In conjunction with the “Festival of Ideas for the New City,” Sloan Fine Art is pleased to present “Kin,” a group exhibition with works by Mia Brownell, Nicole Etienne, Clare Grill, Greg Hopkins, Noah Landfield, Jean-Pierre Roy, Jonathan Viner and Jeremy Wagner in the main gallery and “Kammeropolis,” an installation by Daimon Marchand in the project room.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 7th, 6 to 8 pm

Exhibition: May 7 through 28, 2011

The “Festival of Ideas for the New City” is a major collaborative initiative involving scores of Downtown organizations working together to harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore ideas that will shape it. The Festival will include a three-day slate of symposia; an innovative StreetFest; and over eighty independent projects and public events. As one of the organizers, the New Museum presented local galleries with the challenge to present projects tied into one or more of the festival’s Sloan Fine Art is pleased to participate in “Festival of Ideas for the New City,” presenting “Kin” an exhibition inspired by The Heterogenous City and “Kammeropolis” an installation inspired by The Reconfigured City.

“Kin” is a group exhibition representing a selection of New York-based painters working with a range of mediums and ideas. What binds them together is the shared experience of coming of age at an extraordinary time in the art world – a truly heterogeneous time.

At my first art gallery job I remember viewing slide submissions, Fed Exing polaroids and handwriting rejection letters. Time has certainly changed and I’ve watched with fascination over the years as the fine art world has adapted, at times reluctantly, to the advent of technology. More than anything else, I’ve enjoyed witnessing young and disenfranchised artists find each other, their audience, their people, and I’ve marveled at the way these artists, collectors and fans have gained strength in numbers through accessibility and communication. As a result, the art world as a whole has been forced to grow, expand and embrace (or at least tolerate) art from a broader range of genres and intentions. The days of a single-minded, art-world-insider approved aesthetic are long gone. Pluralism has arrived and there is no stopping it. The art world has become a melting pot, a heterogeneous society, perhaps for the first time ever, and whether it likes it or not. – Alix Sloan, owner/director, Sloan Fine Art

“Kin” highlights eight extraordinary painters who represent the heterogeneous nature of painting today. All are New York based and most came from elsewhere in the US to build a career and life for themselves in the art capital of our country. They represent the variety and inclusivity of our current climate. They may not see eye to eye – or necessarily want to sit at the same holiday dinner table – but they are cousins, colleagues and companions in their passion for their work, love of painting and the opportunity timing has afforded them to be part of the contemporary dialog.

Sculptor/installation artist Daimon Marchand (whose body of work explores the relationship between nature and technology and our impact on the environment) presents “Kammeropolis,” a work inspired by The Reconfigured City. Multiple low-tech projection boxes integrated with natural elements, cast moving images on the walls of the 10’ x 13’ project room, thus placing the viewer inside an environment created by, and composed of, both organic and technological elements. The goal of this immersion is to cause the participant/viewer to reflect on his or her relationship with, and between, nature and technology. Where does one end and the other begin? How do we meet the challenge of sustaining a relationship, within the context and progression of nature and technology, that is both symbiotic and developmental? How do we define and reconfigure this relationship as time, innovation and evolution march on?

Sloan Fine Art is located at 128 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of New York City. Hours are Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 6, and by appointment. The gallery will remain open until midnight on May 7th in conjunction with “Festival of Ideas for the New City.”