New York, New York, November 23, 2020 – The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundationis pleased to present support structures, a virtual group exhibition curated by danilomachado featuring artists from Art Beyond Sight’s Art and Disability Residency (ADR).
The artists in the exhibition – Lizzy De Vita, Michael DiFeo, Zoey Hart, Terry Huber,Alex Dolores Salerno, michelle miles, e.e. miller, and Sandra Wazaz – consider the presence, absence, and maintenance of support structures as a catalyst for each of their practices across a range of media and disciplines. Originally conceived as an in-person exhibition at The 8th Floor gallery earlier this year, due to Covid-19 the artistshave adapted and created new work, restructuring the physical exhibition into a virtual one.
Envisioning sustainable lives involves many kinds of support structures, whether physical and architectural, or social and emotional. These bolster the foundations upon which we build, nourish, and grow in our lives. Interdependency can become a site of creation, while also enabling individuals to support themselves and each other with responsibility and care. These gestures, often political, are central to Disability Justice,aesthetics, and community. Throughout this exhibition, the artists consider the many meanings of support and structure, centering on embodiment, language, and materiality.
Entry points to the theme of support structures are varied, with several artists utilizing film, video, and digital media in their practice. Film is the initial reference for Zoey Hart, whose project Kindness of Strangers (Rerendered), 2019-2020, appropriates and manipulates the final scene from the 1951 adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, where Blanche DuBois – played by Vivien Leigh – addresses a doctor with the line “Whoever you are… I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Hart recombines and slowly glitches the 24-second clip to create a triptychof altered stills, interrogating what it means to depend, who is identified as a stranger,and the role of kindness in the context of support(s).
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Zoey A Hart 