Priska C. Juschka Fine Art is pleased to present Whale Oil, Slave Ships and Burning Martyrs, Christine Tarkowski’s first solo exhibition in New York City. In a monumental mixed media installation, Tarkowski explores the manner in which systems of belief pervade all aspects of our lives, through the construction of her very own faith-based order.

Rather than first articulating the parameters of her new religion and then assembling a congregation, Tarkowski works in a reverse method and begins the process with designing a place of worship, of which a fragment is on display in this exhibition. Referencing R. Buckminister Fuller’s geodesic structures and his utopian vision, as well as concepts of sacred geometry-she constructs a cast-concrete dome formation, composed of geometrically patterned triangles and embedded lights. The overall structure evokes at once the mystic aura of Christian cathedrals and the grandeur of the Roman Pantheon.

Accompanying the dome are additional elements that makeup Tarkowski’s fabricated belief system-propaganda in the form of broadsides, hymns in the vernacular of alt punk-country, and a photographic (essay-monologue) that serves as a visual legend by way of screen prints and a pamphlet. Provocative and resonant, statements such as “I’ve got my Insurance if they keep praying for me” and “Thirsty Woman if You Drink this Water you’ll never be Thirsty Again!”, poignantly frame the acute underpinnings of her vision. The hymns, created in collaboration with Jon Langford (of the Mekons), are melodic recitations of related ideas. A grid of color photographs further articulates Tarkowski’s critical narrative, as they offer simple visual juxtapositions that chronicle the project as a whole.

Together, these components set the stage for Tarkowski’s alternative vision, while maintaining and opposing their original reference point of existing faith-based entities. In reversing the system’s development process, and drawing from our immediate societal concerns, Tarkowski delivers a pertinent critique of the current construct of our society. Your browser may not support display of this image.

Tarkowski lives and works in Chicago, IL. She holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design, and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited widely in major institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, MASS MoCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, the California Museum of Photography, Riverside, the UCLA Gallery of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including a Creative Capital grant (2001) and the Driehaus Award (2005).