Organized by Tom Weinrich

Interstate Projects is pleased to present The Black Lodge, an exhibition of work by nine artists. In the darker regions of the mythology in David Lynch’s seminal television series Twin Peaks, there exists a place referred to as the Black Lodge. It is a space of spiritual and psychological transformation. A surreal environment where visitors confront their doppelganger, lose their understanding of space and time, emerging as a pure being or staying trapped in a maze of red curtains, giants, and non-sequiturs.

Eschewing any direct references to its namesake, this exhibition examines Lynch’s representation of a vision quest, along with his portrayal of women and use of patterning and repetition as a base upon which to consider the art being made by nine very different artists. Articulated across a wide range of mediums; from darkly humorous video installations, poetic abstractions made with pencil or video, and deeply personal figurative paintings and photographs, the works gathered reflect on the varied experiences that can lead to a better understanding of life and death, and all that lies in between.

Participating Artists:

Jesse Bransford (b. 1972) is an artist who, among other projects, has been investigating the seven classical planets through an eight year long body of work that encompasses drawing, painting, and sculpture. He has exhibited widely, including The Hammer Museum, The Carnegie Museum of Art, Busan Biennale, Feature Inc., and Kevin Bruk Gallery among others.

Hayal Pozanti (b. 1983) is a native of Istanbul who received her MFA from Yale University in 2011. Her practice encompasses painting, sculpture, collage and digital animation. She has exhibited internationally, including New York, San Francisco, Istanbul and Berlin. Pozanti currently live and works in New York City.

Adam Putnam (b.1973) is an artist whose work has spanned across performance, photography, drawing and sculpture. It has been included in various exhibitions world wide, most notably the 2008 Whitney Biennial, the 2nd Moscow Biennial, the Busan Biennial (South Korea), Art Statements, P.S. 1 and The Astrup Fearnley Museum (Oslo). Curatorial projects have included an exhibition of Martin Wong entitled Everything Must Go at P.P.O.W. and Blow Both of Us at Participant Inc. Recent projects include a solo exhibition at Locust Projects (Miami).

Sara Ludy is a Vancouver based artist and musician whose work explores representations of virtual and real environments. Her work draws on a variety of formats including photography, video, 3D, animated gifs, sound, digital image making and live performance. Recent exhibitions include IRL at Western Front, Vancouver BC; Visual Rhythm at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder CO; Dinca Vision Quest Chicago IL; BY_YOU_BY_ME_BY_WE at Twelve Around One, London UK; Video Violence at Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden DE.

Michael Robinson (b.1981) is a film and video artist whose work explores the joys and dangers of mediated experience. His work has been shown internationally at a variety of festivals, galleries and museums, including The 2012 Whitney Biennial, The New York Film Festival, The Walker Art Center, REDCAT, and Greater New York: Cinema at MoMA PS1.

Caris Reid is an artist working in New York, who received her BFA from Boston University. She has shown her work internationally, as well as curated the exhibitions, “All That is Unseen” (February 2011) with co-curator Meg O’Rourke and “Autosuggestion” (September, 2010). In addition to painting, she is a Contributing Editor for the Arts and Culture publication “Dossier Journal”.

Maria Petschnig is a New York-based artist who works across medias including video, performance and installation. Major exhibitions include Performa 11, New York (2011); On Stellar Rays, New York (2011); Western Exhibitions, Chicago (2011); and MoMA P.S.1, New York (2010).

Lauren Seiden creates atmospheric work that explores the relationship between light, line, and dark ambiguity with attention to form, texture and surface. She lives and works in NYC, and in 2010 was awarded the “AOL Chuck Close 25 for 25” Grant. She has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, including recent shows at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, Storefront Bushwick, McKenzie Fine Art, Nudashank in Baltimore, and Holly Johnson Gallery in Texas. Her work has been featured in Satellite Magazine, ArtSlant, Assembly Journal, Chicago Art Review, ArtInfo, and AOLArtists.com.

Joseph Jagos and Chris Puidokas are originally from Detroit, and are now New York based artists/musicians. They have previously collaborated on an installation at the Spring/Break Art show, performed with Three Teens Kill Four, and curated and performed at various exhibitions and events in New York.