PAST EXHIBITION
Group Exhibition: Hook Up
Mixed Greens is thrilled to present three installations by collaborative teams. Each artist is known for his or her solo work, but felt it necessary to come together with another to create ambitious, large-scale installations based on a shared dialogue.
Zoë Charlton & Rick Delaney There Goes the Neighborhood
In this socioeconomic critique, a live grass lawn extends from the fire escape into the gallery space. On the grass sit dozens of small, pink suburban homes and a bevy of garden gnomes, transformed from being traditionally white and Dutch into one of seven shades of brown. The gnomes’ shiny ceramic veneers are a sharp contrast to the peeling white picket fence surrounding the grass. The installation is a combination of kitsch and commentary that inspires laughter and critique in equal measure.
Andy Diaz Hope & Laurel Roth Pharmacopia
Centered around a pharmacy counter where everything has spiraled out of control, this installation addresses the pervasiveness of drugs, both medical and recreational. Three medicine cabinets represent the planes of heaven, hell, and Earth. On Earth, the Garden of Eden flourishes amidst the toothpaste tubes and hemorrhoid ointment of daily life. In Purgatory, armies of angel and devil pills fight over tiny pill-encased people sprouting insect wings and legs. Above, in a canopy on the ceiling, hangs a chandelier made of hundreds of razor-sharp syringes, dripping with beads and garlands of multicolored pills. The full installation captures both the allure and danger of drug use without deciding right and wrong.
Frank Olive & Rudy Shepherd The Magetti
A large sculpture called The Magetti marks the entrance to the north gallery. Taken from the 1970s TV show, Land of the Lost, The Magetti has the power to transport people to another time and place. On TV it was a tiny maquette, but for Olive and Shepherd, it is a full-sized vehicle and metaphor for two years of collaboration.
Olive and Shepherd's dialogue began via faxes between their respective places of work at the Swiss Institute and the Drawing Center. Over time, they have accumulated hundreds of drawings - often hilarious, political, and ironic catalogues of their everyday. Their installation includes these drawings as well as a video starring their alter egos, a robot and a bear. Each represents a complex mix of stereotypes, fantasies, and fears.
After initiating their artistic dialogue via faxes between their respective jobs at the Swiss Institute and the Drawing Center, Olive and Shepherd accumulated hundreds of drawings - often hilarious, political, ironic, and satirical catalogues of their everyday. false labels, sincere fantasies and fears. Although there is no dialogue, the video highlights the two characters' pursuits, near misses, and moments of poignant melancholy in the woods.
Zoë Charlton and Rick Delaney live in Baltimore, Maryland. Zoë is represented by Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago, and Clementine Gallery, NYC. Rick has completed numerous performances and public projects in Texas and the Baltimore/Washington DC areas.
Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth live in San Francisco, California. Andy is represented by Lyons Weir Ort Gallery, NYC and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Hope and Roth are both founding members of Quorum, an experimental group of artists and curators dedicated to raising San Francisco's international art presences.
Frank Olive and Rudy Shepherd live in New York City. Rudy is represented by Mixed Greens, NYC. Both artists graduated from the School of Art Institute of Chicago and published a compilation of their faxes, Viva la Marriage, through the Swiss Institute.
Download Press Release