PRESS RELEASE
Light in the Dark
Nov 16 – Dec 16, 2017
Incendiary Lights
Exhibition Title: Light in the Dark
Exhibition Dates: November 16 – December 16, 2017
Gallery Opening: November 16, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
New York, NY— In a year in which many Americans endured a daily battering of cynical political gestures with toxic repercussions, Sears-Peyton’s exhibition Light in the Dark collects a group of artworks that offer a darkly humorous and guardedly optimistic tonic for our difficult times. Curated by artist Karin Schaefer, the exhibition features small-scaled contributions by twenty artists advocating for the core social, cultural, and environmental commitments the Trump administration daily disavows. (Sad!) Whether referencing social justice movements, sustainable environmental policies, diverse cultural production, or the importance of real news, Light in the Dark represents a community resisting the cynically corrosive powers of our time and seeking avenues for reinvigorating a more constructive approach to the challenges we face.
In Sara Jones’ 2017 Washington Monument, the eponymous priapic monument has been excised from a vintage postcard, seemingly broken in half and flipped upside-down, where it hangs below the postcard’s bottom edge, bloodied at its breaks in pathetic impotence. Other works’ messages are less blunt, but no less forceful; Emily Hass exhibits a work from her Kant Straße series, in which she displays the floor plans of Jewish intellectuals’ homes from which they were forcibly deported and then, (as in the case of writer Else Ury, whose home is shown), killed in concentration camps. The stark geometry of Ury’s carefully proscribed space is a de facto memorial to its murdered inhabitant; yet it might also allude to the racist deportations occurring in our own time as the current administration enacts its aggressive deportation policies.
For all the darkness the exhibition makes plain, Light in the Dark also offers the glimmers of light its title suggests. Tina Hejtmanek’s untitled photograph of fireworks shimmering against a cloudy blue sky refers to the ornamental explosives’ ancient origins in China, where fireworks were used to scare off evil spirits, and where they later became symbols of revolution. In Light in the Dark they are both—a warning to the darkness that menaces, and a symbol of resistance. Schaefer explains of the works in the show, “They are pictures of remembrance, inspiration, defiance or hope.” They invite viewers to take heed of our dark times, but also to take heart.
Light in the Dark is on view November 16 – December 16, 2017 at Sears-Peyton Gallery’s Chelsea location at 210 Eleventh Avenue. Exhibiting artists include Eve Ackroyd, Agnes Barley, Natalie Baxter, Tomoko Daido, John Derian, Celia Gerard, Susan Graham, Hugo Guinness, Emily Hass, Tina Hejtmanek, Sara Jones, Chenta Laury, Eric Lebofsky, Jenny Monick, Kristen Palazzo, Jack Pierson, Elliott Puckette, Karen J. Revis, Suzy Spence, and Alison Van Pelt. There is an evening reception November 16 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Gallery Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. A portion of show sales will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). For more information or to request further press images, please contact the gallery at info@searspeyton.com.