In its temporary location, the 7Eleven Gallery has exceeded are expectations. Our first two shows, Invasions and Paradise Lost, earned write-ups in numerous press and art publications including: Art Forum, The New York Sun and New York Magazine On Line, as well as an invitation to show case our gallery at the Fountain Miami 2008 during the prestigious Art Basel Miami Beach weekend. For our final show on Washington Street we plan to go out with a bang, showcasing our largest group of artists yet. “Stepmothers, Stepsisters, Witches and Virgins” is an ensemble of young emerging talent and established New York City based female artists.

The work of the fourteen artists who are included in “Stepmothers” reflects certain themes of fairy tales. Unconscious content finds expression in the motifs and characters of fairy tales, and thus, as with any great art form, these tales may represent different things for different people, at different times in their lives. Fairy tales carry little reference to the reality of the outer world; their meanings are therefore only useful in relation to the private workings of our inner life. By alluding to internal conflicts and suggesting how they might be resolved, fairy tales can provide insight into the nature of an elevated state of humanity. These epic and archetypical tales become a part of the collective consciousness, as they are ingrained in the reader’s memory and moral databanks.

Antithetically, we are also drawn to fairy tales’ dark, sexual psychological nature. In the 1970’s many feminists turned their attention toward fairy tales for clues to society’s deep-seated notions of gender roles. The response gathered from this new approach brought everything about the literature into question, especially the consistent “happily ever after” ending. Along with the traditional, one will find that “Stepmothers, Stepsisters, Witches and Virgins” contains many subtle feminist undertones and sexual imagery.

It has been both a challenge and a pleasure to curate this show and we look forward to presenting it to the public.

Artists include: Z Behl, Eneas Capalbo, Krista Donargo, Lance De Los Reyes, Lena Dunham, Gabrielle Grenier, Jake Levin, Judith Linhares, Alexander Massouras, Harry McNally, Matisse Patterson, Emmett Shine, Laurie Simmons and Kiki Smith.

Z BEHL is a New York City based artist, who graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007.

“Beginning with my blankey, the most familiar focus of my nascent attention, I began to draw those inanimate forms around me that became animate through my intimate experience of them. I draw worn cloths both because I am interested in the destructive nature of human attachment, and for what the textured surfaces of these textiles evoke formally, imaginatively, and aesthetically. In representing each, I find a challenging space full of emotion and wrought with tension, expressed through the detailed depiction of woven line, breaking with time.”

KRISTA DONARGO was born and raised in NYC. Having just graduated from NYU art school, she is trying to recapture the purity in productivity.