LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
Yayoi Kusama
Pumpkin(G), 1992
Screenprint
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
Godess with Diadem (magenta), 2016
Oil on linen
48 x 36 in
LAUNCH F18, New York
December 14 - January 18, 2020
Pocky Please, 2019
Acrylic, glitter, rhinestones, and paper on canvas
36 x 48 in
LAUNCH F18 is delighted to present My Hollywood Mirror, a three-person exhibition including work by Yayoi Kusama, Chason Matthams and Rachael Tarravechia. The exhibition opens on Saturday, December 14 from 6-9 PM and is on view through January 18, 2020.
As one sits before a vanity mirror they reflect, create, and transform. The moments spent while sitting in front of the mirror are those detached from the regular or everyday. These are instances where life seemingly becomes separated particles in which one can choose to look at or hide away from. It is reality, but with a distorted reflection, turning and inducing our attention completely to ourselves.
Throughout the works within My Hollywood Mirror, are threads of constructed social, cultural and historical identities that beautifully form moments of human connection. What may seem to be a moment of voyeurism can also be recognized as playful. It is partly a recognition of ourselves, as well as the connection to others that these pieces take us to.
Similar to the layers of makeup, of masking, building up or completely removing, the multidimensional components of My Hollywood Mirror take from those notions of a created identity. The green of the Yayoi Kusama pumpkin, pulling with the green backdrop of the wall that it’s set upon, or Chason Matthams nearly pixelated amalgamations weaving around his works, are visual cues stacked upon one another in symbolic forms. Representative deep within these works is the accumulation of an overall optimism, a whimsical representation which like a mirror can be viewed many different ways and in many different lights.
This playful notion is also evident within the sculptures and paintings by Rachael Tarravechia. As she combines painting with mixed media, there is both an appreciation for skill and a refined delicacy with the gentlest touch of her hand. We place ourselves in front of the mirror as we prepare for the day, or contemplate the week, fixing our features for perfection. In a similar way Tarravechia fixes rhinestones and patterned materials to the multiple surfaces she works with, whether it is a can of seltzer or a large canvas, each piece includes a precise and glamorous addition.
My Hollywood Mirror is a unique reflection within the vastness of contemporary art and human connection. It is at it's core, an exhibition highlighting both the unknown, the spectacle and the everyday. Each element of the room reflects that mirror it appears in, changing ever so slightly through-out the shifts of history and time.
Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan. Her work has been featured widely in both solo and group presentations. She presented her first solo show in her native Japan in 1952. In the mid-1960s, she established herself in New York as an important avant-garde artist by staging groundbreaking and influential happenings, events, and exhibitions. Her work gained widespread recognition in the late 1980s following a number of international solo exhibitions, including shows at the Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, both of which took place in 1989. She represented Japan in 1993 at the 45th Venice Biennale, to much critical acclaim.
Chason Matthams was born 1981 in Pacific Grove, CA. He graduated with a BFA in Fine Art from New York University in 2004 and an MFA from New York University in 2012. Previous group exhibitions include “Byond the Pale,” Interstate, Brooklyn, NY (2014); “Inside the Episode,” LAUNCH F18, New York, NY (2015); “Break Out,” Frédéric de Goldschmidt Collection, Brussels, Belgium (2015); and Cynthia Daignaults “The Certainty of Others,” Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY (2017). Previous solo exhibitions include two at Tyler Wood Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2013, 2019); “Advances, None Miraculous,” Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY (2015); and “A Hell for Rainbows,” Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY (2019). Chason lives and works in New York, NY.
Rachael Tarravechia was born in 1995. She graduated with a BFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018. Previous exhibitions include “While Supplies Last: Restock!,” Amandine Bakeshop, Seattle, WA (2017); “FIX”, Welmont Venues, Savannah, GA (2018); “The Shadowman Meets The Feminine,” Contra Gallery, New York, NY (2018); and “Got It for Cheap,” The Hole, New York, NY (2019). Previous solo exhibitions include “Thank You!!,” (2017) and “All That Glitters,” (2018), Chinatown Soup, New York, NY. Rachael lives and works in Brooklyn.
