Untitled by Brent Birnbam @ Station Independent Projects, NYC
Courtesy of the Artist and Denny Gallery
Kenosis in the Supervoid
Co-Curated by Shane Harrington and Leah Oates.
Opening April 8th from 6pm to 9pm and on view through May 8th, 2016
Artists: Michael Anderson, Brent Birnbaum, George Bolster, Arnaud Brihay,
Klay-James Enos, Shane Harrington, Lee Ranaldo and Tim Maxwell.
Kenosis in the Supervoid refers to the merger of two opposing processes. Developing, creating and showing art in contemporary western culture may be viewed as such a synthesis. Often devoid of practical benefit and arguably evolutionarily abstract, art
making in itself appears at once anomalous as it does essential.
“There is a reality that is not a product of rational deduction, that is not accounted for
by strict rational discourse. There is a spiritual dimension to human existence and the universe. But this is not irrational; it is non-rational. Faith allows us to transcend what Flaubert called our “mania for conclusions”. A mania he described as one of humanity’s “most useless and sterile drives.” -Chris Hedges, political journalist (and Atheist).
Whether we broach the perimeters of exploratory physics at CERN or try to reconcile
logic with mental illness and addiction at home, human life seems incapable of shaking
its biases, coping mechanisms and eccentricities. From within a civilization where
conflict and division, either on the political or personal scale, are the daily quota,
perhaps this cumbersome, unifying condition we hold is something to be cherished
rather than lamented.
[The ‘supervoid’, which is 1.8 billion light-years across, is the largest known structure
ever discovered in the universe. Scientists do not know why it is so barren. In Christian theology, kenosis (Greek: κένωσις, kénōsis, lit. emptiness) is the ‘self-emptying’ of
one’s own will and becoming entirely receptive to God’s divine will.]
Station Independent Projects
138 Eldridge Street, Suite 2F, NYC 10002
www.stationindependent.com
info@stationindependent.com
917.698.2012
Gallery Hours: Thursday to Sunday, Noon-6pm and by appointment
F to Delancey Street or JMZ to Essex Street
Between Delancey and Broome
