The Model Reader

About

In conjunction with Space Available, organized by Rob de Oude and Paul Corio, Transmitter (minus Rob de Oude) presents The Model Reader. Like so many good ideas, this show stemmed from a conversation at the bar after an opening. From a casual discussion of an artist who seemed to be making work just for us, we arrived at Umberto Eco’s notion of the Model Reader. The Model Reader is a fictitious reader of any actual text (or work of art) who is imagined by the actual reader or viewer as they read, as the person who would perfectly receive and understand the work. With this as our inspiration, we selected five artists, each of whom we feel are making work with us as the ideal audience.

Paul Gagner was born in 1976 in rural Wisconsin. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2005, and his MFA from Brooklyn College in 2009. He has exhibited throughout the US including the Sheila & Richard Riggs Leidy Galleries at the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Housatonic Museum of Art, and the Richmond Center for Visual Arts. In 2009, Gagner had four collages included in the Museum of Modern Art's print collection. Paul Gagner lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Born in 1979 in Knoxville, TN, Alex Gingrow has lived and studied in cities as various as Boston, MA, Savannah, GA and the small village of Dorf Tirol, in northern Italy.  In addition to her own artistic practice, she has participated in numerous panel discussions, fundraisers, speaking engagements, and as a guest artist at various performances and happenings. Her first solo show in New York City was held at Mike Weiss Gallery in September 2012 and was followed by residency appointments at the Hambidge Center, Fountainhead Residency, VCCA, the Wassaic Project, and ArtGarda in Sirmione, Italy.  Gingrow has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and has received critical reviews from publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Modern Painters, and Frieze Magazine. Gingrow currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Megan Hays is a Brooklyn-based contemporary artist known for subtle, pastel-tinted sculptures and paintings. Raised in Baltimore, MD, she moved to Brooklyn, NY, in 1997 to attend Pratt Institute on the prestigious National Talent Search Scholarship. She has exhibited in the New York City area and nationally continuously since 1998 and currently maintains a studio practice in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn.

Elle Pérez is a photographer who works and lives in the Bronx, New York. Their photographs focus on themes of identity, resilience, and youth. Pérez has been invited to teach at Williams College as a Visiting Lecturer in Art for the 2015–2016 academic year. Pérez received an MFA in Photography at the Yale School of Art in 2015.

Devin Powers lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a BA in studio art from Bennington College in 2005 and an MFA in drawing & painting from Brooklyn College in 2009. The paintings in his recent solo exhibition at Lesley Heller Workspace were described in the New York Times as containing a “writhing, billowing energy.” Powers has shown in numerous group exhibitions in New York as well as several national and international exhibitions.

Concurrently at 1329 Willoughby Avenue:

TSA New York presents: Shoal Survivor with works by Oscar Bedford and Alex Lombard, curated by Sorry Archive.