BAC Gallery is pleased to announce The Line That Connects You To Me, a group exhibition curated by Dana Gentile featuring paintings, drawings, photographs, and mixed-media work by Brooklyn-based artists. The exhibition also includes the performance piece, Mending by artist and seer Annette Tacconelli, taking place on August 7, from 6 – 8pm. A string line running the length of the gallery space acts as an exhibition guide, literally connecting the work together to reveal the curatorial vision of the show.

Saturation of the art market has caused gallery audiences to gravitate mostly to artwork they already know they like, walking quickly through an exhibition in order to hone in on the work that draws them in immediately. Fast paced movements around the exhibited work and a desire to look only at what stands out from the rest limits audiences’ opportunities to experience connections between the different artwork in the show. The viewer relies on the curator’s wall-mounted statement to make the connections for them. The Line That Connects You To Me aims to reverse this trend. Rather than encouraging browsing through artwork as though one was window shopping, the exhibition poses questions and seeks to elicit answers and comments from the viewer.

Following the physical line on the wall that connects you to the work of participating artists Heejung Cho, Stephanie DiGregorio, Gregg Evans, J.D. Gaul, Sara Jones, Dane Patterson, Tiana Peterson, Megan Prince, Johanna Byström Sims, Annette Tacconelli, and Katie White is one way to experience the show. Another way is to discover different connections between the individual artists that break away from the line, creating invisible “lines” throughout the space.

Johanna Byström Sims’ imaginary societies where familiar cityscapes become thrown into unexpected circumstances compel viewers to envision a new strategy for tackling unfamiliar territory. While Gregg Evans represents familiar objects and places in photographic portraits, leaving out the people usually present in portraiture. Dane Patterson and Tiana Peterson both modify pre-existing objects to communicate a new message and meaning. Patterson uses found photographs to form new conversations and situations for those who’ve existed before us. Peterson removes architecture from pop-up books exposing the process behind making the book and starting a dialogue on consumerism. Annette Tacconelli’s interactive sculpture invites audiences to embroider with her. Tacconelli will visit the gallery throughout the exhibition to work on the piece and to collaborate with the audience as participants. Katie White’s photographic triptych, three enlarged Polaroids, examines the theatrical experience of waiting for red velvet seats to fill and the curtain to rise, challenging our ideas of a viewing experience.