Garden Show

curated by Sam Korman
June 3 - July 16

Jason Benson
Tom Burr
Barbara Ess
Alex Felton
Petrova Giberson
Oto Gillen
Dan Graham
Frank Heath
Lena Henke
Elizabeth Jaeger
Elizabeth Orr
Nancy Shaver

Garden Show proposes a metaphor of urban parks. They have been transcendental spaces, corrupt spaces, lonesome spaces, spaces from which the powerful have extracted authority. They are leisure spaces, common spaces, pleasure spaces, spaces defined by a ceaselessly plodding public. They are open and display signs of no-admittance. Parks are a means to understand the progression of an American rhetoric. Like a dream, they register a migration of people and narratives. They suspend an American paradox between the urban and pastoral. They are an on-again-off-again romance with democracy.

Frederick Law Olmsted described his project, Central Park, as “the lungs of the city.” At the time, the city commonly ascribed the cause of poor health to the “miasma” of the city—New York’s vapors caused a contagious delirium of capital that affected an individual at will. Perhaps the air never cleared. There have been numerous migrations throughout the metropolis, and it is often challenging to differentiate sequestration from continual intramural emigration. Like art, however, the parks translate these conditions through a constitutional reverie, which tests and gauges how meaning is made within this democratic garden.

Exhibition essay by Sam Korman here.

Sam Korman is a writer and curator based in New York.

Barbara Ess, Wild Horses (from Surveillance Series), 2009, archival inkjet print, 9 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches

Jason Benson, Seed Ball Café: Kale Bombs, 2016, Collage on found substrates, kale seed balls (powdered clay, kale seeds, organic fertilizer, water), 31 1/4 x 24 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches

Tom Burr, Eight Renovations: A constellation of sites across Manhattan, 1997/2016, Vinyl wall text, Dimensions variable, Edition 1/3

Lena Henke, Boobs, #3A, 2015, Resin, steel, rubber, sand, 12 x 8 x 6 inches

Lena Henke, Boobs, #3A

Petrova Giberson, Triangle, 2016, Rhododendron stick, canvas, watercolor, 44 x 39 1/2 inches, and Triangle, 2016, Rhododendron stick, canvas, watercolor, 52 3/4 x 44 1/2 inches

Petrova Giberson, Yellow, 2016, Canvas, sand from Ohio Street beach Chicago, IL, Dimensions variable

Lena Henke, Untitled, 2016, clay, glaze, plastic, wood, paint, rotating bracket, ceramic: 14 x 7 x 6 inches, ceramic: 8 x 7 x 6 inches, pedestal: 20 x 14 x 12 inches, pedestal: 24 x 14 x 13 inches

Alex Felton, 1/144 MG Ecophagic Apocalypse, 2016, Epoxy clay, styrene, Mr. Super Clear UV Cut, 16 3/4 x 11 x 10 1/2 inches

Dan Graham, Untitled, 1989, Graphite, colored pencil, ink on paper, 19 1/4 x 16 1/4 inches

Barbara Ess, Guys on Corner X Square (from Remote Series), 2011, archival inkjet print, 8 x 10 inches

Tom Burr, Eight Renovations: A constellation of sites across Manhattan

Tom Burr, Eight Renovations: A constellation of sites across Manhattan

Petrova Giberson, Numerous Pieces Of Moveable Furniture, 2016, Canvas, ink, watercolor, sand from Brighton Beach and Rockaway Beach, New York, Dimensions variable

Nancy Shaver, Thin Ticket, 2015, Canvas, dress fabric, flashe acrylic, house paint, oil paste, 12 x 21 inches

Elizabeth Jaeger, Flower 4, 2016, Painted ceramic, 12 inches (dimensions variable)

Elizabeth Jaeger, Flower 2, 2016, Painted ceramic, 12 inches (dimensions variable)

Elizabeth Jaeger, Flower 1, 2016, Painted ceramic, 12 inches (dimensions variable)

Tom Burr, Eight Renovations: A constellation of sites across Manhattan

Lena Henke, Boobs, #3A,

Petrova Giberson, Walls Are / Of White Fur, 2016, Canvas sandbags, Dimensions variable

Barbara Ess, Two Distant Bays (from Surveillance Series), 2010, archival inkjet print, 8 x 10 inches

Elizabeth Orr, MT RUSH Trailer, 2016, HD video, 1:48 loop, Edition 1/2

Elizabeth Orr, MT RUSH Trailer, video still

Elizabeth Orr, MT RUSH Trailer, video still

Dan Graham, Pergola Conservatory, 1987, Diptych: Photo collage on print out; architectural drawing, graphite, ink on tracing paper drawing, 31 3/16 x 25 5/8 x 3/4 inches