Space 776 is pleased to present We Still Imagine, Make and Read Books Two, an artist book exhibition, curated by Drawing Platform Sena, on view from October 18 through October 25, 2019 at 229 Central Avenue, Brooklyn. This is the Drawing Platform Sena’s second artist book exhibition/fair with Space776. 

 

We Still Imagine, Make and Read Books Two features exceptional artists who use books as their artistic medium. The featured works are mostly rare, limited edition items. The works can be loosely categorized into the following topics; Territory, Narrative, Living Organism, and Tactile/Visual. Many of the works intersect all four categories.

 

Several artists’ works present a discourse on the topic of territory. Sarah Croft’s political, ephemeral book is time and light based. While viewing Crofts’s book, audience members will see different colored images that change every second as a result of exposure to light. Alieen Bassis’s books address acts of remembering another place. Jude Broughan’s works discuss a neither-here-nor-there condition. Charles Theonia presents “Queer Haven Is a Dance Floor but I Can’t Relax” in collaboration with Shaina Yang, in addition to a series of short poems on hormones, community, and the brain-time continuum. 

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Other participating artists share fictional and non-fictional narratives based on their personal experiences. Jonathan Pogoda’s book presents young survivors, lovers and artists who have retreated from the world to heal as group practice. Maya Meissner’s book investigates her family’s close-encounter with a serial killer during her childhood. Fany De la Chica’s documentary film features a fictionalized account of her relationship with her mother. Rafael Melendez will exhibit nine artist books. His work Academy of realness, published under two psuednyms, undertakes various experiments, including ‘throwing memories and emotions into a metaphysical blender to see what kind of shadows are cast.’ Jaqueline Cedar’s book, “BEYOND AND THE BEYOND”, is inspired by a poem by her father about a boy who discovers he can take himself apart. She expends it for viewers visually and verbally through the structural and psychological moment of discovering and undoing.

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In Living Organism, Andrés Laracuente presents an AI (Artificial Intelligent) cartoon book, titled “NPCseed”. Laracuente sees two-dimensional images as a body of living life. The images in his book are 2D organisms and 2D life representations of an autonomous, fictional pre-production of living. They are AI cartoons. TASP (Justin Q Marin and Nicholas Moenich) refers to a fictional tool wielded as a weapon which causes intense and unyielding ecstasy. Harlen Mathieu will be exhibiting his illustrated book of living creatures.

 

Several artists will present books with strong tactile, visual elements. Renzo Ortega encourages the audience to touch and experience the textures of his art books. He emphasizes that the tactile aspect of the book medium is essential for differentiating books from paintings and other art forms. Andrea Burgay will exhibit her magazine project, Cut Me Up. It invites the audiences to participate in the act of cutting out printed-paper. Making collages from cutting printed-paper is one of the central methodologies in her works. Cut Me Up a participatory magazine project; audiences can purchase her magazine, cut the papers in her magazine, and create their own collage work that will be featured in the magazine’s next issue. Marco Scozzaro will present many of his artist books. These are visually oriented. Delicatessens and vernacular images are a central theme throughout Scozzaro’s works. 

 

Drawing Platform Sena is an experimental curatorial platform led by Nari Kim. Sena curated We Still Imagine, Make and Read Books one at Space 776 in 2016, Andrés Laracuente’s solo exhibition at Eun Youn Gallery Café in Korea in 2018, and Sarah Croft’s solo exhibition at the same venue in 2019.

 

Participating Artists:

 

Alieen Bassis
Andrea Burgay
Andres Laracuente
Charles Theonia
Eric Dinyer
Fany de la Chica
Harlan Mathieu
Jaqueline Cedar
Jess Costanzo
Jonathan Pogoda
Jude Broughan
Kari Cholnoky in collaboration with TASP #3
Keith Childress
Kristen Jensen in collaboration with TASP #2
Luciana Frigerio
Marco Scozzaro
Maya Meissner
Rafael Melendez
Renzo Ortega
Sarah Croft
Shaina Yang in collaboration with Charles Theonia
TASP (Justin Q Marin and Nicholas Moenich)

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For inquiries, please contact info@space776.com