¸„.-•~¹°”ˆ˜¨Happy Hardcore ¨˜ˆ”°¹~•-.„¸ July 30–September 6, 2020

Miriam Gallery is excited to present Happy Hardcore, a group exhibition of works by Kiki Carrillo, Kari Cholnoky, Judy Chung, Sharona Franklin, Milah Libin, Rachel Owens, Cecilia Salama, and Nichole Shinn. Featuring sculptures, film, paintings, and drawings, the exhibition examines proximities and extremes in femininities. The title of the exhibition draws from the eponymous dance genre originating in the UK and Europe’s rave scenes in the early 1990s. Emulating the genre’s bouncy and uplifting techno beats with darkcore undertones, the exhibition plays with the sugary, the plastic, and the psychologically dark. Together, the artists weave a conflicting narrative of sentimentality and superficiality, glitz and gore, to extract the contradictions of what we perceive as “cute.”

Kiki Carrillo confronts the qualities of cuteness with objects that reminisce of 1980s glamour and vintage doll design: sewn dress miniatures are both endearing and uneasy, humorous and creepy, inviting visions of unsettling strength. Humor arises in Judy Chung’s painting, where magnetic, neon color fields and surreal distortions reference pop culture, kitsch, kawaii, and neoclassical imagery. Nichole Shinn’s chimerical work calls to mind internal illusions of empowerment and degradation, and reminisce femininity as depicted in fantasy genres, video games, anime and cartoons. In conversation are a series of drawings by Milah Libin, depicting whimsical figures in arrangement with delicate lace bodices and bras – while playful, the figures’ melancholic expressions offer a more complex theme on sensuality and womanhood.

Meanwhile, Sharona Franklin’s silken, tasseled wall hanging depicts a graphic “hot or not” list, interrogating the viewer to consider the disabled in their diversity. Sculptures by Rachel Owens and Cecilia Salama scatter the space in conversation on materiality: Owens employs drippy, pastel-tinted stalagmite forms to re-engage materials in new contexts, while Salama’s suspended, plastic compositions depicting images of teenage weddings interpret femme innocence as commodity. Finally, Kari Cholnoky’s sculptural books of mixed-media synthetics, plastics, and foams encourage a maximalist, fantastical reading of the exhibition.

Miriam’s books and exhibition flow seamlessly together, with zines and artist-made publications infused throughout the space by the featured artists, as well as independent publishers, and vintage, one-of-a-kind books. This unique juncture, signature to Miriam’s program, establishes a dynamic relationship between artist books and the works on view. Highlights include: CarCrush by Extended Play Press, about an alienated teenage monster truck who undergoes a feminist awakening; Book by artist Kari Cholnoky, who incorporates unconventional materials to create complex art objects; and a 1920s copy of Favorite Grimm Fairy Tales illustrated by Dorothy Buck (published by International Paper). Miriam will also host COVID-conscious public programs in conjunction with the exhibition, including: an ongoing, outdoor screening of video works by Lex Brown during the opening weekend, August 1-2, alongside a pop-up sidewalk sale by independent press GenderFail; and One vvoman Show, an outdoor variety show and mini zine fest hosted by drag queen Voxigma Lo on August 29.

About the artists Kiki Carrillo is based in Brooklyn and studied painting and drawing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu. In 2015, she received her MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Her work has been shown in various group shows throughout New York City, including the 10th & 12th Summer Exhibition at Flowers Gallery and Take Home a Nude at Sotheby’s. Kiki’s first solo show Doll Babies was in 2017 at Yashar Gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In 2018, a painting from her Doll Babies series was selected to be in Art Miami at the NYAA booth. Her work is permanently installed in three public spaces in Washington, DC.

Kari Cholnoky is a Brooklyn-based artist, holding an MFA in painting from Cranbrook, and a BA from Dartmouth College. Recent exhibitions include True Level at Safe Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Wild Blue Yonder with Nicholas Moenich at Disturb the Neighbors, New York, NY; Wirrwarr at Anton Kern Gallery, New York NY; Cult of the Crimson Queen at Ceysson & Benetiere, New York, NY; and The Collection as Time Machine at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Cholnoky attended the Worth Advisory Bovina Artist Residency in the summer of 2019, and the Fountainhead Residency in Miami, FL in 2017. Cholnoky has been featured in Maake Magazine, Editorial Magazine, Hyperallergic, and as part of the Habitat series on ArtNews.

Judy Chung earned her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2013 and her MFA from Columbia University in 2018. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Chung has been exhibited in group shows at Tatjana Pieter Gallery, Belgium; Mom’s Gallery, NY; and Parasol Projects, NY. She has also contributed to publications including DATEAGLE ART, Hart Magazine, and Elastic Magazine. Sharona Franklin is a Vancouver-based multidisciplinary artist, writer, and activist. Much of her practice has been documented through social media platforms including @paid.technologies, @ star_seeded, @hot.crip, and @disabled_personals. Franklin’s work disseminates a personal mythology of bio-citizenship, disability, gender, class, and botany. Recent exhibitions include those at Kings Leap Gallery, NY; Audain Gallery, Vancouver; Unit 17, Vancouver; G44 Center for Contemporary Photography, Toronto; New Image Art Gallery, LA; and Flux Factory, NY. Recent publications include Injustice in Biopharm, 2019, Cassandra Press and Rental Bod, 2016, Peace Library Publications.

Milah Libin is a Brooklyn-based photographer, filmmaker, publisher, poet, artist and curator. She is the Editor-in-Chief and founder of Dizzy, a bi-annual print magazine and publisher. She has directed music videos for NY-based rapper Princess Nokia, and indie group Beach Fossils, among others. In 2020 Libin gave a talk at MoMA for Mass Appeal’s Music Video Night. Libin has contributed to programs and readings at MoMA, Entrance, and KGB Bar, among others. Recently, she has been included in group exhibitions at Crush, NY; Entrance Gallery, NY; and Secret Project Robot, NY.

Engaged in broad fields of practice from large scale public installations and object-based studio practice to activist oriented Theater/ performance, Rachel Owens is concerned with issues of hierarchical social conditions, consumption of the environment and the points where these things intersect. Owens has been included in exhibitions both in the US and internationally including The X Krasnoyarsk Biennial, RU; Franco Soffiantino Contemporary, IT; Austrian Cultural Forum, NY; The Frist Museum, TN; Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC; and the New Museum Window, NY among others. In March of 2017 her 7th solo show opened at ZieherSmith Gallery in NY, and in February 2020 her solo museum show opened at Housatonic Museum of Art. Owens is Assistant Professor of Art & Design in Sculpture at SUNY Purchase College.

Cecilia Salama is an artist based in New York. She create bodies of work based on observations surrounding the type of sexuality applied to/understood by teenage girls, and, consequently, youthful interpretations of femininity, analyzing the behavior of this subgroup through the interconnected lenses of Capitalism, patriarchal hegemony, and a constant digital tether to society. She has had solo presentations at AALA, Jack Barrett Gallery, and Fourteen30 Contemporary. Her work has been reviewed by I-D, Vice, Milk, Hyperallergic, ArtNews, WWD, and Artspace.

Nichole Shinn was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA in Painting from The Pratt Institute in 2014 in Brooklyn, New York, which is where she currently works and lives. In 2014 she co-founded an independent publishing project called TXTBooks with 3 friends, specializing in Risograph printing. She helps manage production with TXTBooks and is a freelance illustrator working with clients such as Rhizome, Supreme, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Shinn has selected artist book’s held at the Whitney Museum, RISD, Yale, and SAIC Library, as well as the New York Public Library. [email protected] All images: © The Artists, Courtesy Miriam Gallery [email protected] Kiki Carrillo, Patent Leather Dress, 2020 miriamgallery.com | @miriam.gallery Installation view, Happy Hardcore, 2020. Photo: Zach Hyman summer hours: thu-sun; 1-7pm Kari Cholnoky, Swap Shop, 2015-2020. Photo: Zach Hyman open by appointment