The artist’s first comprehensive solo show in the United States with his acclaimed SUBURBAN exhibition, deconstructing the American suburbs.
On view May 21st - May 30th
136 Bowery, New York, NY
Opening Reception: May 20th, 6pm-9pm
Standard Practice Gallery is proud to present the American premiere of Australian-artist Ian Strange’s acclaimed exhibition SUBURBAN in a pop-up exhibition located at 136 Bowery
from May 21st - 30th, 2016. Cinematic in both tone and scale, SUBURBAN investigates the iconography surrounding the family home and its place in the current economic climate. The exhibition presents eight large-scale photographic works and a multi-channel, surround sound video installation. This work documents site-specific interventions undertaken by Strange directly incorporating suburban homes in Ohio, Detroit, Alabama, New Jersey, New York and New Hampshire. These involved painting on to, and in some cases, burning houses to the ground. Strange worked with his production team to meticulously document these interventions in film and photography.
Strange created SUBURBAN over two years working with a film crew and volunteers across the United States. This exhibition marks the debut of this body of work to American audiences where the project was originally conceived. Each of the homes that served as canvases for Strange’s interventions were scheduled for demolition, abandoned due to economic hardships or demographic shifts in the neighborhoods they stood in. By repurposing these signifiers of failed stability as artworks, Strange articulated his own conflicted relationship with suburbia and our universal understanding of the home:
“For me, the home is a place of security” says Strange, “and to see it as a vulnerable object, to see it destroyed, disappeared or subverted, plays with the reality of its impermanence. It undermines the larger concept of stability that is emotionally resonant in a home.”
Strange’s exploration of suburban experience forms the thematic thread that binds together an ongoing body of work which has seen the creation of large scale projects incorporating suburban homes in the US, Poland, New Zealand and Australia. These works have been exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria, Canterbury Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Strange has on-going bodies of work being created through Ohio’s rust-belt region and in New York to be completed in 2016/2017.
Australian born and Brooklyn based, Strange’s practice includes large-scale multifaceted projects resulting in; photography, sculpture,installation, site-specific interventions, film works and exhibitions. His studio practice includes painting, drawing and on-going research projects.
Standard Practice is a NY based artist run initiative providing a platform for exhibition and discourse around the work of exceptional young artists. It was founded in 2015 by Jessie English and Eric Feigenbaum.
Ian Strange: SUBURBAN is presented by Standard Practice in a pop-up exhibition at 136 Bowery, New York. It runs daily 10pm - 6pm from May 21st - 30th, 2016 with the exhibition opening event held Friday May 20th from 6pm - 9pm and a panel discussion being held on Sunday, May 22nd at 2:30pm.
Follow @nonnonstandard and @Ian_Strange on Instagram and via the hashtag #SuburbanProject
Join the Facebook event here
For more information on Ian Strange and his work visit www.IanStrange.com