This past Friday night I attended the opening reception for The Brand New Heavies at Collette Blanchard Gallery. Brand New Heavies is Mickalene Thomas's curatorial debut and the show is TERRIFIC!!!!!!!!! Mickalene has proven to be as adept at curating as she is accomplished as an artist. The 3 participating artists Lauren Kelley, Deana Lawson and Jessia Ann Peavy have created work that speaks to your intellect while offering just as much stimulation for your senses. I highly recommend that you stop by the gallery and see the show.

The opening night event was actually a lot of fun too. If I sound surprised it's because these types of events are not necessarily a good time. They can sometimes be a bit stuffy, but not this on this night. Collette Blanchard has a very charming spirit that permeates the gallery. She greets every guest with a warm and engaging energy that sets the standard for the atmosphere in the room. As a result the night was a lot of fun and featured great art, good people and of course the champagne was flowing. Some of the people in attendance included: Derrick Adams (Rush Arts Gallery), Wardell Milan III (artist), Rashid Johnson (artist), Demetrius Oliver (artist) and Carmen Macleod.

Check out a few images from the event.

(pictured left to right Deana Lawson, Jessica Ann Peavy, Collette, Mickalene Thomas, Lauren Kelly)

(pictured left to right unidentified guest from London, Demetrius Oliver, Collette Blanchard, Alvin Hall)

(pictured left to right Ricky Day, Collette Blanchard)

(pictured left to right Ricky Day, Lauren Kelly)

(pictured left to right Mickalene Thomas, Carmen Macleod, Rashid Johnson)

(pictured left to right Demetrius Oliver, Derrick Adams)

On display NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Collette Blanchard Gallery is pleased to present The Brand New Heavies, Curated by Mickalene Thomas. The exhibition will be on view from January 23 - March 8, 2009 and will include three dynamic contemporary artists innovatively working in fundamental mediums. Lauren Kelley, Deana Lawson, and Jessica Ann Peavy present recent work conveying salient sentiments through means that are at once, sensual, opulent, and psychological.

The works of all three artists offer staged scenes, referencing theater and performance, while incorporating embellished caricatures through collaboration with and/or commentary on their varied subjects. Lauren Kelley's videos present meticulous, comprehensive, fictitious narratives in overwhelming detail. In Get Bones from 88 Jones, Barbie dolls, an array of plastic sweets, sculpted elements and malleable, inconstant clay form an accelerated narrative satiated with the metaphorical implementation of materials and imagery. Kelley's whimsy informs the happenings in the love life of a librarian with detail similar in degree to the sculpture crafted by Liza Lou. The environments in Kelley's work also resonate with the staged frames in the work of photographer, Deana Lawson. In Anna the everyday patterned couch blending with the drapes in the background is disrupted by the sequins adorning and condition of the thin, staid figure. The minimalist palette and compositions of Lawson's work bring to mind paintings by Barkley Hendricks and the videos of Jessica Ann Peavy. Peavy's A Conversation Piece also references intimate relationships as Get Bones from 88 Jones, though in this case the sensual narratives are articulated through tales of food-making and consumption as two videos play simultaneously and transverse from each other. Similar to some work of Chantal Akerman, Peavy's piece incorporates pauses and static frames, giving the viewer an opportunity to contemplate the different ways in which women communicate which each other. One character speaks candidly about food likes and dislikes, while the other vivaciously recalls an anecdote of food preparation, nourishment, intimacy and rejection.

Lauren Kelley received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently participating in the Core Residency Program in Houston. Deana Lawson, who has been included in several exhibitions over the past year, was recently interviewed by Tova Carlin for Time Out New York, and received a MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Jessica Ann Peavy graduated with an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Recent recipient of NYSCA, Peavy's work is currently on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and will be included in an upcoming show at the Bronx River Arts Center.

This exhibition is Mickalene Thomas's curatorial debut. She graduated with an MFA from Yale University and currently shows with Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York, Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, and Susanne Vielmetter Projects in Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in various catalogues and reviewed in Art in America, The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Post, NY Arts, Modern Painters, Essence, Whitewall, Frieze, and Artforum. For more information please contact the gallery at 917.639.3912.

Friday, January 23, 2009
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Collette Blanchard Gallery
26 Clinton Street
New York, NY
gallery@colletteblanchard.com

(Lauren Kelley, Get Bones from 88 Jones, film still)

(Deana Lawson, Anna)

(Jessica Ann Peavy, A Conversation Piece, film still)

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