A solo exhibition by Jenny Santos
Curated by Ana Barajas
Exhibition Dates: December 28, 2013 – January 26, 2014
Reception: Sunday, January 5th from 3:30-5:30pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12-6pm
Location: 120 Essex Street (inside Essex Street Market)
The Nineteenth Hole is an unconquerable putting green, which relates the challenges of the game of golf with the universal frustration of being unable to fulfill one’s ideals. The unattainability of being able to sink the ball into a hole opens up questions pertaining to how achievement is defined, and questions whether expectations of success impose a “win or lose” view on life. Santos’ work examines the relationship between existing opinions and the unstable and shifting play of everyday appearances. To this end, she alters structures and creates scenarios to assert improbable circumstances and imaginative places that disrupt the viewer’s existing perceptions of reality and question the state of their lives.
The public location and context of Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is an ideal setting for the work as people come to the Essex Street Market to shop and eat for leisure. A putting green is a complementary leisurely experience, which draws people into the space with the prospect of successfully achieving another activity within the market. Upon realizing the impossibility of the set up and the betrayal of an unplayable putting green, The Nineteenth Hole becomes a continual reminder of the things that cannot be attained nor conquered; this becomes more so for repeat visitors to the market.
Jenny Santos was born in Windsor, Ontario. She received her BFA from OCAD University in 2007 and her MFA in Fine Arts at School of Visual Arts in 2012. Santos works predominantly in sculpture and installation. She has participated in group exhibitions, including shows at Visual Arts Gallery, Allegra LaViola Gallery, Art in Odd Places Festival: Ritual in New York, and Project 165 in Toronto. She is currently working on an installation project for an upcoming solo exhibition at NURTUREart Gallery. In 2012, she was one of the recipients of the School of Visual Arts Alumni Award. This is her first solo exhibition in New York.
Ana Barajas is a Toronto based independent curator. She received her MVA, Curatorial and MA, Contemporary Art History from the University of Toronto. Barajas is also the Director of YYZ Artists’ Outlet, a non-profit artist-run centre.
Image courtesy of the artist
Cuchifritos is FREE to the public and handicap accessible. Located inside Essex Street Market at the south end nearest Delancey.
Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space is a program of Artists Alliance Inc., a 501c3 not for profit organization located on the Lower East Side of New York City within the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. Cuchifritos is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the following for their generous support: Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York City Economic Development Corporation and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers, without whom this program would not be possible.