Artsicle is excited to announce a show on the Lower East Side, sponsored by Bomb Beer!

ANYWHERE BUT HERE
May 31–June 14, 2012
Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard Street, N.Y.
www.artsicle.com/gallerybar

See full press release below:

Anywhere but Here explores ideas of escape, real and imagined, literal and abstract, from artists’ dreamy landscapes to beach chair sculptures to architecturally reconstructed nostalgia. The artworks reference a longing for something else, somewhere else, brought on by 100-degree weather and fifth floor walkups. It’s summer in New York City, but there’s refuge in the air-conditioned bar converted to a gallery by day for this summer exhibition. Anywhere but Here, curated by Dan Teran and Maureen Sullivan, features work by 16 emerging artists and one original Warhol star, all based in New York and collaborating with Artsicle, an internet based start-up art venture launched last year.

Visions of the beach and communing with nature beckon with Soheyla Ben-Amotz’s tranquil landscape painting Twilight in Bridgehampton and Sophie Staerk’s abstract oil Waves. In contrast, Kate Nielsen’s 3D work, How to Survive a Shark Attack, inspired by a deck of disaster survival cards, reminds us it may not be safe to go into the water but it would be fun to screen JAWS again. The miniature sculpted paper Beach Chair Series by Ellie Winberg appear to be crafted from a freshly mowed lawn; while Allen Furbeck’s layered and stitched multiple exposures, shot along a Delaware creek, make one feel like they’ve fallen into Alice in Wonderland’s Rabbit hole – and it’s a beautiful place to be.

The “Hey where is everybody” summer weekend exodus is portrayed by Kirsten Nash’s oil of an empty parking lot grid, and Amanda Valdez’s abstract fabric construction that evokes both an airport runway and squeezing in some summer fun between the never ending demands of life and work. In John Breiner’s stunning vision of the capital city, famous for vacating by June, the city is in a rapid state of decay having bid sayonara to humans and been reclaimed by nature and animals.  Andrew Murray's surreal suburban landscape takes us beyond the outer-boroughs to open spaces and clear skies.

Several architecturally-oriented works capture the controlled yet manic energy of relaxation-challenged city dwellers’ racing minds, as well as their fragmented and reconstructed memories. Ben Boothby’s over saturated summerhouse is part nostalgia, part matrix; while Vince Pomilio’s dysfunctional geometry and excavated landscapes intersect color and texture that bring chaos and tension to a surprisingly tranquil resolve. Deanna Lee’s line clusters create images of muscle fibers, clouds, or something in between in unexpected colors; and Katarina Wong’s clouds of smoke are either exploding or being taken by an intense sunburst, reminiscent of the wallpaper from the artist’s childhood playrooms.

The great escape is a romanticized clichéd trip to the wild west in Dan Bina paintings where’s it’s just nature, maybe a horse, and man – including the always larger than life Arnold Schwarzenegger in all his glorious muscled heyday. Bina’s paintings of open spaces are brought back to the future with architectural intersections and skewed perfectives. And no matter how old we get, we can’t forget the feeling of the best escape of all when ‘schools out for the summer’ captured by Dana James’ soft naïve painting, Kids, and Gabriela Herman’s photographs of her childhood artifacts including a strawberry “Lunchbox” and swimsuit clad “Paper Dolls.”

Summer means dreaming in color, surrendering regulation black when we leave the isle of Manhattan – even if it’s just in our minds. Warhol Factory original Ultra Violet’s my readymade is more aesthetically pleasing than duchamp's entices viewers to look into the candy colored light suitcase sculpture and take their own hypnotic magical mystery tour.

Summer in New York City is a peculiar time and space for the young and restless. In the moments between when you step out of the shower, and realize that you’re still sweating, images of “Anywhere But Here” float through the blissed out mind.

About Artsicle:
Artsicle launched in March of 2011, and has been acclaimed by the New York Times, the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Insider, and more for their innovative model allowing first time buyers and seasoned collectors alike to rent unique art work to help discover their taste in art before committing to purchase. Learn more at www.artsicle.com/about.

Dan Teran is the Artist Community Manager & Curator for Artsicle.
Maureen Sullivan is a freelance curator who also works with artists, non-profits, galleries and museums to promote their major projects.
She's previously worked at the New Museum and Creative Time. More on www.redartprojects.com

Contact dan@artsicle.com