Nicelle Beauchene Gallery ispleased to present ‘Misusefulness’, the first New York solo exhibition by SanFrancisco based artist Michael Arcega.

‘Misusefulness’ investigatesasymmetric relationships between the values placed upon ordinary objects andtheir futility when pushed beyond their parameters of everyday use. Repudiating convention and pushing themechanics of function, utility and purpose, these objects are designed tooccupy a liminal space, where identities become distorted anddisorienting. Arcega employs humorand parody to rip into current social and political issues, satirizing heavy-handedconcerns through a twist of linguistics and puns.

Arcega’s ‘Diversion-Safe-Cams’ aredesigned to investigate the use of military tactics and espionage in thedomestic sphere. Constructed fromdiversion safes that mimic mundane household goods (shaving cream, cannedgoods, hairspray etc), these objects are converted into yet another concealmentdevice: pinhole spy cameras. The duality of these pieces reference theimprobable nature of such cameras operating as high-tech spy gear leading to anindeterminacy that Arcega assigns to the work. However implausible these cameras may be, Arcega activatesthem through a series of photographs that are staged around locations of‘interest’ throughout the Bay Area. Inspired by diversion safes, ‘Concealarium’acts as a hiding place for people, referencing events and concerns related toillegal border crossing, undocumented labor, and people in ‘hiding’. The complete set of ‘his and hers,’units lends an unyielding sense of humor to the social issues he is addressing.

Michael Arcega was born in thePhilippines and currently lives and works in San Francisco. He received his BFA at the SF ArtInstitute and is currently working towards his MFA at Stanford University. He recently has had solo exhibitions atthe deYoung Museum (San Francisco), Marx & Zavattero (San Francisco) andthe Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. He is currently participating in the California Biennial andthe ‘One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now’ exhibition, which has traveledfrom the Asia Society and Museum (New York) to The Blaffner Gallery (Houston),The Berkeley Art Museum, The Japanese American National Museum, and theHonolulu Academy of Art.