Purple Art

[June 3 2014]

“170 Suffolk” Curated by Abeline Cohen, Andrew Kass, and Sean Vegezzi, New York

170 Suffolk is a group exhibition in a large transitional garage that is approaching renovation, located in the Lower East Side. Abeline Cohen, Andrew Kass and Sean Vegezzi have curated a collection of site-specific works born of a new generation of New York artists.

The curators challenged the artists to celebrate their practice while taking direct inspiration from the derelict location. Despite widely disparate mediums, there is an overarching theme of childhood nostalgia being caged by the industrial space. This is contrasted with minimalist and abstract works expanding the possibilities of the same environment. The tension between an existential gab and expressive experimentation resonates throughout the exhibition. Propelled further by the whirring fans of Cody Ranaldo’s electric installation, the insecure dialogues between female friends in Abeline Cohen’s piece, and the hole in the ceiling by Keefe Butler. 170 Suffolk presents a unique mix of freedom and constraint, as if questioning the price of possibility.

This exhibition closes on Friday, June 6th. Text and Photo Elise Gallant