Embracing Failure

Solo show, opening August 28, 6pm 2014 Lodge Gallery NYC
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Throwing artwork to the flames, whiting out rejected proposals, videoing children who cannot wink, massaging a dead chicken, the giant failure of a building imploding and street art that has been painted over. By delving into the inner workings of uncertainty, the artist works through failure to create something attempting collective catharsism.

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// RIPE : Lucy Lippard //

As part of RIPE: Conception and Perception, Tara de la Garza and Anonda Bell.
Exhibited at Aferro Gallery,NJ
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This is an excerpt from a projection/painting on canvas of dancer Lucy Rupert at 9 months pregnant. This work questions the underlying assumptions about motherhood, and critiques the myths and taboos associated with human gestation.  The dancer does not conform to the notion of the passive and nurturing female, one whose exclusive raison d'etre is to procreate.

A Limited Edition book was produced, forward by Manon Slome, launched at Allegra LaViola Gallery NYC.

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// What Could You Do Here? //

presented by Chashama 1351 Amsterdam @ 126th NYC
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A collaborative installation by Tara de la Garza and Amanda Browder

Taking inspiration from the vacant store-front,the surrounding neighborhood and the city of New York itself, the artists create an 'alternate' window display that reacts/ responds with the community through projections, soft sculpture and tape art.

This work delves into what lies beneath the surface of the city and create a stratified tunnel to a projection painting of an ancient subway.

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// Projection Painting: Implosion //

presented by Republic Worldwide, at Town and Country, NYC
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This work is an attempt to transcend the boundaries of the canvas and redefine the surface of painting. The projection creates a changing field of focus, the added dimension becomes more than the thing in itself. More expressionistic than narrative, the installation creates a multiplicity of views.

Produced while resident at a studio at the Chelsea Hotel NYC

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// Chicken Massage//

As part of What Could You Do Here presented by Chashama May, 2012, 1351 Amsterdam @ 126th st NYC
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Creating a dialogue with the community is an important aspect of a public art project. This space was next door to a live chicken store; exploring what would be the opposite experience, a chicken was treated to a day spa massage. Perhaps the opposite of its life/death experience in Harlem.

Picked up by Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 this video has already garnered more than 10,000 hits on youtube

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// Elephant Homage //

As part of El Dia De Los Muertos presented by Arts Council of Princeton
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Ink, pencil, charcoal and watercolor on paper 90x62 in. (2 panels)

This work is an homage to the empathetic nature of elephants and their rituals of honoring their dead. A highly intelligent animal, the elephant has been observed to bury their dead in leaves and branches.

They return time and again to the site of their loved ones bones and gently turn over and smell the bones, sometimes carrying them away as a keepsake, to be returned later.

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// By the Light //

exhibited at 223 East Broadway, NYC 2|ONE|TWO|PROJECTS
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The ubiquitous use of cell phones and specifically the phenomenon of text messaging have indelibly altered our culture of communication.

Observed in a public location, texting will make a person feel more at ease in an alien environment, the light of the phone attracts others attention, becoming inadvertently a mating tool, a way of convincing others of the texter's popularity.

Artists and neighbors are photographed purely by the light of their cell phones.

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// Neon Dreaming //

exhibited at No Longer Empty's inaugural exhibit Chelsea Hotel, NYC
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One of the opportunities that arose from the economic downturn was the proliferation of defunct signage. Be they coveted neon signs from the corner noodle store, to global franchises in disarray, by searching the ‘boneyards’ of Chinatown and beyond I was able to present a sculptural conglomeration of broken dreams.

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// Text Based Interventions //

streets and buildings, NYC
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The culture shock that occurs when living in a huge metropolis like New York City can be quite daunting. Bringing the mountain to Mohammed, these ‘community service announcements’ tried in a very small, subversive way to change the culture. We learn by semantics that language and thought can be intertwined. These text based interventions on a street level encourage people to be more favourably disposed to others.

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// The Possibility of a Painting //

Exhibited at the Chelsea Hotel's Gallery Suite, curated by Tara de la Garza, assisted by Keith Schweitzer
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This was an immersive exhibition of paintings, transitioning in style from representational to minimalist. The paintings were hung salon-style on the wall and crept up and over the ceiling. The audience viewed the works lounging on cushions to allow for the shifting perspectives.
Artists: Marissa DeMarco, Winston Chmielinski, Felicity Faulkner, Meghan Keane, Ayca Koseogullari, Susan Olmetti, Kenneth Park, Sirikul Pattachote, Kate Shaw, Koji Shimizu, Darren Wardle

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// RE:PURPOSE //

Presented by No Longer Empty, curated by Tara de la Garza
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RE-PURPOSE took over a small storefront space in the Lower East Side, examining the notion of repurposing objects, ideas and images. Tracey Moffatt’s video collage, Doomed comprising of edited found footage. Janet Nolan’s sculptures were repeated singular objects recycled from the everyday world, such as hundreds of broken umbrellas installed in the space. Corinne Kamiya asked us to Trade Your Pants and in exchange she made the trader a new object such as a hat, bag or apron.

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