Covering the only window in the gallery, Childress' handmade shoji screen sets up an enveloping atmosphere. The rich yet comfortable environment facilitates an intimate interaction with the work and fellow gallery-goers. Childress has clear intentions throughout the space, pointing out the lines from Hexagram 62 traced throughout the exhibit: on the benches, in the shoji screen’s framing, and even with the slats on the walls.
Sunyata by Siebren Versteg
"Often times [the table] will take an image and do a google image search and present similar images, so there is this connection to the outside world. When working on creating the space, the [shoji] screens were meant to shut out the outside world. The incense were so we wouldn’t smell waffles from Eggloo next door. I wanted to have people join together [around the table] to focus on the present moment. [Sunyata] uses the present moment, whatever is on top of it, as its source imagery. The central space having this kind of vortex is where the idea of a feedback loop table came from. An idea of voidness is a big part of the show."
Part of Platform 1 by Matthew J. Stone
"A 'preponderance of the small' clicked with everything. That's what brought in these smaller objects, but then it also having this greater resonance with what's going on in the world. Thinking about rebellion versus meditation is particularly challenging in a time when resistance is so important."
Shards 9 by Katy Fischer
"The preponderance of the small is like the greatness of small things in large numbers, and I think that's really powerful"
Shelf (Untitled Shrine) by Matt Gilva
"There is this shrine element [to this piece]. It has beeswax on it and those keys are from an accordion. Beeswax related more to the small exceeds idea. And then there's a vertebrae and a piece of metal. [The shelf sits under] real calla lilies cast onto a found windowsill. I like this idea of worshipping a window."
While tongue-in-cheek art is a theme throughout his work— frequently utilising decaying fruits and vegetables as his own conceptual commentary— the result here is topical in a way that transcends mere sarcasm. While Trump-era art is not an uncommon sight in New York this year, Urs brings something unique to Karma, whether coincidental or not. And it absolutely goes beyond pairing a chair with raspberry jam. Seemingly sparse, with four pieces total, the resulting experience as an observer is overwhelming, a motif that mocks materialism. It is at once uncomfortable, useful, and strangely beautiful— as we can only expect from Urs.
Curated by Erin Davis and Max C Lee, the show contemplates and creates a thought-provoking dialogue on the functionality of accident-preventing devices and where the body and mind fall in terms of post-emergency prodecure.
Featuring a series of installations ranging from a retro-reflective pile of styrofoam "rocks" to a giant automatic car jack hanging within a vacuum storage bag, the show conjurs up feelings pertaining to the irony of safety mechanisms and how our bodies' destruction is pivotal in enforcing the law.
