Afraid of Acquaintances

Michael Childress, Megan Cotts, Matias Cuevas, Alex Ebstein, Benjamin Edmiston, Lauren Seiden

Curated by Cuevas Tilleard Projects at False Flag | May 19 – June 18, 2017

AFRAID OF ACQUAINTANCES

Michael Childress, Megan Cotts, Matias Cuevas, Alex Ebstein, Benjamin Edmiston, Lauren Seiden

Curated by Cuevas Tilleard Projects at False Flag

May 19 – June 18, 2017

CUEVAS TILLEARD and FALSE FLAG are proud to present Afraid of Acquaintances an exhibition presenting work by Michael Childress, Megan Cotts, Matias Cuevas, Alex Ebstein, Benjamin Edmiston, and Lauren Seiden. The show will be on view at False Flag, 25-20 43rd Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101, from May 19 – June 18, 2017.

Afraid of Acquaintances brings together a diverse group of young artists to get an edge on ideas of space and autonomy in contemporary art practices. Emphasizing an inclusive approach to materiality, language and self-expression, the show seeks to provoke boundaries and claims on pictorial identity.

An acquaintance is someone with whom we are familiar, but we don’t really know. This lack of personal history or knowledge can create a base level of social anxiety, which can either be translated into curiosity or quickly reduced to fear. In either case, it draws boundaries between the self and the other, it isolates. Afraid of Acquaintances translates this segregation into a heightened sense of space, both physical and psychological. It emphasizes the struggle of keeping one’s autonomy.

The six artists in the exhibition are each striving to create a unique visual language – a tool that allows them to voice their state of being and personal history. Their claim on identity is part primitive, part socially driven; a collection of artistic gestures expressing a strong desire for independence as much as a sense of belonging, of historical acceptance perhaps. Challenged by an art history with so much ‘already done,’ Childress, Cotts, Cuevas, Ebstein, Edmiston, and Seiden work to transform their ideas and materials in innovative ways to articulate their claims.

This diversity in material use and language successfully keeps artwork acquaintances at arms length.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, May 19th from 6 – 9