Exhibition

No Irony Here

25 Sep 2015 – 1 Nov 2015

Regular hours

Sunday
12:00 – 18:00
by appointment

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The Parlour Bushwick is pleased to present “No Irony Here”, featuring work by David Kramer, Cate Giordano, Paul Gagner, and Claudia Bitran.

About

“No Irony Here” showcases four artists that use irony to express their disappointment, explore gender identity, come to understand that which seems larger than life and to visualize their conflicting desires of self-expression.

Using a style that replicates lifestyle magazine advertisements from 1970’s, David Kramer’s imagery describes a life of ease, wealth and romance; yet the text that goes along with the image turns the narrative on its head. Rather than selling a glamorous ideal the work creates feelings of discomfort, failure and disillusionment. All of this together: the image, the style of painting and the text offer a surprising “lol”.

The use of “drag” in Cate Giordano’s videos allows her to create a “believable” world where she inhabits multiple personas.  Her bare bones style highlights the physicality of her set construction as well as the ridiculous nature of her performances. Cate uses humor and costume to engage the viewer in melodramas that investigate gender, romance, and stereotypes of Americana.

Putting herself in the role of the fan, Claudia Bitran deconstructs popular videos and Hollywood movies to discover that which might have initially created awe. In her video piece “Intros”, she recreated each introduction in a miniature form. This primitive hands on approach takes the larger than life effect out of the picture to reveal a humanistic element in an otherwise corporatized fantasy world.

Paul Gagner jokes with his self- doubt. His inner dialogue when painting is a struggle between abstraction and object. While fascinated with abstract painting he can’t help but give it context. For example, in “Backscratch Fever” he creates abstract lines that are also scratches on the skin, this is depicted by a woman’s purple nails running her fingers down a man’s back. In this way, Gagner humorously makes associations that reference art genres as well as current cultural trends not just through abstract marks but the narrative of the painting.

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