Marvelli Gallery is pleased to present Perfumed Nightmare, a group show of seven artists. The exhibition takes its title after the eponymous 1977 film by Kidlat Tahimik. The film’s protagonist, a bus driver from a village in the Philippines and the self-appointed president of Wernher von Braun club, tells an ironic and humorous story of his own fascination with the US and its technological progress, and subsequent disenchantment with the two. In the film, poetic and romantic images of tropical foliage, farming animals, traditional bamboo huts, playing children, and village manual workers create a contrast to the verbal commentary that praises cars, chewing gum, and spaceships.

The show stems from the idea of the tropics and their multiple implications—physical, natural, economic, cultural, political, and imaginary. But the tropics become only a starting point that allows the artists to develop their visual, conceptual, and formal interests further. The result is the works in sculpture, photography, painting, and video that forgo the image of fragrant luscious paradise. Just like in the film, perfume here serves as a metaphor of transformation: the objects are perfumed-up, or, in some cases, intentionally devoid of romantic gloss. A pineapple turns into a 19th-century ewer or an abstract print; a green plant becomes part of a stale bureaucratic office environment; a primitive architectural structure gets flattened into modernist grid. The works share formal and visual affinities, creating an indirect and non-linear dialogue with one another. Through all these modernist abstractions, objects of everyday use, symbols of popular culture, minimalist structures, a perfumed nightmare of the tropics can be lurking.

Héctor Arce-Espasas – received his MFA from Hunter College in 2011. Recently his work has been exhibited at The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, Don’t Projects, Paris, University Galleries, IL, Contemporary Art Society, London and Museu da Cidade, Lisbon. He lives and works in New York. Ethan Breckenridge – received his MFA from Columbia University in 2005. Recently his work has been exhibited at Charles Banks Gallery, New York, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, Kulturhuset, Stockholm and The Suburban, Chicago. He lives and works in New York. Davis / Langlois – A collaborative team of Rob Davis and Mike Langlois received their MFA from SAIC in 1997 and 1998. Recently their work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, James Harris Galley, Seattle, Untitled Gallery, NY, and The Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Liz Magic Laser & Dafna Maimon – Magic Laser received her MFA from Columbia University in 2008 and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. Recently her work has been exhibited at The Pace Gallery, New York; Casey Kaplan, New York; MoMA PS 1, New York; and the Prague Biennale 4, Czech Republic. She lives and works in New York. Maimon received her MFA from Sandberg Institute in 2008. Recently her work has been exhibited at Annie Wharton Gallery Los Angeles, Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, and The Hague, Netherlands. She is based in Berlin and Amsterdam. Matt Sheridan Smith – received his BA from New School for Social Research in 2002. Recently his work has been exhibited at Lisa Cooley, New York, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, kaufmann repetto, Milan and SculptureCenter, New York. He lives and works in New York. Bree Zucker – received her BA from Columbia University in 2008. Her work was recently exhibited at WW Project Space, Vienna. She lives and works in New York.

For further information or images of the works in the show, please contact Kendall Anderson at 212 627 3363 or [email protected]