For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2016
Embark Gallery Opens #simulacra Exhibition
Local Emerging Artists Question Reality in Provocative Photography Show
Image: Mike Cole. Big Rock, 2015.
Embark Gallery’s newest exhibition, #simulacra, asks how Jean Baudrillard’s philosophical treatise “Simulacra and Simulation” is relevant in the digital era. We live in a visual culture in which it is increasingly easy to participate. Images are all-important, and no longer mere symbols of truth. As Baudrillard predicted, reality itself has begun to imitate what was once its model. This medium-specific show explores signs, memory and documentation from a diverse sampling of perspectives.
Mike Cole and Jacqueline Sherlock Norheim both stray from traditional photography, utilizing the mark of the artist’s hand in two different takes on landscape, one manufactured and pixelated, the other ethereal and ephemeral. Shisi Huang’s video piece addresses voyeurism and the blurred line between public and private realities in an age where we are often being recorded. Marcela Pardo Ariza’s playful photographic sculpture references the unraveling of the meaning of images in the contemporary moment, whereas Qian Zhao’s deliciously colorful prints evoke a surreal nostalgia. Tamara Porras investigates the past without nostalgia, exposing how photographs can take on a new life of their own once those pictured are gone. Shaghayegh Cyrous’ work is planted firmly in the present, taking the form of a live feed from an apartment in Tehran, Iran. The piece references the malleability of time and place made possible by new technologies and questions the nature of reality in an increasingly global world.
This exhibition was juried by Julie Casemore of Casmore Kirkeby Gallery, and Allie Haeusslein of Pier 24 Photography.
Hours: 12–5pm every Saturday and Sunday from November 5 to December 17, and during the week by appointment.
Press Preview: Wednesday, November 2 [by appointment]
Opening Reception: Friday, November 4, 6–9pm
Media Contact:
Tania Houtzager
tania@embarkgallery.com
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