Dec
1
to Dec 22
Dec
1
to Jan 19
Nov
15
to Nov 22
A Body Called Paula
Nov 15-17. & 20-22.2017
NARS Foundation 2nd Floor Gallery
Paula is a female name. In Finnish the word means a ribbon, something to tie or to be enchanted with. It is also a synonym for a trap. Globally it is known as a name, originating from the Greek word ‘Paulus’, which means small.
The project is an installation that mixes screenprinting with performance. Part installation, part performance, A Body Called Paula is a piece that develops over the days of the installation through long-duration printing sessions. The movements and their soundtrack create an enchanting, sensual machine with the main themes of time and temporality, pleasure, and the meditative process of working. The narrative story behind the performance hunts beauty through the themes of light, passion, knowledge, reality, and depth, finally balanced out by darkness.
What is the measure of time? Ornament is a universal form of visual art in every culture. The installation at NARS is part of Sirkku Ketola’s long-term project. For the duration of ten years A Body Called Paula produces hand printed ornaments, or ribbons, around the world which will finally be presented as one massive installation. The photo-based patterns are different in every ornament as each of their motives rises from the previous performance place. The New York-based pattern will be seen in Helsinki in March 2018. To date, the project has been presented in Toronto, Canada and Turku, Finland and will travel to several locations in Europe after New York.
Visual artist Sirkku Ketola is one of the current participants in the residency program of the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York. She works and lives in Finland with regular stints to Belgium. Ketola’s mind is fed by the paradoxical contrast of silence in the north and bustle in urban spaces. For Sirkku Ketola, handicraft is a method of slowing down the digital image stream surrounding us, as well as a tool for understanding the relation between human and matter. Ketola’s work practice is slow and her projects often take years to finish. Her exhibitions have passed through international borders in a variety of galleries and museums. Renowned as a screenprinter, she is often solicited to teach and lecture in art academies. A self-described “civilized savage”, she speaks although the quiet allures her.
Read Sirkku's interview with Firstindigo&Lifestyle about the performance
Performance schedule
NOV 15 durational performance starts 2pm – LIGHT
NOV 16 durational performance starts 2pm – PASSION
NOV 17 durational performance starts 2pm – KNOWLEDGE
NOV 20 durational performance starts 2pm – REALITY
NOV 21 durational performance starts 6pm – DEPTH, evening session
NOV 22 durational performance starts 2pm – DARKNESS
The duration for each session of the performance is approximately two hours. Pick up lunch from Tacos El Bronco and join the slow movement.
The screenprints made in New York have been prepared at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop: http://www.efanyc.org
More information
Introduction:
http://sirkkuketola.com
http://fciny.org/residency/sirkku-ketola
Previous exhibitions:
http://www.la-bas.fi/ketolaeng.html
http://openstudio.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sirkku-ketola-brochure.pdf
Oct
13
to Nov 10
Oct
6
to Nov 10
Oct
2
to Oct 20
Caroline Phillips, there's something happening here...
Anese Projects, 540 W 50th St 1A
October 2 - October 20
Opening Reception October 2, 6-8 pm
NARS, in collaboration with Anese Projects, is pleased to announce there's something happening here..., a solo exhibition by Australian artist Caroline Phillips, featuring research and work developed as a 2017 Summer Artist-In-Residence.
Caroline Phillips´ practice harnesses the tension between soft materials and their repetitive industrial manufacture. In her first solo New York show, this new body of work seeks to respond to the current political climate. Stirrings of protest, retaliation, and self-defense emerge through whimsical and embodied forms. Domestic and industrial materials, most sourced from Materials for the Arts, transformed into objects of resistance and self-defense that resemble both weapons and flotation devices for survival in the current political climate.
there's something happening here.... explores abstraction as a positive feminist strategy.
Gallery hours: Tues-Sat, 12-5 by appointment only
Appointments to view the exhibition can be made by contacting Anese Projects at aneseprojects@gmail.com
Caroline Phillips´ practice harnesses the tension between soft materials and their repetitive industrial manufacture. In her first solo New York show, this new body of work seeks to respond to the current political climate. Stirrings of protest, retaliation, and self-defense emerge through whimsical and embodied forms. Domestic and industrial materials, most sourced from Materials for the Arts, transformed into objects of resistance and self-defense that resemble both weapons and flotation devices for survival in the current political climate.
there's something happening here.... explores abstraction as a positive feminist strategy.
Gallery hours: Tues-Sat, 12-5 by appointment only
Appointments to view the exhibition can be made by contacting Anese Projects at aneseprojects@gmail.com
Sep
8
to Sep 25
Aug
4
to Sep 15
Spotlight: Yi Xin Tong, NYC Fishing Trip
August 4 - September 15
Yi Xin Tong, still from Camera Popper Lure (2017), SD video with sound, 5’34”
NARS Spotlight is proud to present Yi Xin Tong's solo exhibition "NYC Fishing Trip," opening August 4th and up through September 15, 2017. Spotlight, curated by Eriola Pira, is a series of solo exhibitions by artists who are a part of the NARS community, started in June 2017 in our new second floor exhibition space.
Yi Xin Tong is a New York-based artist and amateur fisherman who enthusiastically steals his own studio time for fishing, which brings him to the remote peripheries of the city where ruins replace buildings and nature’s reclamation is surprisingly ubiquitous. Besides the new perspectives gained on the social geography of New York, fresh bluefish and striped bass occasionally appear on his dinner table. On the edge of the ocean as well as on YouTube, Tong’s endeavor is for the most part anti-productive; however, the salutations from his peer fishing channel hosts linger in his ears, “Tight lines. See you next time.”
Yi Xin Tong is a New York-based artist and amateur fisherman who enthusiastically steals his own studio time for fishing, which brings him to the remote peripheries of the city where ruins replace buildings and nature’s reclamation is surprisingly ubiquitous. Besides the new perspectives gained on the social geography of New York, fresh bluefish and striped bass occasionally appear on his dinner table. On the edge of the ocean as well as on YouTube, Tong’s endeavor is for the most part anti-productive; however, the salutations from his peer fishing channel hosts linger in his ears, “Tight lines. See you next time.”
Aug
4
to Sep 1
Jun
2
to Jun 23
Jun
2
to Jun 23
Spotlight: Clintel Steed
June 2 - June 23
A selection of portraits by Clintel Steed, painted between 1997 and 2016. Spotlight, curated by Eriola Pira, is a series of solo exhibitions by artists who are a part of the NARS community, created in June 2017 in our new second floor exhibition space.
Mar
31
to Apr 28
Mar
3
to Mar 25