Self and Others

About

Olly Olly Presents

Self and Others

a solo exhibition of new work by Jeff Duka

March 16, 2019 – April 27, 2019
 

Opening Reception
 

Saturday, March 16, 2019, 7pm-10pm

In Self and Others, Jeff Duka’s works position and consider the self as nebulous, an ephemeral and temporal network. The muted opacity of his portraits suggests the occult and ever-shifting balance between what we do and do not share about ourselves, as well as between what we are and are not permitted or able to know about others. That we exist in a destructive, image-saturated world is the accepted reality from which these works emerge. Considering his painting to be “post-photographic,” Duka has eschewed the paralyzing quandaries of over consideration in favor of showing up in front of his easel. His series of bruises delves into the vulnerability of self while responding to the expectations of the viewer in this digital world. Step up to Duka’s true mirror: in this moment in which the image is everything, in which people have plastic surgery to look more like their edited and filtered selfies, in which destinations ranging from theme parks to art exhibitions surrender to a cultural mandate to manufacture contexts in which we can shape and sculpt our preferred counter realities, who are you? Who are your friends? How might we understand our multiple ways of seeing and of being? How might we understand the distance and content between the perceived and actual self? How might we know our true self and truly know and relate to others? Let a thousand images bloom.