ELASTIC BEHAVIOR
Curated by Memory Foam
Opening July 7th, 2018 6-9PM
On View July 7th-July 29th
Saturdays 12-4PM or by appointment
The Java Project
252 Java Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Memory Foam is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition “Elastic Behavior”. The show includes work by the artists Aarati Akkapeddi, Lex Brown, Hernease Davis, Yael Malka, Emma Safir, Kat Shannon, and Sacha Vega.
The name “Memory Foam” serves as a starting point for this exhibition. As a newly formed artist run initiative, Memory Foam began out of a craving for a more meaningful and intimate space for art making, conversation, and story telling. Inundated in an overly stimulated and saturated moment, we are interested in what ideas, works, or stories provide an opportunity to stick and linger. As a material, Memory Foam is recognized for it’s ability to mold to a body, to leave an ephemeral physical imprint of what once touched it before returning completely to it’s original shape and form. The exercise of leaving a mark is an exercise of autonomy, and defining space while also leaving oneself open and vulnerable to change. In this exhibition, we are questioning what it means to leave or be left with an impression.
The artists in this show are examining the multi-definition of the term impression, both as it pertains to the mind and spread of ideas, as well as its relationship to a physical remnant or residue. Some artists present the notion of an impression as a physical experience, one that invites the viewer to participate and consider the power of leaving their own mark or to reflect intimately at the one left by the artist themselves. Others are looking more inwardly, drawing the tension between what impressions we harbor and what ones we provoke. Distinct among all of the work is an active engagement with change or the moment of transition, continually asking the viewer to look and then to look again. Although an impression can be temporary or continual, it is always a reflection of an experience. This exhibition aims to analyze and consider the impact of that vestige and how we exist with what’s left behind.