23°47', 2°27', 2°51'
GALLERY III
A.I.R. Gallery natal chart. Courtesy of www.astro-seek.com.
November 19 — December 19, 2021
Opening Reception: Friday, November 19, 12-6 PM (by appointment)
Susan Bee, Yvette Drury Dubinsky, Maxine Henryson, Aphrodite Navab, Sylvia Netzer, Ann Schaumburger, Joan Snitzer, Susan Stainman, Erica Stoller, Nancy Storrow, Jane Swavely
Curated by Christian Camacho-Light and Roxana Fabius
As the sun departs Scorpio, A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to present 23°47', 2°27', 2°51', a group exhibition featuring the work of eleven A.I.R. New York Artists. At many points in the organization’s nearly fifty year history, the stylistic diversity on display at A.I.R. has puzzled viewers and critics, who sought in the gallery’s program a definitive communiqué on the state of work by women artists. What is missed in this over attention to style is the truth of the matter—shared labor, shared space, and shared purpose.
23°47', 2°27', 2°51' embraces A.I.R.’s inherent polyvocality, alluding to a historical criticism by flipping it on its head. Skirting the tendency of the thematic group show to flatten and homogenize, this exhibition turns instead to an interpretative framework long used to ferret out order within perceived chaos: natal astrology. Using the organization’s birth chart as a point of departure, 23°47', 2°27', 2°51' elevates happenstance—the opening of a group show at 10 AM on the morning of the 16th of September 1972—to the level of serendipity. A Scorpio rising, A.I.R. is at times quite difficult to understand; that is, if you are interested in an easy read. Employing the natal chart as a curatorial device, 23°47', 2°27', 2°51' offers the viewer—and the artist—the gift of open interpretation.
View the Press Release here.
Photography: Sebastian Bach