What’s Your War?

Jay Gaskill - Freya Powell - John Gonzalez - Christine Peterson - Juan Hinojosa - Sabrina Saneaux - Frank Justich -
Elisa Soliven - Sarah McCann - Adam Thorman -
Allison Malinsky - Sharone Vendriger

Curated by Oasa DuVerney + Sarah McCann

on view: October 30 – December 5, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday, October 30, 4:30–7:30pm

The United States is in a constant state of war - the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, the War in Iraq, the War in Afghanistan. Every government regime seems to create its pet war. The two curators, the artists Oasa DuVerney and Sarah McCann, asked twelve artists if they had the power to declare their own personal war, what would they chose to fight for or against.

This lively group exhibition includes despondent photographs of the BP oil spill by Adam Thornton, his preferred war against environmental crimes; an installation of white paint samples by Christine Petersen, who attacks pre-conceived assumptions such as white being white. Sabrina Saneaux, with her large painting  Made in the Domincan Republic, fights what she describes as the “Time-Warnisation” of the global media that turned Haiti into a victim of media consumption and then evaporated it from every television screen.

Juan Hinojosa, who declared war on the consumerism he participated in by collecting the tags, receipts and packaging that led him into a large credit card debt. His collage of mixed media drawings, ink, tape and objects bear witness to our consumer excess. The demise of newspapers is fought by Sharone Ventriger. Her floor installation, made with burned newspaper ashes, quotes Thomas Jefferson on the importance for this country to establish full freedom of the press.

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

FiveMyles is supported by the Greenwall Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Brooklyn Arts Council, and the Brooklyn Community Foundation.