chashama presents:

“Into the Neon” chashama @ 540 W 28 +aRt 540 w. 28th st, NY January 27 -February 19 2011 Gallery hours : Tue-Sat 12p-6p Opening: Jan 27 6p-8p Closing ritual: Feb 18 7p

chashama and a self-curated group of artists present “Into the Neon”, a mixed media group exhibition. In the neon underground of Brooklyn, in the year 42 A.S. (After Stonewall), a thriving community of artists unite to bring their collective visions to life. We are the wild unicorns and glitterponies of the night, the radical activists and cultural workers of the day. We are thoughtful misfits and genderweirdos, dreamers and punks, ponderers and wanderers. We honor the contributions of our queer elders and present ourselves as their successors, continuing a long line of trangressors and poets.

Into the Neon takes our work to a street once renowned for hustlers and queens, now the heart of the Chelsea art market. We collectively present a self-curated exhibition of photography, sculpture, video, installation and performance. Our work stands unmediated in conversation with the art being bought and sold nearby, in a low-cost space shared with us by chashama. More importantly, our work stands in conversation with each other. We came together as artists loosely connected in a vibrant cultural scene, friends-of-friends who decided to pool our energy in a space large enough to see the connections that form between our work.

Amy Agony curates an interactive transient collection of zines housed in the gallery. Angela Beallor’s installation uses text and sculptural form to explore a personal relationship with politics, identity, and history. Blaise’s interactive, spiritually evocative, and grounding “Queer Fruit Tree” marks an inviting, comfortable space where folk can engage in projects of queer cultural continuation. Daniel Lang/Levitsky constructs a landscape-based cardboard peepshow about a police murder in a cruising park in Newark. Daniel Luedtke distills queer imagery into graphic works using a self-designed printmaking process. Jaime Shearn Coan offers writing stations and materials for a participatory letter-making project. Lizxnn Disaster meditates on place and the movement of energy in her drawings. Niknaz Tavakolian’s electronic sculptures highlight juxtapositions and inner subjectivity in their identity. Quito Ziegler’s grainy b&w images memorialize glitter princesses, drag queens, and go-go princes in the Royal Court of Brooklyn. Rebecca Greenberg’s photographs explore the nature of identity and self-representation. Zavé G. Martohardjono’s videos explore the vast possibilities and inherent limits of identity through experimental self-portraiture.

Additional programming includes curated evenings of performance art, a film screenings in conjunction with the MIX festival, a poetry reading, and a teach-in with queer elders. Radical faerie rituals mark the opening and closing events, and repeat throughout the duration of the show. We present our work in +aRt, a 13-story new construction building located at 540 West 28th Street. The development will feature 91 artfully designed condominium residences, from studios to three bedrooms ranging in price from $490,000–$2,300,000, and qualifies for the city’s 421-A tax abatement program. ( see www.540W28.com for more information)

This exhibition is supported by chashama. Since 1995, chashama has championed the movement to repurpose vacant properties in New York City; recycling them as artist studios, galleries, theaters, performance and experimental presentation venues, while simultaneously invigorating the surrounding community with an influx of innovative programs, culture, creativity and commerce. Please visit www.chashama.org for more info.

Schedule of Events (all programs subject to change; please consult www.intotheneon.com before heading over)

Thursday, Jan 27 6p-8p Opening Saturday, Jan 29 3p-5p Ritual 1 – Making of queer fruit Wednesday, Feb 2 7p-9p Poetry reading Thursday, Feb 3 7p-9p Performance Art Friday, Feb 4 (or 2/11) 7p-9p Film screening curated by MIX festival of queer experimental films and art Tuesday, Feb 8 7p-9p Ritual 2 -making of queer fruit Thursday, Feb 10 7p-9p Performance Art Tuesday, Feb 15 7p-9p Ritual 3 -harvesting the queer fruit Thursday, Feb 17 7p-9p Queer Elders Teach-In Friday, Feb 18 7p-9p Closing Ritual

www.intotheneon.com