Postcrypt Art Gallery

Distortion

March 31 2006

Curators: Emily Epstein, Jon Ciosci, Asya Kostrominova, Justin Fiske

Can you imagine the world in another light? Would you want to see it any other way? What does that even mean?
Distortion is your perception of reality, your perception of the surrounding world&helip; Distortion is reality. Subjectivity lends us a lens through which the world makes sense according to our experiences, our desires, our disgusts, our delights.

Instant Gratification

March 3 2006

Curators: Cecilia Crane Fix, Clare Mellet, Hannah Messkoub

Artists: Naomi Nevitt, Ben Weinryb-Grohsgal, Esther S White, Kai Twanmoh, RAD, Justin Fiske, Jose Garcia, Emily Anne Epstein, Hannah Messkoub, Josh Kindler, Zack Parker, Chelsea Villegas, Andrea Lee, Paul Pangman

We live in an age of instant gratification. Getting what you want you isn't so hard these days. You can order anything from shampoo to a hot date on the internet. We are a consumer culture, constantly bombarded with new products and gimmicks. It seems only right that so much of what we have is just as easily disposed of. It's a fast-paced world where nothing catches our eye for more than a few seconds and, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, no one seems to age. Can you do this world justice? Can you grab our attention…

One Night Stand

February 10 2006

The Body Show: You Look Beautiful Like That

February 27 2006

Curator: Emily Crow with help from Emily Bean of POW!

Artists: Alisa Brem, Justin Crocker, RAD, Yasmine D. El Gabbani, Leah Krauss, Amy Margolin, Hannah Messkoub, Patrick McIntyre, Elena Megalos, Zachary Packer, Matt Raibert, Virginia Sprance, Marbre Stahly, Meera Vyayan, Esther S White, Christopher Yang

Skin, lips, noses, folds, lines, tones, textures, structures. Bodies in pain. Bodies in pleasure. Our bodies are sites and instruments of politics, power, controversy, exploitation, and beauty. Our bodies are private. Our bodies are public. Our bodies are parts. Our bodies are whole. The body is universally composed of multiplicities and diversities. How do we map beauty across our bodies?

Masquerade

December 9 2005

Curators: Valerie Nizewitz, Cecilia Crane Fix

'Tis the season to MASQUERADE:
to adorn… to disguise… to hide… to embellish…
to celebrate… to deceive… to mask…
To masquerade is to escape from the ordinary into a world of fantasy.

Kitsch

November 18 2005

Curators: Duma Masilela, Esther S White, Ben Weinryb Grohsgal, and Katie F Wright

Artists: Abigail Broberg, Alexandra Fink, Andrew Bulger, Anjana Sharma, Anonymous, Coogan Brennan, Katie Eustis, Hadley Smith, Ivan S Durback, Joanna Siegel, Julia Turshen, Leda Ward, Libby Andress, Margaret Livits, Natalie Bell, Nathalie Shepherd, Nicole Johnston, S. Alex Kardoff, Sam Oppenheim, Sofia Thanhausen, Virginia Sprance

Precious Moments figurines, pink flamingos, paintings of bright cabins and blue skies sold in front of grocery stores: so "kitsch-y." It is easy to smirk at objects which we, the learned people who supposedly know better, view as part of low culture. But in this era where Pop culture dominates, how can we be sure that what we see in the art gallery is not kitsch as well or will not become kitsch in the eyes of future generations? Where has the modern artist stopped being an artist and become an interior decorator who demands only our money, but none of our time? Where has the viewer become "insensible to the values of genuine culture, [but remains] hungry nevertheless for the diversion that only culture of some sort can provide" (Greenberg, 1939)? Has kitsch moved past the pink flamingo on your lawn and onto the canvas in the art gallery? Has the flamingo found a new home?

One Night Stand

October 21 2005

Artists: Libby Andress, Monica Bohyung Rhee, Helen Buyeslau, Niko Cunningham, Colleen Dunning, Julia Elsky, Emily Epstein, Zoe Pasturfield-Li, Elena Megalos, Lauren Renee, Ben Weinryb Grohsgal

The Collecting Show

April 12 2005

Curators: Libby Andress and Emily Epstein

Artists: Helen B., Alan Carrol, Niko Cunningham, Victor Naumov, Ashley Pope, Renee, Panayiotis Terzis, Sofi Thanhauser, Ben Weinryb-Grosgahl, Esther S White, Jeongmee Yoon

Can you remember the last collection that you made? Or perhaps your favorite collection? In the case of artist Spencer Tunick, it would be thousands of naked bodies collecting to participate in his large-scale landscape photographs. We asked artists to look around their rooms, around their neighborhoods and around their lives to recognize ideas they've been collecting. When we realize what accumulates around us, we can explore the natures of quantity and value.

The Summer Photography Show

April 12 2005

Curators: Matt Raibert and Jorden Hepner

Artists:

The Summer Photography Show

April 12 2005

Curators: Matt Raibert and Jorden Hepner

Artists:

For this show I asked artists to take 4"x6" photographs over their summer vacation. Part of my goal as to capitalize on the fact that snapping off photos is an integral part of most Americans' summer ritual. We travel, we take photographs. They're usually for our friends, our families, ourselves. For some of us, it's a way of sharing our experiences, a way of taking them home. Some of us are afraid to let ourselves vacation without producing something — at Columbia I imagine this is particularly true.

The concept behind restricting artists to a prescribed medium is that I hope, by subtracting the issue of medium, I can create a situation where the artists can focus on content. And by restricting all the images to a familiar frame, we give the viewer a structure within which to understand each piece as well as a strong sense of both the continuity, and paradoxically, the diversity of art in the show. When the channel between artist and viewer is standardized, communication is enhanced and not restricted.

See more of the Summer Photography Show