Domesticated: Exploring the internal conflicts of household responsibilities, gender roles, creative expression, and ambition
An exhibit curated by Abby Graf Subak, Director of Arts Gowanus
October 15, 2016-January 28, 2017
The Old Stone House at Washington Park
336 3rd Street, Brooklyn (between 3-4 Sts. and 4-5 Aves.)
Exhibiting Artists: Liza Cassidy, Paul Gagner, Sara Jones, Tara Kopp, Susan Newmark, Abby Subak, and Jessica Weiss.
The exhibiting contemporary artists struggle with balancing the upkeep of their daily lives and quotidien chores, and their desire to make a contribution to a broader society. These artworks explore these tensions through examining relationships to the space we live in, architecturally, decoratively, and psychically. They reflect a tension between interior and exterior, literally and figuratively, and the struggle to find balance and respect for each. They also grapple with the interior psychological space of home and gender roles. Literal depictions of household chores are found in the works of Liza Cassidy, Tara Kopp, and Abby Graf Subak. Decorative elements of the home represent confinement and sometimes confusion, yet also beauty, in the work of Sara Jones, Susan Newmark, and Jessica Weiss. Attempts to make sense of the physical and architectural space is found in the work of Sara Jones and Paul Gagnier. The repetition of domestic and decorative patterns permeates the show, paralleling the repetition of daily chores that are never finished, as artists seek to create meaning from this repetition, particularly in the works of Liza Cassidy, Sara Jones, Susan Newmark, Jessica Weiss.