Simple Pleasures
Andrea Bergart, Genesis Belanger, Karen Lederer, Sharon Madanes
July 12 - August 26, 2016
SIMPLE PLEASURES
Andrea Bergart, Genesis Belanger, Karen Lederer, Sharon Madanes
July 12 - August 26, 2016
Cuevas Tilleard is pleased to announce the opening of Simple Pleasures, a group exhibition by Andrea Bergart, Genesis Belanger, Karen Lederer, and Sharon Madanes, on view from July 12 – August 26, at its Lower East Side gallery.
In the seventeenth century, André Félibien, Secretary to the French Royal Academy in Paris codified the hierarchy of genres. Man, as measure of all things, as imitator of God in the depiction of human figures, was, according to Félibien, “much more excellent than all the others.” History painting - the most noble – followed by portrait, genre, landscape, and finally the lowly still life.
Four centuries later, with instagrammed restaurant tables, and snapchatted wedding flowers, has our social media obsession broken down society so far as to destroy any care of the inherent moral forces of the genres? We hope so! Simple Pleasures, presents an exhibition that focuses on the power and sensuality of commonly ordinary objects.
Exploring ideas of time, wonder, collection, and display, Andrea Bergart, Genesis Belanger, Karen Lederer, and Sharon Madanes glide through the historically conservative terrain of the still life genre with graceful joy and determination. The aura of their colors, textures, and compositions combined, bring to us a desire to capture and celebrate the simplest material pleasures.
Stillness, or lack of action, has frequently been associated with detachment, with an emotional disinterest in life and the everyday. Inanimate objects, no matter how colorful and attractive, can evoke the idea of death to us mortals - a memento mori reminding us of what life was, once we can’t hear the clock ticking anymore.
Yet the works in this exhibition are infused with a life of their own. Perhaps because the objects inhabiting their compositions don't seem to need much in order to exist, they stand fully on their own two feet. At times, they pierce through the four walls of their confinement and step into our realm. Reminding us that detachment from life is not an option for them, or for anyone.
An opening reception for the artists will be held on Tuesday, July 12, 6-9pm. The gallery will be switching to summer hours for this exhibition – open Tuesday – Friday 12-5pm.