“A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our souls”. Franz Kafka

Y Gallery is pleased to present Borders, the first New York solo exhibition of artist Ryan Brown, curated by Cecilia Jurado. For this show the artist creates a collection of meticulously hand crafted books that form his personal library. However these books are not meant to be read, they offer nothing more than stimulating covers. The books work as mirrors and their contents reside solely in the imagination of the viewer.

The whole working process is a statement against the quick and trivial cycle of mass media reproduction and distribution. Our access to knowledge has become infinite and unlimited but at the same time equally superficial. On one small screen we can experience a universe of material and subject matter which touches on every feeling and thoughtful emotion capable within us. Brown questions our ability to distinguish what is real and authentic.

Brown takes images that are highly accessible through the Internet, magazines, newspapers, and catalogues and transforms their meaning by mixing them with titles that provokes questions of morality, sexuality, authenticity, and aesthetics. The collective mood is dark in nature yet strangely humorous building up a space full of tensions and personal conflicts.