jade townsend news: duke riley

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Art in the Age of Political Absurdity

I'm very excited to be a part of this show and get the chance to show Hooray for Progress for the first time in New York City. For a preview of the piece installed at the McNay Museum in San Antonio, click here:

144 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

Monday - Saturday

11am to 6pm

Thursday until 8pm

Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 27, 6−8 PM

On View:
September 28−November 10, 2012

Guest Curators:

Eleanor Heartney and Larry Litt

Just in time for election season, "Party Headquarters: Art in the Age of Political Absurdity" updates the grand tradition of political satire to shine a light on the American psyche in an era of political polarization. Works in a range of media take on the pressing questions of the day, among them the social consequences of greed, the corrosive effects of money and religion in politics, the contradictory aspirations embodied by the American Dream, and the destructive outcome of unquestioning faith in American exceptionalism. With wit, satire, and passion, the artists in this show urge us to acknowledge both the strengths and the follies of contemporary America and ask if we are living up to our own best beliefs.

Artists:

Donna Catanzaro

Enrique Chagoya

Michael D'Antuono

Sally Edelstein

Jerry Kearns

Ian Laughlin

Kara Maria

Greta Pratt

Duke Riley

Peter Saul

Federico Solmi

Jade Townsend

Mark Wagner

Martin Wilner

In conjunction with the exhibition, a New York Mobile Voter Registration Center designed by artist Duke Riley (M.F.A '08) will tour the streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

Our fifth annual Pratt Falls political caberet, produced by Larry Litt, will take place in the gallery on October 16, October 30 and November 6 at 7pm.

Please visit www.pratt.edu/exhibitions for more information.

Image credits (left to right): Michael D'Antuono, American Pie, 2010, oil on canvas, 42 x 46 inches; Greta Pratt, "Rodney Parker", from the series Liberty Wavers, 2010-2012, photographic installation, 22 x 28 inches.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Dead Horse Inn

For the past 3 weeks we've been helping Duke Riley re-build the Dead Horse Inn. Guests were dropped off on the edge of the Belt parkway and led through the woods to the tavern to partake in drinks for a nickel, steamed mussels, boxing and the usual hijinx. Below are some snapshots of the build-out and set up. Here is what Duke has to say about it:

This is not an art project. Well…not really.

My birthday is this week and it is also the 5th anniversary of the Dead Horse Inn, which will re-open for one night, this Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

HISTORY
From 1891 to 1907, Plumb Island was occupied by a group of homesteaders who set up a series of shacks and tents that eventually developed into bars and inns. Because the island was outside New York City’s jurisdiction, alcohol and tobacco were tax-free. In 1907, the US army was sent by the city to break up the party and evict the homesteaders. The land was then leased to former judge Winfield Overton, who allowed the homesteaders to return shortly after his arrival. The judge quickly declared himself ruler of the island and began organizing boxing matches, which were also illegal in New York at the time. The US military was then called again to “depose the dictator” they had unwittingly installed.
In the 1930s, Robert Moses evicted the last homesteaders, demolished all of the remaining structures, and connected the island to the mainland by a strip of highway and a bridge now known as Exit 9B on the Belt Parkway, turning it into a run-down rest stop with public bathrooms. In recent years, the island’s parking area has become a regular rendezvous for swingers, and the surrounding woods have become a cruising spot for gay men.

MISSION
The Dead Horse Inn is a temporary bar that exists for only one night every five years, providing diversion, libation, and fresh crabs for a nickel. It was built from the excavated ruins of the shantytown that actually occupied the island from 1891 to 1935 and reclaimed flotsam from the surrounding area. It is meant to draw a connection between the current lay of the land and the similarly transgressive spirit of its former inhabitants. Plumb Island has always been a place where people socialize in ways otherwise prohibited in New York City. The human condition unfolds outside prescribed social boundaries, reacting and looking for free spaces, creating culture on the fringe of the city, where the land meets the water.