Priska C. Juschka Fine Art is pleased to present YARDSALE, Jade Townsend’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. In his ambitious large-scale installation, Townsend confronts the gallery visitors with a meditation on the concept of the “American Dream” in our current consumerist culture.

In the main exhibition space, Townsend has constructed a traditional house that has been ripped open and turned inside-out. Replete with appliances, furniture, plants, and leisure-time accessories that are painted entirely white, the inverted interior is on full display, while the outdoors – a flagpole and actual soil – are now enclosed within four dark walls.

Conceived by Townsend as a comic tragedy, the abundant yet stark house appears as an emblem of our culture’s ironic perception of the traditional American Dream—a generic home filled with various goods that restrict rather than challenge us to seek out diverse experiences. While in the past, nature served as a source of infinite stimulation, nowadays it is entirely disregarded and replaced by formulaic objects—as exemplified in the futile outdoors of Townsend’s house.

In the wake of increasingly common violent natural disasters that can instantly obliterate all we have acquired in our lifetime—we are asked to reconsider our current vision of an ‘ideal’ and ‘successful’ life. This installation therefore prompts us to reflect on the absurdity of the alienating habitat we have sculpted in the course of our continuous quest for self-sustainable happiness.

Townsend was born in Iowa and now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BFA from Iowa State University and an MFA from Hunter College, New York. His installations have appeared in numerous locations both locally and internationally. Most recently, he had a solo exhibition at Art of This gallery in Minneapolis, MN and completed a commissioned project at Scope Miami.