Being There, a group pop-up exhibition at 526 W 26th St #310, New York, NY 10010 (Elga Wimmer Gallery) February 14th through March 15th, 2014
Amy Lipton is pleased to present Being There, a pop-up group exhibition with artists Joan Bankemper, David Chow, Simon Draper, Fariba Hajamadi, Joy Garnett, Chrysanne Stathacos, Roy Staab and Marion Wilson.
A conversation with the artists and G. Roger Denson will take place on Saturday March 8th at 3pm. For further information about these artists please go to: http://www.liptonarts.com/
The exhibition title refers to the 1970 novel by Jerzy Kosinski and subsequent 1979 film directed by Hal Ashby starring Peter Sellars as Chance the Gardener. The film as well as the exhibition can be seen as a meditation on being present, or being at the right place at the right time. Chance, a simple gardener, unwittingly becomes a much sought after political pundit and commentator on contemporary life. As in the 2014 art world, the 1979 film makes the case that having the right look, speaking in platitudes and having rich and powerful friends bestows a sense of authority whether deserved or not.
Being There also refers to Lipton’s return to the NYC art gallery scene almost 20 years after the close of Amy Lipton Gallery in SoHo. The art works included in Being There are not tied together thematically, although all of the artists have exhibited in Lipton’s gallery or in one of her curated exhibitions over the years. Lipton turned to “Chance the Gardener” in selecting the work for this exhibition. The visual and conceptual connections between the works, if any, are driven by chance operations at work.
Amy Lipton gave hundreds of emerging artists their first exhibitions in her gallery and many have become internationally acclaimed including Polly Apfelbaum, Sue Williams, Amy Sillman, Karen Finley, Carol Szymanski, Mel Chin, Bing Wright and Michael St. John. Since 1999 Lipton has been working as an independent curator and as co-director of ecoartspace, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising environmental awareness through the arts. She frequently lectures on this topic and curates exhibitions for museums, university galleries, non-profits, sculpture parks, environmental centers and in the public realm.
Being There is dedicated to the memory of Nancy Lipton, 1932-2014.
“In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.” Chance the Gardener, Being There.
For more information contact: Amy Lipton at liptonarts@gmail.com