Primary is proud to present Can't Wait to Meet You, a group exhibition featuring works by Chris Bogia, Szabolcs Bozó, Emilia Brintnall, Jon Burgerman, Wells Chandler, Misaki Kawai, Tim Lahan, Dan McCarthy, Hunter Potter, Adam Parker Smith, Felix Treadwell, Typoe, and James Ulmer.
Konrad Lorenz explains that certain physical features activate our evolutionary need to take care of and protect our children. His proposed concept of Kindchenschema influences our feelings towards everything from puppies to inanimate objects. How does contemporary art, described as faux-naif or childish fantasy, utilize these disarming and accessible qualities to subvert or alter accepted norms?
These days, simply by whispering the word baby to a loved one, the all-powerful algorithms overhear and begin to bombard our devices with the entire gamut of childhood cuteness and new age ideas on parenting.
Since a child was rapidly becoming our new reality, it was only natural that we would begin to discuss baby's first art exhibition. We wondered how that experience would feel. We aim to present works from artists who have no fear of expressing the truth about the world surrounding them, which includes artists capable of capturing the vulnerable moments of transition from adolescence and imagery made by, or for, children for purposes of nostalgia and simple freedom.
Can't Wait to Meet You is an exhibition assembled in preparation for, in response to, and in anticipation of the latest addition to our gang. A celebration of the vast cycle that is life, inclusive, and welcoming to everyone.
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Opens:
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Noon - 7 PM
Looking forward to having you by for a visit.
When joining us, please be safe and wear a mask.
Thank you.
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Chris Bogia received his MFA from Yale University and his BA from New York University. Bogia was a recent recipient of the Jackson Pollock - Lee Krasner Foundation Grant; a Queens Council for the Arts, New Works Grant; as well as a Rema Hort Mann Foundation Artist Community Engagement Grant. He was also an artist in residence at the Queens Museum Studio Program from 2017-2018. Recent exhibitions include Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA; The Bureau of General Services: Queer Division, Bravin Lee, Kate Werble, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, and the New Museum, New York, Mrs., Maspeth, and Ortega y Gasset, Brooklyn, NY. Bogia is the co-founder of Fire Island Artist Residency, the world’s first LGBTQ artist residency
Szabolcs Bozó was born in Pécs (Hungary), His practice experiments with the borders between painting and drawing and often uses childlike, animalistic elements in his work. He has participated in the artistic and curatorial residency program L21xFundación Camper. His work has been exhibited in contemporary art fairs such as ARCO Madrid and Art Brussels. He has participated in exhibitions such as L21 Gallery, Palma, Ramp Gallery, London, and Semiose Gallery, Paris. He now lives and works in London, UK.
Emilia Brintnall lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a member of the artist gallery and studio Space 1026. Working in a variety of mediums, she primarily works in papier–mâché producing sculpture. Her sculptural work encompasses everyday objects, animals, and plants that are lumpy, seemingly playful versions of their real-world selves. Though apparently quotidian, Emilia’s sculptures function as fantasy hybrids: objects that are vessels which she uses to explore the space between what she encounters in daily life and her imagination. Her works have been included in exhibitions at Salon 94, New York, NY, Museum of San Ramon, San Ramon, Costa Rica, and The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA,
Jon Burgerman is a UK born, NYC based artist instigating improvisation and play through drawing and spectacle. His work is placed between fine art, urban art and pop-culture, using humor to reference and question his contemporary milieu. His pervasive and instantly recognizable aesthetic has been included in exhibitions at the Southbank Centre London, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Neurotitan Berlin, 798 District Beijing, Madre Museum, Naples, and M Contemporary Museum, Seoul. He has received a Cannes Lions Advertising award, two D&AD Silver award nominations and has collaborated with brands that include: Apple, Instagram, Snapchat, Samsung, Pepsi, CocaCola, Nike, Disney, Sesame Workshop, BBC, Puma, Levis and Rip Curl.
Wells Chandler (American, b.1985) is a Bronx based artist who explores ecology, community, gender and queer iconography through the mediums of crochet, embroidery, drawing and cake. He received his MFA from Yale University in 2011 where he was awarded the Ralph Mayer Prize for proficiency in materials and techniques. From 2016-17 he was a recipient of the Sharpe Walentas Studio Program. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Diablo Rosso (Panama City, Panama), Galerie Eric Mouchet (Paris, France), Mrs. (Maspeth, NY), Union Gallery (London, England), and Andrew Rafacz (Chicago, IL). Recent group exhibitions include Choi and Lager (Cologne, Germany), Nathalie Karg (New York, NY), Marinaro Gallery, (New York, NY), Crush Curatorial (New York, NY), Dio Horia (Mykonos, Greece), Kate Werble Gallery (New York, NY), and 11R (New York, NY). His work has been reviewed by Roxane Gay, Art Forum, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, The Huffington Post, TimeOut, Modern Painters, Maake Magazine, Two Coats of Paint and AEQAI. Chandler is a Visiting Assistant Professor at SUNY Purchase.
Misaki Kawai (b. 1978 Osaka, Japan) lives and works between New York & Osaka. Using materials gathered from travels in Asia and abroad and incorporates them into her world of whimsy by turning drawings into paintings, sculptures into wall works, sketches into furniture, and transmitting simple materials into new characters. Playful, basic and repeated imagery inspires us to read shapes and forms in a new way and to see unexpected things in the everyday. Kawai’s practice runs the gamut of media, taking shape on canvas, in freestanding sculpture, on wall-mounted papier-mâché constructions and on the smiling pet rocks she sells on her website. Regardless of medium, Misaki’s work gently but incisively prods at the bizarre minutiae of contemporary culture, lampooning it with a disarming sweetness. Born in Osaka, Japan and currently living between Osaka and New York, Misaki’s work was in two exhibitions last year at The Hole, Booby Trap, and her own solo show, Cave Life, as well as in group shows at Dio Hora in Greece and Flower Pepper Gallery in California, and Moja Moja Life for the NGV Triennial.
Tim Lahan is an artist, designer, and illustrator born in Pennsylvania and based in San Francisco, CA. Lahan has received a Young Guns award by The Art Director's Club and has been celebrated by PRINT as a New Visual Artist. His work has been exhibited in the US and Seoul, Korea though Albus Gallery and can be found in the permanent collections of the MoMA Library and the New York Public Library. Lahan has collaborated on projects with select clients like Nike, Google, Sub Pop, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vice, Elle, Vanity Fair, Coachella, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, GQ, Fader, The Washington Post, Pitchfork, Cosmopolitan, and Modern Farmer.
Dan McCarthy (American, b.1962) is known for his playful, inventive artwork. His paintings feature loose brushwork and cheerful palettes, and his ceramics display sculpted smiley faces, each with distinctive personality. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Huntington Beach in Southern California, and cites the colors of these landscapes as a lasting influence on his work. He went on to study at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he received his BFA in 1984. From the age of 15 to 20, he worked on fishing boats around Southern California, all while continuing to paint.
McCarthy has exhibited his work internationally, including Anton Kern Gallery in New York, Annet Gelink Gallery in Amsterdam, Galeria Marta Cervera in Madrid, and Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve in Paris, among others. His works are included in collections with ICA Miami, Florida, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, The Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens, Greece, and Musee d’Arte Moderne de Paris, Paris, France. McCarthy has been the subject of several published monographs, including Dan McCarthy in 2007, It’s Always Summer on the Inside in 2012, and Facepots in 2015.
Hunter Potter (b. 1990 Syracuse, NY) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Acquired a BA with honors in Studio Art from the University of Vermont as a Presidential Scholarship recipient. His work has been exhibited with Richard Heller Gallery; Los Angeles, CA, Public Gallery; London, UK, Galeria Fran Reus; Palma De Mallorca, ES, KONIG GALERIE; Berlin, DE, Allouche Benias Gallery; Athens, GR, Marian Cramer Projects; Amsterdam, NL. He has attended residencies with The Fores Project – London, UK, PLOP Residency – London, UK, Sam and Adele Golden Foundation℠ for the Arts, Inc. – New Berlin, NY, and the Vermont Studio Center – Johnson, VT as a Roger Smith Artist Fellowship recipient.
Adam Parker Smith - (b. in United States in 1978) Adam Parker Smith is a New York-based sculptor. He attended Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. His work has been shown widely in the USA as well as internationally in galleries and museums including, Urbis, Manchester, England, Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg, the Brooklyn Museum, Derek Eller, New York, The Hole, New York, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco, Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, Galerie Sho Contemporary, Tokyo, the Times Museum, Guangzhou, China, Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, Austria, and the Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE.
Felix Treadwell (b. Maidstone, England, 1992) often uses fictional characters who perform everyday actions in his paintings. Treadwell studied art at Camberwell College of Arts and later specialized in painting at the Royal College of Art, where he graduated in 2018. He has received awards such as the HIX Award (2014) and participated as an artist in residence at the L21xCamper Foundation (2018). In recent years, his work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions such as “Good Good, Double Good”, Lewisham Art House (London, 2017), “Hand Luggage”, Pierre Pourmet (Bordeaux, 2018), “Fatal Attraction”, Thames-Side Studios, (London, 2018) or “There’s Something About Painting”, Tatjana Pieters Gallery, (Gent, 2019). His solo exhibitions include “Rupert and Friends”, Union Gallery, Bethnal Green (London, 2017), “Dark Age”, L21 Gallery (Palma, 2018) or “Community”, LTD Los Angeles, (LA, 2019)
Typoe (b. Miami, 1983) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice plays upon the constant tension between the dark recesses of the urban underground and the shimmering bling of celebrity. With both gravitas and irreverence his work might be regarded as a contemporary memento mori with a smile. Typoe’s work evolves in response to a given situation or environment and he often works with gunpowder, fire, plastic, spray paint and found objects in the creation of his works and installations., the messenger that while laughing, points to hypocrisy and excess while announcing the melancholy of time lost. Based in Miami, Typoe has participated in gallery and museum shows around the world and exhibited his work in Mexico City, Mexico, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Basel ,Switzerland.
James Ulmer (Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) acquired a BFA in Illustration and Design at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia and while James Ulmer’s drawings may evoke memories of childhood innocence, their complexity and precision belie the notions of simplicity or nostalgia. Beautifully and carefully made, they convey both his talents as a draftsman, and his understanding of how to convey emotion. Ulmer graduated from the University of the Arts in 2005 with a degree in Illustration and Design and was awarded the Thorton Oakly Medal by the Society of Illustrators. Ulmer was a member of the Philadelphia’s legendary Space 1026 Collective from 2008-2011. Ulmer has exhibited work with select galleries; Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, New York, Plus One Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium, Amala Gallery. Tokyo. Japan, Carl Kostyal Gallery. Malmo. Sweden, Salon 94. New York. NY, Leftfield Gallery. San Luis Obispo. CA, Eighteen Gallery. Copenhagen. Denmark, Eric Firestone Gallery. East Hampton. NY
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Primary. (Est. in 2007) is a context & research-driven curatorial collective with a focus on public arts. Located in Little River, Miami, our private residence explores modern ideas on the subject of live/work, connecting new voices in contemporary art with growing audiences & collections.
For further information, please contact info@thisisprimary.com