06.07.2012  BB.CONTEMPORARY presents BINARY EXISTENCE

• BB. Contemporary presents BINARY EXISTENCE, a contemporary art exhibition curated by Natasha Ulyanov and Lindsay Sullivan, on view at 506 East 74th Street, July 12th until July 18th, 2012. For BINARY EXISTENCE, Ulyanov and Sullivan have selected a diverse group of emerging artists for a thematic exhibition based on ideas of identity, specifically pondering the duality of reality versus perception. The Upper East Side exhibition features Jess Larson, Anton Kandinsky, Dulce Pinzon, Lee, GanU, Shantell Martin, Yasmine Chatila, and Jin-Seob Yun, all accomplished artists exploring how societal expectations of gender, status, and appearance, as well as historical and current cultural projections, shape public perception and self-identification. Larson`s embroidered "flash cards" use imagery from old-fashioned household items paired with text to playfully examine the female role in the household and society. The subject matter and the craft draw from a bygone era where women`s roles were more concretely defined and examine from a contemporary perspective the complexity of the female identity. Kandinsky’s portrait duos are tongue-in-cheek commentaries on the positioning of societal and political celebrities in relation to one another. Beneath their humor, Kandinsky’s paintings highlight a keen perception of the individual’s desire to be someone or something else. Pinzon`s photographs create scenes of Mexican immigrants outfitted as superheroes as they carry out their daily jobs challenging perceptions of significance and status in society. The text included with each photograph includes the amount of money each worker sends home to family each month, suggesting support of family and community may itself be heroic. Using hundreds of handcrafted Korean rubber stamps, Lee, GanU fashions an abstract landscape of characters and symbols that once served as signatures. Each unique stamp personifies the individual, but in the collective, the work resembles an undulating terrain, which symbolize the historic cultural influences on identity. Martin`s stream-of-consciousness black and white drawings scroll along, creating with simple lines scenes of imaginary characters and landscapes that echo the artist`s motto, "Be More, Do Less." In this playful wonderland, Martin allows a freedom to self-reflect on the clutter and noise that obstruct us from existing to the fullest. Jin-Seob Yun`s colorful sculptures examine the role of fashion and appearance as an outward manifestation of identity. Though poised as models on a catwalk, the figures also balance bulbous growths that represent the societal pressures and encumbrances of beauty and physical appearance. Captured through a telescope, Chatila`s haunting photographs expose private moments of individuals through windows around New York City. Examining the subject caught unaware in breaths of repose and vulnerability, these photographs provide a mirror to ask "Who are you when no one is watching?" Bringing together stylistically disparate artists rooted in thematic similarity, BINARY EXISTENCE poses no answers, but intends to invite discussion and self-analysis of the pressures, illusions, and preconceptions of identity. For further information, please contact Lindsay Sullivan and Natasha Ulyanov at BB.Contemporary.Art@gmail.com or (310)-508-4346.