Jordon Wolfson, The Forest From Above in Reverse, 2006 (Image courtesy of Johann König, Berlin)
MERMAIDS VERSUS UNICORNS
Curated by Byron Coley and Jo Robertson
June 25 – August 14, 2009
I-20
557 West 23rd Street in West Chelsea
Opening: Thursday, June 25, 6-8pm
Rachal Bradley
Peter Coffin
Byron Coley
Martin Creed
Cyprien Gaillard
Manuela Gernedel
Celia Hempton
Shana Moulton
Sav X
Jo Robertson
Eduardo Sarabia
Lucy Stein
Jordon Wolfson
In the Year of the Swine Flu, this Decade of the Cur, there is no longer such a thing as Good Taste. Even things that please the semiotic tongue are rank. If that’s even possible. And it is.
Over the last several years, Jo Robertson in London and Byron Coley in rural Massachusetts have kept up a running dialogue discussing what happens when you get beyond Good. They have found that that we seem to ache for art that creates and fulfills a person narrative, no matter how fractured.
A conversation about the girlish swagger of Ted Hughes and the nawhale-like compression of Sylvia Plath acted as the driving force behind the evolution of Mermaids vs. Unicorns. This idea recurred and eventually developed into the explorative concept that would facilitate this show to venture across geographical and stylistic borders.
On June 25th, I-20 debuts their second collaborative exhibition. The show is comprised of thirteen artists from Berlin, Guadalajara, London, New York and Paris. The artists all contribute an open dialogue between archetypes, relating to the differences between earth and sea.
Mermaids vs. Unicorns presents the viewer with a number of mediums ranging from photography to ceramic installation to oil painting. The theme allows for a variety of interpretations, from the literal to the extreme. Frolics are enjoyed, identities are stolen or obliterated, communication breaks down, and the mammals will lie down with the fish.
– Byron Coley
Arthur Magazine 