IDENTITIES
20 November – 23 December, 2015
Opening Reception: Fri, 20 November. 7-9pm
Lana Abu-Shamat, Meredith Allen, Nadja Bournonville, David Kramer, Sean Mellyn, Shannon Plumb, William Pope.L, Kenneth Shorr, Christophe Thompson, Jim Torok
Press Release
“In their recent paper, ’Humans As Superorganisms,’ Peter Kramer and Paola Bressan of the University of Padua describe a typical human body as a teeming mass of what they call ‘selfish entities.’ ‘We argue that we do not have a unitary ‘self,’ ” Kramer and Bressan write. ‘We argue that an incessant struggle among a very large number of ‘selfs’ — some human, some not — determines who we are.’ Is it insane to say, at least as a metaphor for mosaic identity, that sounds sort of reasonable?“ (David Wallace-Wells, October 2015)
PIEROGI is pleased to present a group exhibition including recent work by ten artists, each of whom uses imagery to create narrative structures around identity. There has been much discussion recently on ideas of identity: identity felt by the self versus one’s identity as perceived by others; constructed identity; fluid identity; and identity, not as a single entity, but as multiple possibilities. The works presented here deal primarily with narrative imagery used to create and portray a multiplicity of identities.
Lana Abu-Shamat is a Palestinian-American artist who currently lives and works in Louisiana. She is a recent MFA graduate of Pratt Institute and received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her works have been exhibited at The Boiler and The Alexander Hall Gallery (Savannah, GA).
Meredith Allen lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been exhibited at MoMA PS1 (LIC, NY), the Southeast Museum of Photography (Daytona Beach, FL), White Columns (NY, NY), and the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY). Her work is included in the collections of The Brooklyn Museum, The New York Public Library, and The Harvard University School of Business.
Nadja Bournonville was born in Sweden and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Her work has been exhibited at the Goethe-Institut (Washington, DC, Nicosia, Mexico City, and Los Angeles, CA), IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin), and Eigen+Art Lab (Berlin, Germany). Her works are included in the collections of the Hasselblad Foundation, The National Public Arts Council Sweden, the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation, and numerous private collections.
David Kramer was born in New York city and currently lives and works in New York and Brooklyn. His work has been included in recent exhibitions such as “Kramerica!” Galerie Tanit (Munich, Germany), “Stand/Up” at the Pompidou Center (Paris, France) and is included in the permanent collecitons of the Pompidou Center, the London Museum and Galleries (Ontario), among others. He has received awards, fellowships, and residencies from Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, NY), NYFA, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, EESI (Ministry of Culture and Communication, Poitou-Charentes, France).
Sean Mellyn lives and works in New York, NY. His work has been exhibited at The Norton Museum of Art (WPB, FL), The Portland Museum of Art (Portland, OR), and The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Connecticut). His work is included in the collections of MoMA, The New York Public Library, The Whitney Museum (NY, NY), and The Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY).
Shannon Plumb lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her works have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, The IFC Center, The Kitchen (all NY, NY), the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, CT), the Berlin Film Festival (Berlin), BFI Nation Film Theatre (London) and The Academia Gallery of the National Art Academy (Sofia, Bulgaria), among others. Her work is included in the Olbricht Collection (Berlin) and the Museum of Modern Art (NY, NY) permanent collection. Her feature film Towheads was screened at New Directors at MoMA and Lincoln Center and Independent Film Festival Rotterdam.
William Pope.L lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA (LA, CA), The Renaissance Society (University of Chicago, IL), The Art Institute of Chicago (IL), and has been included in exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem (NY, NY), The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), The New Museum, (NY, NY), and The Art Institute of Chicago (IL). He is a recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Pope.L is represented by Mitchell-Innes and Nash.
Kenneth Shorr lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. His work has been exhibited at the New Museum (NY, NY), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), the Whitney Museum (NY, NY), and P.S.1 (LIC, NY). His video performance work has been shown in LaMalle (San Francisco, CA), the California Institute for the Arts (Valencia, CA), and previously at Pierogi. Three of his plays have been presented at theatres in Chicago, and he has received three NEA Photography Fellowships.
Christophe Thompson was born in Nassau, Bahamas and currently lives and works in New York and Nassau. He received a BFA in sculpture from Alfred University, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. For his work he has conducted research with historians and archives including John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Brown University, Tulane University historical department, the National Archives of The Bahamas, and The Monastery of The Capuchin, Church of San Donnino, Pisa, Italy.
Jim Torok lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His work has been included in exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Denver Art Museum, (Denver, CO), and The Flag Art Foundation (NY, NY). His works are included in numerous public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA (NY, NY).