Join US to celebrate the OPENING OF THE LATEST EXHIBITION AT PIONEER
WORKS, JAIMIE WARREN'S THE MIRACLE. JAIMIE WARREN’s _THE MIRACLE_,
the artist’s first institutional solo show in New York, features
daily activations and culminates in an over-the-top musical production
titled_ THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL_ on April 4th and 11th.
Resembling a high school musical backdrop, a vintage Disney ride,
or the campy gore of a community-built haunted house, _THE
MIRACLE_ is a DIY, oversized supernatural set for performance made
up of animatronics, costumes, and special effects. It references
iconic horror movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984),
B-movie camp extravaganzas, drag theater, and musical comedies. A
large forest recalls The Swamps of Sadness from _The NeverEnding
Story_ (1984), while an oversized bedroom, modeled after Rhonda
Shears’ late-night, cult classic _USA Up All Night_ (1989-1998),
becomes the home of Regan MacNeil from _The Exorcist_ (1973). The
occult and satanic panic mingle harmoniously with Jim Henson’s
Muppets and 80s and 90s coming-of-age sitcoms.
More than any one narrative or reference, _THE MIRACLE_ is an
amalgamation of many, combined and reconstituted to disorienting,
comical effect. Acting as artistic director, WARREN SOLICITED
CHARACTERS AND IDEAS FROM COLLABORATORS OF ALL AGES DURING MONTHS OF
EXTENSIVE WORKSHOPS LEADING UP TO _THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL_. The
workshops were held with artist peers and multiple Red Hook-based
organizations, including Red Hook Art Project, Beam Center and Cora
Dance. Throwing her various participants’ ideas into the mix, WARREN
NOT ONLY FURTHERED _THE MIRACLE_’s nearly endless allusions but
decentered her own authorship with the personal, pop cultural
inventories of others. Synthesized into one collaborative masterwork,
the exhibition’s title alludes to the miracle of collective art
making while also nodding to Queen’s singular frontman Freddie
Mercury, a recurring character in Warren’s practice.
Taken together, _THE MIRACLE_ speaks to the power of cinema and pop
culture to render, in larger than life form, the fears and
insecurities of childhood. It engages the capacity of popular
entertainment to bring people together around shared cultural
touchstones, producing a show defined by both strangeness and joy.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
JAIMIE WARREN is a multidisciplinary artist and Co-Director/Co-Creator
of the community arts project and fake public access TV show Whoop Dee
Doo. She is a NYFA Fellow in Interdisciplinary Arts and has been
awarded artist residencies in New York with the Sharpe-Walentas Studio
Program, Pioneer Works, BRICworkspace, Abrons AIRspace, and Yaddo.
Warren’s work has been featured in publications including The New
York Times, Art in America, artnet, ArtNews, and Artforum, among
others. She is the recipient of the Baum Award for An Emerging
American Photographer, and is a featured artist in ART21's documentary
series New York Close Up. She has had solo exhibitions at Higher
Pictures, The Hole, and american medium, all in New York. Selected
group exhibitions and performances include Showroom Mama, Rotterdam;
Getsumin, Osaka; Extrapool, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Cement Fondue,
Sydney; the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; the San Diego
Museum of Art, San Diego; Centre d'Art, Catalonia, Spain; Spritmuseum,
Stockholm; Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City; and the Warhol Museum,
Pittsburgh.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City
Council.
music
712
Views
22/02/2020 Last update