LZ Project Space is pleased to present Lego My Ego, the first solo exhibition of work by Arielle Falk. In this show, Falk introduces sculptures and photographs that continue her exploration of relationships between human (subject) and object. This relationship has been a recurring theme in her video work.

“I can feel myself under the gaze of someone whose eyes I do not see, not even discern.” - Jacques Lacan, Seminar One

Falk presents a series of handmade sculptural objects, Sunglasses for the Face, which are designed to obscure the features of one’s face, and therefore, the identity and ego (self) of the wearer. They serve to defend against a double gaze; the nonspecific, generalized gaze of the other and the self-conscious, inward directed gaze of the ideal-ego (one’s image of their perfect self) as defined by Freud and Lacan.

In this work, Falk proposes that within the face lies the heart of the ego: “The face, due to its’ expressive nature, allows others to not only identify and categorize who we are, but also to access information about what we are thinking and feeling at all times. Removing these elements provides a sort of freedom that has become increasingly unattainable in our Facebook-centric age, an age in which people have internalized the logic of the surveillance state and are eager to open their lives for the inspection of others. The Sunglasses for the Face short-circuit the co-symmetry of the face-to-face encounter; the wearer becomes a cipher and their mood, their status becomes unknowable. These objects, which mask identity and expression, reclaim both the private physical and emotional spaces of the individual.” (Equivalent to a Kevlar vest for the identity, they can also provide protection from the now ubiquitous, surveilling eye of CCTV and face scanning technology).

The accompanying photographs, self-portraits in which Falk appears against a dirty studio wall wearing (activating) each set of sunglasses, are performative acts in themselves. The raw quality of these captured moments, in which she appears in varying degrees of dishevelment, imply a battle or confrontation between the artist and the objects (and what they represent).

Arielle Falk, born 1983 in Washington DC, is a Brooklyn, NY based artist working in video, performance, and sculpture. She received her BA in Arts in Context (concentration in Performance Studies) from Eugene Lang College (NYC) in 2007 and has since then exhibited her work both internationally and nationally in galleries and festivals in London, Zurich, Greece, Canada, New Zealand, New York City and elsewhere in the United States. Venues include P.P.O.W Gallery, Envoy Enterprises, NY Studio Gallery, Cuchifritos Gallery, BolteLang Gallery, Movement Research at Judson Church, Art in Odd Places Pedestrian Festival, Antimatter Underground Film Festival, and Festival Miden. She is a 2010 Franklin Furnace Fundwinner and is currently working on a large-scale public performance piece that will be presented in the Spring of next year.