Preview: Kim Gordon – “BONFIRE” (Solo Exhibit) @ 303 Gallery [NYC]
A visual artist well before making her name as a music, fashion, & culture icon, the Sonic Youth founder’s 2nd exhibit at the NYC gallery is part love letter to the west coast & part commentary on the surveillance technology
Last year, Kim Gordon put out one of my favorite releases of 2019 with No Home Record. After forming Sonic Youth, 4 decades ago, producing records for other people and collaborating on various other musical projects, it’s hard to believe it was, technically, her first ever official solo album. The fact that it was amazing album wasn’t a surprise, but how, not only current, but forward thinking, the whole thing sounded, is a bit mind blowing. That’s not to say that there isn’t an endless number of examples where artists that have had long histories in the industry have put out incredible work late in their career, but rarely does the material sound this fresh and vital. Kim has long been considered an icon with her pulse on art, music, and culture, but she’s also proven much more than that, as someone with the ability to drive these worlds forward, as a key figure in their evolution. Much like with her groundbreaking X-Girl clothing line in the 90s, which was a game changer setting a foundation for women owned fashion, her current work has the potential to both add to the discussion, while sketching out blueprints for the future. More than just rehashing elements of her already stellar past, Kim Gordon‘s work feels as invigorated as anything she’s ever done, and her prolific output in recent years is definitely reflective of that.
Since disbanding Sonic Youth in 2011, Gordon went on to write the New York Times best-selling memoir, Girl In A Band; and has even taken on several acting roles that range from spots on shows like Girls, Portlandia, and HBO‘s Animals to starring in a German horror movie and another film which was screened at MOMA. One area that she’s also been revisiting heavily in more recent years is visual art. When she initially moved to New York 40 years ago, she did so with the intention of pursuing a career as a visual artist. Before ever making a name for herself as a musician, she was writing for Artforum and, before that, attended LA‘s Otis College Of Art & Design, even temporarily working for famed art dealer Larry Gagosian. She’s also curated shows at spaces like the Whitney and released her own book of art, Performing/Guzzling through Rizzoli and Nieves in 2010.
Tonight (January 10th) the 303 Gallery in New York will host the opening reception for Bonfire, Gordon‘s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Many of the pieces involve imagery of a gathering of people surrounding a bonfire on a beach. Now living back in her native Los Angeles, after making a name for herself that became synonymous with New York cool, the artist seems to have given herself to two homes, two coast, and two loves. But beyond an affection for the west coast, Bonfire is a commentary about our current times, technology, and surveillance state, something that we willingly and unconsciously participate in on a non-stop basis through such methods as social media and the portable computers in our pockets.
The following commentary about the show via 303 Gallery elaborates:
For her second solo exhibition with the gallery, Gordon presents a world of safety and familial intimacy surreptitiously undermined by insidious, unseen forces. Photographs of a group of revelers huddling around a beach bonfire are softened and overlaid with digital framing marks around the human figures, suggesting surveillance technology or facial recognition software. These images are emblematic of a new reality where no moment goes uncaptured, and where even the most ordinary events are packaged and sold, like an Airbnb listing promising a branded experience of intimacy.
Check out preview images for the exhibit below the following event details…
WHAT:
‘Bonfire’
A Solo Exhibit By Kim Gordon
WHEN:
Opening:
Friday, January 10th, 2020
6pm-9pm
WHERE:
303 Gallery
555 W 21st Street
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: (212) 255-1121
ADDITIONAL INFO:
Opening is ALL AGES w/NO COVER
Several artists will be in attendance
Show on view until Saturday, February 22nd, 2020
Gallery hours: Tues – Sat. 10am – 6pm
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2592092004189250/
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