a group exhibition at Curious Matter, October 13 – November 11, 2012

Curious Matter presents with great pleasure, Dangerous Toys, a group exhibition curated by Sasha Chavchavadze. As an artist, Ms. Chavchavadze often incorporates match sticks in her work. Her use of this flammable medium with its lurking aspect of danger is among the reasons we sought her perspective by curating Dangerous Toys. We were certain Ms. Chavchavadze would bring a compelling point of view to this inquiry and she has presented us with an expressive and appropriately unsettling exhibition. The keenly focused collection is in turns beautiful, playful and startling.

“I’ve been playing with matches for years. I make assemblages of multi-colored matches that I display with historical documents and photographs in a “one-room Cold War museum” called the Museum of Matches. When I work with matches I feel a sense of danger and risk, but also the imaginative excitement of a child playing with a toy. The imminent possibility of both creation and destruction is always at hand.” –Sasha Chavchavadze, curator The complete essay is online at www.curiousmatter.org

THE ARTISTS: Aaron Beebe, Zoe Bellot, Arthur Bruso, Sasha Chavchavadze, Anthony Heinz May, Raymond E. Mingst, Heather Molin, Douglas Newton, Neal Anthony Pitak, Debra Regh, Margaret Roleke, Lance Rutledge

SASHA CHAVCHAVADZE has exhibited her mixed-media paintings, drawings and installations in galleries and museums for 25 years, including the Luise Ross Gallery in New York and the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock. Her interdisciplinary project “Museum of Matches” (www.museumofmatches.com) was exhibited in Brooklyn, NY at the Kentler International Drawing Space, the Rotunda Gallery, and as a “one-room Cold War museum” at Proteus Gowanus; published in the art and culture magazines Bomb, Cabinet, NYFA Current, and as a book (Proteotypes 2011). Her project “Battle Pass” was exhibited at GRIDSPACE in Brooklyn and is currently a public art installation commissioned by the New York City Department of Transportation. In 2012, Chavchavadze exhibited internationally at the Museum of Literature the National Library in Tbilisi, Georgia.

CURIOUS MATTER is an exhibition venue for contemporary visual art located in downtown Jersey City, NJ. Curious Matter exhibitions and publications evidence the pursuit to understand and articulate our individual and collective experience of the world, real or imagined. We examine fantastic notions, confounding ideas and audacious thoughts. Curious Matter strives to foster dialogue among artists at all career stages with a calendar of regular exhibitions. Our commitment extends to our audience as we endeavor to open a door to appreciating contemporary art in an atmosphere that encourages engagement and curiosity.