William Villalongo. You Matter, 2015. Screenprint on velour paper mounted on coloring book pages with acrylic wash. 12 × 9 inches each, 36 × 27 inches overall. Courtesy Villalongo Studio LLC and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York. © Villalongo Studio LLC.
Living in America: An Exhibition in Four Acts
Curated by Assembly Room and Presented by IPCNY
Featuring artists Mildred Beltré, Vanessa German, Mark Thomas Gibson, Elektra KB, Yashua Klos, Narsiso Martinez, Azikiwe Mohammed, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Africanus Okokon, Karen J. Revis, Swoon, William Villalongo, and Dáreece J. Walker
September 29 – December 22, 2020
IPCNY, 508 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001
Book your in-person visit at www.ipcny.org/visit
View online exhibition starting September 29 at www.ipcnyexhibitions.org/livinginamerica
Opening Online Public Program September 29, 7–8pm EST
Living in America presents a wide range of practices and spotlights the relevance and adaptability of print formats during political upheaval and resistance. Works include conventional printmaking, mixed media incorporating found printed matter, and those informed by reproduction and dissemination. New work is shown here for the first time by Elektra KB and Yashua Klos, as well as a site-specific stencil installation by Nontsikelelo Mutiti.
“These artists bear witness, through their work, to transformation—cultural, material, and aesthetic—and actively engage each other and their local communities as collaborators and subjects,” says Assembly Room. “As the public struggles to renew America, artists are paving the way and showing us how to channel our outrage, inspire love, live in hope, and act with care.”
Act I: Outrage presents artists channeling rage, pain, and despair into their work; Act II: Love explores love as a radical approach to building a more inclusive society; Act III: Hope illuminates forgotten histories and imagines new futures; and Act IV: Careconsiders artistic practices that center care as acts of self-preservation and political action. In IPCNY’s Chelsea exhibition space, Acts I and II will open to the public on September 30. After a brief “Intermission,” the gallery will open a new installation comprising Acts III and IV on November 11.
Complementing the in-person gallery presentation, the online exhibition at www.ipcnyexhibitions.org/livinginamerica presents an expanded selection of works in each act that will roll out over the course of the fall season. Each act will be launched by an Online Public Program with artists in conversation with Assembly Room, free and open to the public on Zoom.
IPCNY Director Judy Hecker explains, “The title Living in America references the 1985 song performed by James Brown, while Assembly Room thoughtfully modeled the exhibition’s actual structure on a play, thereby creating an evolving narrative and activating the artists as participants.” The curators were inspired by the visionary Brazilian theater producer Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (1973), which aims to create space for dialogue about obstacles, desires, fears, and dreams; and to motivate social and political change within the “theater” of our individual lives.
Against the backdrop a deadly global pandemic, painful social isolation, and massive unemployment, the countless unjust murders of Black Americans has sparked widespread, impassioned protests for the protection of Black lives—and reignited popular awareness of the structural inequities visited upon Indigenous, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ Americans and all Americans of color. Together, the four acts explore ways in which artists respond to the racism, violence, and societal inequality that the events of 2020 have pushed to the fore.
Online Public Programs
Tuesday, September 29, 7–8 pm
Artists Elektra KB and Karen J. Revis, and independent curator David Platzker, in conversation with Assembly Room
Tuesday, October 20, 7–8 pm
Artists Mildred Beltré, Azikiwe Mohammed and Dáreece J. Walker, in conversation with Assembly Room
Tuesday, November 10, 7–8 pm
Artists Yashua Klos, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, and Karen J. Revis, in conversation with Assembly Room
Tuesday, December 1, 7–8 pm
Artist Vanessa German in conversation with Assembly Room
International Print Center New York (IPCNY)
IPCNY is New York’s flagship non-profit arts institution dedicated to the innovative presentation of prints by emerging, established, national, and international artists. Founded in 2000, IPCNY is a vibrant hub and exhibition space located in New York’s Chelsea gallery district. Our artist-centered approach engages the medium in all its varied potential and includes guest-curated exhibitions that present dynamic, new scholarship along with the New Prints Program. A 501(c)(3) institution, IPCNY depends on foundation, government, individual support, and members’ contributions to fund its programs.
