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SOFTER, SOFTEST
opening May 30, 2014 Delicious Spectacle 1366 Quincy St, NW, Washington, DC May 30 - June 21 opening reception Friday, May 30, 7 - 10pm performances Saturday, June 7, doors 7:30, performances 8pm closing reception Thursday, June 19, 7 - 10pm exhibiting artists: Megan Blafas, Rania Hassan, Matt Hollis, Leslie McConnaughey, Rene Medrano, Ziad Nagy, Cory Oberndorfer, John Paradiso, Jane Claire Remick, and Jade Yumang (Vancouver) June 7 performances: Anya Liftig (NY), Matthew Ryan Rossetti (NY), Hoesy Corona (Baltimore) curated by Eames Armstrong There is a tag/movement in the tumblr world, you find variations of it tacked on to thousands of posts- “soft grunge blog, follows back similar.” There are cycles of images participating an aesthetic of softness, of nostalgia and teen dream sadness. Softer, Softest explores the condition of softness: the digital “soft” and the sculptural soft. When I was around six years old, I saw a Claes Oldenburg soft ice cream cone at a museum. I connected with it immediately. I realized at that moment that sometimes the most playful work was really the most complex in its subtle simplicity. Likewise, much of the imagery circulating through tumblr upholds minimalism, cut through with wit and references to performativity. The exhibition will include a combination of sculpture, installation, 2D work, and performance. The third track on the 1994 Hole album, Live Through This, (the album which was released just four days after the death of Courtney Love's husband Kurt Cobain) is called Softer, Softest. I've always been struck by the line, “I've got a blister from touching everything I see.” This line speaks to the conflict of the body and its surroundings, between sight and touch, desire and materiality. An exhibition on being soft. To be pliable, easily molded. To be pleasing to touch, not harshly defined. Aether Art Projects is a free-form curatorial and project-based art organization, with special emphasis on performance and experimental media. Without the constraint of operating a space, Aether Art Projects is fluid and nomadic, free to curate and repurpose. To facilitate dialogue and connect artists, Aether Art Projects hosts talks and critique groups. Aether Art Projects invites collaboration with individuals, collectives and organizations. Aether Art Projects is based in Washington, DC, and was founded in February 2012 by Eames Armstrong. eamesarmstrong.com / aetherartprojects.com / peri0d.com Delicious Spectacle is a curatorial experiment and project space founded by Victoria Greising, Megan Mueller, Dan Perkins,Camden Place, and Sam Scharf. The space is located on the first floor of a row house in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. |
Press for Softer, Softest
Review in Bmore Art by Michael Dax Iacovone
Softer, Softest featured on Art Beat With Lauren Landau on WAMU 88.5 on June 16
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