Summer 2009 Opening Reception at Art in General
Friday, May 29, 2009
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
79 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
Celebrate the new exhibitions at Art in General with New Commissions artists Josh Melnick and Julia Oldham.
The 8 Train
Josh Melnick
Through an extensive collection of slow motion black-and-white videos, Josh Melnick’s The 8 Train takes advantage of cutting edge scientific video technology to re-examine the function of portraiture. Set against the familiar backdrop of the New York City subway, Melnick’s split-second portraits of New York City subway riders extend a fraction of real time in the life of each rider for several minutes, creating an ethereal sense of suspended time somewhere between photographic stillness and cinematic motion. In The 8 Train, Melnick explores portraiture as a means of reorienting our perception of human relationships. Viewers are invited into the intimate textures and narratives of strangers from all walks of life, each of whom could be any one of us.
Josh Melnick is a graduate of Yale University. Formally trained in sculpture, Melnick began his career in film editing and directing. His work has been featured in film festivals around the world; he has twice taken part in RES, and twice taken part at Cannes. His music videos have garnered multiple MVPA and MTV nominations. In 2008, Melnick was selected for the Art in General New Commissions program; in 2009 he was awarded the ARC Grant from the Durfee foundation. This is his first solo exhibition.
The Timber
Julia Oldham
In The Timber Julia Oldham explores her fascination with bug culture through a combination of performance and video art. Oldham’s creations utilize her body’s physical presence to examine the conflict between unity and disharmony all human beings struggle with in relation to nature. Shooting her videos outdoors in the wilderness, she takes on the role of the insect, using her appendages to replicate the movements and respond to the sounds these creatures make during climactic life moments. Oldham’s art re-contextualizes the human relationship with nature, drawing attention to our competing responses of curiosity and repulsion when confronted with the insect world and relating them to our struggles between empathy for and alienation from nature.
Julia Oldham received a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Chicago in 2005. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, IL; The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA; and Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. Her work has been supported by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; Artadia, the Fund for Art and Dialogue; and Art in General in New York. In October, 2009, she will participate in the Blue Mountain Center Residency in the Adirondacks.
The 8 Train and The Timber are both part of Art in General’s New Commissions Program, which is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; The National Endowment for the Arts; the Jerome Foundation; and Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro.
