) and Omar Rodriguez-Graham (1978).

The exhibition began as an invitation for Omar Rodriquez-Graham to guest curate a group show of artists from Mexico City. What Mr. Rodriguez- Graham has instead proposed is a kind of symposium. The works to be exhibited are products of an ongoing dialogue among the artists, all of whom are grappling with and complicating a seemingly straight-forward problem: the act of looking at the world and constructing an image from it. His statement:

Naturaleza Muerta is not a curated exhibition. It is the product of an ongoing exchange that attempts to find common ground surrounding the idea of representational painting. Among the greatest forms of western art, painting is simultaneously burdened with history, and enriched by it. We recognize images on the multiple levels of perception, personal experience, and awareness of our cultural history.

While each artist has approached this idea in his or herown way, we have found an intellectual cohesion through a shared approach to painting that is principally concerned with its construction and history. We share the view that what must be seen is not that which lies within the painting, but what is on the canvas, in that fuzzy region between pure formalism and the influence of the real.

We believe that to talk about painting, one must paint. The resulting works are our conversation.

Javier Areán

Rafael Rodríguez

Javier Peláez

Omar Rodriguez-Graham

Lilia Basulto

Special thanks for their generous support:

2x4, curated by Joe Nanashe, March 25th-27th& April 2nd-3rd, 2011

Brilliant by Michael Scoggins

2x4

(too-bahy-fawr)

Jim Lee

Jamie Powell

Michael Scoggins

Carmen Tiffany

2x4: A timber measuring 2 x 4 inches in cross section when untrimmed: equivalent to 1 5/8 by 3 5/8 inches when trimmed. It’s a common construction material, a standard unit, a building block in an almost molecular level. Ubiquitous, common, lowbrow, it’s the material of the laborer. Jimmy Carter uses them to build houses. Termites gnaw holes into them. They warp when wet. You can also beat a person to death with one.

Each artist uses common material, vernacular imagery, slang, with a workman’s sensibility, to explore volatile, profane, and physical experiences. Individually they address the inherent meaning in their chosen material while investing in personal histories and their own experiences. 2x4: 4 artists with 2 works each.

Curated by Joe Nanashe

March 25-27 & April 2-3, 2011. Opening reception Friday March 25^th, 7 – 10PM. The gallery will be open from 1- 6PM on March 26^th, 27th, and April 2^ndand 3^rd.

The Laundromat is an artist-curated exhibition space located at 70 Wyckoff Ave, # 1J, in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Alexa Hoyer and Walsh Hansen, Friday February 18th at the new Laundromat

Installation view, Walsh Hansen and Alexa Hoyer

Alexa Hoyer, Cats, 2004

Alexa Hoyer, (L) Subway, 2010 (R) Eavesdropping, 2010-11

Alexa Hoyer, Eavesdropping, 2010-11

Alexa Hoyer, video still from documentation of Eavesdropping performance

Actors: Oscar Montoya and Lorraine Cink

Camera: John Loughlin

Excerpt from Eavesdropping, text courtesy Alexa Hoyer

Walsh Hansen, Installation view: (L) The Fawn, 2010 (R) The Animals, 2009-11

The Fawn, video still courtesy Walsh Hansen

Walsh Hansen, The Fawn, 2010

Walsh Hansen, Badge and Gun, 2010-11

Walsh Hansen, The Animals, detail

Walsh Hansen, Duck and Squirrel, 2011

Press Release:

The Laundromat will feature new works by artists Alexa Hoyer and Walsh Hansen for our first exhibition in the new space on Wyckoff Ave. as part of Beat Night, Bushwick galleries stay open late.

Alexa Hoyer will present drawings, photographs and transcribed texts of conversations she overheard on the subway. She will also direct a performance based on these transcriptions. With the contribution of New York based actor and comedian Jen Kwok, a group of selected actors will be reenacting and reinterpreting these dialogues. In much of her work, Alexa Hoyer is concerned with the idiosyncratic elements of the mundane by highlighting unique quirks of the human experience.

Walsh Hansen will present two videos as well as several related drawings and sculptures. The characters in his videos include people and animals, both live and sculptural which interact in domestic spaces and urban landscapes. His work explores his own human tendency to anthropomorphize a representation in order to satisfy a base need for companionship. For the artist, the futility in this act and the inevitably unfulfilled need for reciprocity is evinced in a kitten’s contempt for its own sweater.

This will be a two day exhibition. The opening reception is Friday February 18th from 7-10PM, and we are open on Saturday the 19th by appointment.

Hansen was born in Missoula, Montana. He is a graduate of the University of Montana and the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA. He currently lives in New York City.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Alexa Hoyer holds a BFA from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri and an MFA in sculpture from Tyler School of Art. Hoyer has a permanent video installation at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, and has also shown her work throughout the US and in Europe.