The Canal Chapter and alternative media production company East Pleasant Pictures are pleased to present the new works of Ron Beach Jr. and Adam Krueger in “Better Version of Me.” As painters, Beach and Krueger reject “stretched canvases hanging isolated on the wall” and transform their artworks into an installation that inhabits the gallery environment with complete congruity. For this particular show, the process and the installment becomes a vital part of the exhibition.

Beach, Krueger, collaborating with Xander Strohm, Damien Drake, and curator Jenn Wirtz, chronicle the progress and pitfalls encountered in putting this exhibit together through a series of film clips. The film blurs the line between what is real and what is not. It is also questioning the importance of inherent artistic integrity versus the “art star” mentality. Everyday our western culture, including the world of art is compromised by the over indulgence of pop culture. It is with this film, documenting the exhibition process of “Better Version of Me,” that these lines are tested and drawn thin.

As artists, Beach and Krueger create their own rules. In lieu of standard methods of advertisement, they adapt a guerilla style promotional campaign. Using the Large Format PROJECTOR, Beach and Krueger annexed the sides of several buildings in the city, forcing their ad posters on a countless number of unsuspecting New Yorkers to stand and take notice.

Through painting, installation, sculpture, film, and performance the multimedia exhibition, “Better Version of Me,” brings attention to the overpowering presence of the artistic persona in the construction of contemporary art and their processes. Ideology and identity come forth and exhibit themselves overriding the art object.