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Email PageSix Degrees of Separation
June 5, 2007- July 7, 2007
Reception: June 7, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Curtis Carman, Jayson Keeling, Ivan Monforte, Ramdasha Bikceem, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Leidy Churchman, Donnie & Travis
Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art
Paul Sharpe Projects: 547 W 27th StThe curating of the show takes an unusual tack as the gallery director/curator, Paul Sharpe, asked Curtis Carman if he would participate in a social experiment that would in itself cause the selection of artists. Curtis was asked to choose an artist to show along side him. This artist (Jayson Keeling) was asked to choose the next and so on. Since the project space is designed to show seven works of art, this created six separations. Drawing on the colloquialism that everyone seems to know everyone through someone, the seven works of art are connected in a daisy chain fashion starting with a drawing by Curtis Carman and ending with a painting by Donnie & Travis. The connections between and a brief biographical statement for each artist appear below.
Six Degrees of Separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances. The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains." Sociologist Stanley Milgram devised a way to test the theory in 1967, which he called "the small-world problem." He randomly selected people in the mid-West to send packages to a stranger located in Massachusetts. Although the participants expected the chain to include at least a hundred intermediaries, it only took on average between five and seven intermediaries to get each package delivered. Milgram's findings were published in Psychology Today and inspired the phrase "six degrees of separation." Playwright John Guare popularized the phrase when he chose it as the title for his 1990 play. In 1993 a film was released of the same name starring Stockard Channing and Will Smith.
Since Gay Pride in New York is usually held in June, it was decided as a part of the curatorial premise that each of the artists should be gay, lesbian, transgender, or bi-sexual in keeping with this important celebration of diversity. New York‚s Stonewall Inn helped pave the way for acceptance of peoples regardless of their sexual orientation. Both in the days before one could be safely „out‰ and after, relationships are often formed by one person introducing a friend or an acquaintance to another friend. In that spirit, Paul Sharpe Projects presents „Six Degrees of Separation‰ both as a nod to queer accomplishment in terms of a small survey of very talented artist who are queer and as an insight into a linear series of acquaintances and friends in New York today.
Remarkably, the show brings together a diverse group of artists working in various media but who all share a high degree of professionalism and accomplishment. Most of the seven have been noted in The New York Times; one participates in the Whitney Independent Studio Program; two have attended Skowhegan; and all have had their work included in prestigious gallery and museum exhibitions. Five of the artists were included in the Do You Think I‚m Disco exhibition at the Longwood Arts Project in the Bronx.
In a city that thrives on insider information and where one hopes to find the perfect rent-controlled apartment through a friend; this show provides a glimpse into an exciting group of younger and emerging artists who may form the next „New York‰ school of their generation.
Images and a checklist for the exhibition will be available shortly as much of the work in the show is being made specifically for the Project Space.
Connection - Curtis Carman was introduced to Paul Sharpe through Robert Appleton several years ago. Robert Appleton is an artist represented by Paul Sharpe.
CURTIS CARMAN Curtis Carman is a drag conceptual artist. Recent work includes sculpture and installations that integrate new media and performance into an overall experience. He was included in 99¢ Artwork Inspired by 99 Cent Stores, presented by Victory Hall and the Jersey City Museum at Victory Hall Cultural Center, curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado. He did a solo installation for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council‚s Swing Space, participated in Longwood Projects Do You Think I‚m Disco exhibition, and contributed a video to MIX, New York City‚s Gay and Lesbian Underground Film Festival. Carman received his MFA in Sculpture from Hunter College in 2006.
Connection ˆ Curtis met Jayson at Longwood Arts Center in the Bronx where they appeared in the Do You Think I‚m Disco, show in 2006.
JAYSON KEELING Keeling‚s work may be seen in the current exhibit entitled Here and Elsewhere organized by Joao Ribas at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, where he is a recent graduate of their Artist in the Marketplace program.
Connection ˆ Jayson met Ivan through Ramdasha Bikceem..
IVAN MONFORTE Ivan Monforte is a NYC-based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in video, performance, printmaking, and embroidery. His art uses simple gestures and materials, as well as emotional language and content, as strategic tools to address themes of loss and mourning, representations of gender, race and sexuality, as well as the pursuit of love. His is a recipient of a UCLA Art Council Award and a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Longwood Arts Project; at Artists Space as part of PERFORMA05; the Bronx Museum of Art, Queens Museum of Art and the Elizabeth Foundation Gallery, all in New York City. He will be featured in the upcoming exhibition, "S-files," at El Museo del Barrio.
Connection ˆ Ivan met Ramdasha when she was the DJ, Designer Imposter, at a reception at the DL: The Down Low in Contemporary Art, curated by Edwin Ramoran for the Longwood Art Gallery Bronx, NY in 2003 and realized they shared a connection to Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, which they both attended Ivan in different years. In a circular connection, Ivan was introduced to Jason through Ramdasha.
RAMDASHA BIKCEEM Ramdasha Bikceem‚s work touches on the subject of the apocalypse and paradise. Referencing gay club culture and marginalization. How does one create spaces to escape? How does one create a bunker of paradise in a time of war? Her work lives in space of fantasy with a hint of doom. Her work was included in Do You Think I‚m Disco in 2006 and also Pink Slips & Golden Parachutes, curated by Lori Salmon in 2003.
Connection ˆ Ramdasha and Ginger met through the magical world of queer punk New York. Its hard to pin down an exact moment, but Ginger remembers Ramdasha DJing at DUMBA around the time when she was new in New York, but maybe this is just imagination.
GINGER BROOKS TAKAHASHI Ginger Brooks Takahashi lives in New York, maintaining a social project-based art practice collaborating with kindred spirits. Among them, LTTR, a queer and feminist art journal, and projet MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE, a traveling exhibit of artist books and e-magazines. LTTR has presented public projects at The Generali Foundation, The Kitchen, Art In General, and Printed Matter and it received Printed Matter‚s Emerging Artist Publication Award in 2005. Takahashi is currently a student in the Whitney Independent Study Program and plays violin and bass guitar with a band called „The Ballet‰. She has exhibited at numerous venues including Artists Space, New York; Art Metropole, Toronto; La Centrale, Montreal; Space 1026, Philadelphia; and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
Connection ˆ Ginger met Leidy in 2004 when Leidy contributed to LTTR #1, „Lesbians to the Rescue‰, which coincided with Leidy moving to New York City. Oddly enough, Leidy borrowed Paul Sharpe‚s couch for an installation at Art In General; the couch was mentioned in Art Forum magazine.
LEIDY CHURCHMAN Leidy Churchman is a young transsexual, young painter, young lover. Churchman appeared in LTTR HQ at Art In General in 2004 and has collaborated on numerous occasions with Ginger Brooks Takahashi.
Connection ˆ Leidy met Donnie & Travis when Ginger Brooks Takahashi and Travis Boyer curated „Flex Your Textiles‰ at John Connelly Presents.
DONNIE & TRAVIS Working in collaboration, Don Felix Cervantes and Travis Boyer create photo-based works on silk that are embellished with textile dyes and embroidery. The subjects are solitary situated in metaphysical landscapes. The works speak to the body and its physical degeneration. Their process combines the mechanical and the handmade to create unique works between portraiture and allegory. Donnie & Travis had their first solo show at John Connelly Presents in June/July 2006.
In a small world scenario, Curtis Carman‚s first thought was to choose visual and performance artist Robert Appleton for this show, but as Curtis, Robert, and Paul already knew each other, he choose Jayson. Robert Appleton recently appeared in a group show at Le Jungle in February 2007 along side Donnie & Travis, but I don‚t know if they met each other.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art was last updated: 2008-10-11
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