Exhibition Page: https://www.neptuneinjune.com/events/i-split-the-dream Location: Studio 9D, 508 W. 26th St, #9D, New York, NY 10001

- Exhibition on View: September 1st - 14th, Open daily 2-6 pm. Visitors on Sundays must use the elevator entrance at 526 W 26th st. - Reception: September 5th , 6-9 pm - Poetry + Music Night: September 11th, 6-8 pm

"I Split the Dream" draws focus to the mechanics of historical memory and optical modes for displacing the viewer. A bifurcated sense of American identity surfaces through objects and land that have borne witness to or have been tools in the creation of American myths. The exhibition features work by Matt Coombs, Anna Gregor, Annie Grossinger, Petros Lales, Nicole Mouriño, Supermrin, and Dave Walsh. Represented mediums include painting, digital installation, biodegradable sculpture, documentary photography, archival images, and heirlooms.

Gregor's intimately scaled paintings of gold-gilded glass pull from the tradition of Western icon painting and are concerned with the psychology of sight. Reflections and transparencies fragment or multiply space between the painting, its viewer, and its art historical lineage. Lales' digital installation uses the contemporary self-portrait to comment on the role of technology in preserving memory and forming one's public identity. The mounted camera's high refresh rate produces an image of self that is ever-current, causing the space between memory and instant to close. Mouriño's storefront window paintings speak of the limbo space between reflection and interior. Details that might pinpoint the viewer to a specific street shimmer across the glass, while familiar food products and advertisements behind the windows spark a broader discussion about nourishment and ownership for the communities that gather in these comforting spaces.

Coombs' augmented landscapes emphasize the chemical interventions and colonial histories that are deeply embedded in his home region of rural Central New York. He uses invented imagery and abstraction to explore the emotional adaptability that accompanies interventions into the natural world. Walsh's paintings of half-tended or abandoned campfires employ acts of omission to challenge the myths of untouched nature that were propagated throughout 19th-century frontier painting and the establishment of the National Parks. He unveils the violent foundations upon which our contemporary notions of masculinity and wilderness are constructed. Supermrin's bioplastic sculptures are formed using genetically modified invasive grasses that are a popular choice on the American lawn. Informed by architecture and historically-selective materials, the work explores how our conceptions of nature are shaped by colonial narratives.

In collaboration with Daylight Books, we are pleased to feature work by Annie Grossinger, from her recently published photo book, Serpent Tongue. Through documentary photography and archival materials, Grossinger dissects family lore and contradicting narratives that shape her grandfather’s role in destabilizing the Guatemalan government during the height of the Cold War. This personal quest folds into the larger story of the following Guatemalan Civil War and the United States' increased control over resources in the region.

508 W. 26th St Map
917-924-1622