Charles Clary, An American Werewolf In London (detail), 2015-ongoing, Hand Cut Paper and Found VHS Box, 7.5 x 4.5 in
Monster
Monster is a co-curatorial project from Michele Jaslow & Jac Lahav for SPRING/BREAK Art Fair.
Artists: Charles Clary, Jac Lahav, Caitlin McCormack, and Taylor Lee Nicholson
September 6-9, 2024 Regular Show Days 12PM – 7PM
Thursday, September 5, 2024 VIP Preview Day 12PM-7PM
Wednesday, September 4, 2024 Press + Collector Preview 2PM – 5PM, VIP Opening Night 5PM – 8PM
Monster uses the tropes and aesthetics of horror movies to explore who exists in the exterior light of day and who dwells in the dark interior. Curators Jac Lahav and Michele Jaslow and artists Charles Clary, Caitlin McCormack, and Taylor Lee Nicholson use horror elements to examine themes of trauma, loss, poverty, gender-equality, isolation, and things falling apart.
With a mix of shock, fear, brutality, and dark humor, no other genre delves as effectively into the fragility of existence and the inevitable end awaiting us all. Monster is a determination of who’s who under horror film tropes. The horror genre serves as mirror to our contemporary concerns, reflecting dysfunction in society. They highlight our failure to address pressing issues like gender-based inequity, environmental collapse, and racial injustice. Blending reality with fantasy, horror films challenge human supremacy and depict consequences for our shortcomings.
It is within this context that we take a hard look at who lives in the exterior light of day and who dwells in the dark interior. To accomplish this the booth divides into two distinct factions, our monsters dispensing jump-scares in the darkness of the interior and those who work in the exterior in the light using these same tropes to view gendered craft as art, surviving trauma, and collaborative relational aesthetics with an approach that is restless and hungry.
The artists working in the dark and light are Caitlin McCormack, Taylor Lee Nicholson, and Charles Clary.
Caitlin McCormack is a fiber artist whose crocheted works acknowledge a familial, trans-generational tradition of craft and externalize experiences with self-harm, body dysmorphia, and assault, resulting in an intimate archive of emotive vessels. Exploring themes such as gender and sexuality, the pros and cons of isolation, and Anthropocene hamartia through an uncanny lens, these works contemplate societal reluctance to view gendered craft as art and regard crochet as a behavioral response to apocalyptic conditions. Evoking folklore, medieval botanical imagery, institutional osteological displays, science fiction and cinematic body horror, each object is an artifact of a memory, tethered to a surface and made viewable from a distance.
Taylor Lee Nicholson is a queer artist and self-described “garbage person” who loves to mix kitsch and creepiness for comically grotesque results. Their work often culminates in autobiographical installations that are interactive in nature as collaborative relational aesthetics. In their own words “I’m a Garbage Person. I embrace “trash” as both subject and material. I am haunted by decay, a gothic obsession with death and with things falling apart, ghost stories. Like a poltergeist, my practice is restless and hungry. I’m not really exploring supernatural horror, but rather material horror. My work aims to expose the grotesque beneath the veneer. This “bad,” anti-art, like the culture that it critiques and echoes, is bingeable junk food.”
A self-described ‘horror nut,’ Charles Clary always felt a kindred spirit to the final person standing in a scary movie – surviving through the trauma. As a hand-cut paper artist Clary uses paper to create a world of fiction that challenges the viewer to suspend disbelief and venture into fabricated reality. Clary sources VHS tape copies of his favorite movies at his local thrift stores. Analog and carelessly discarded, these films held a lot of emotional significance to Clary, who saw them as “beautiful scarifications,” a traumatic moment healed by a film. In his work Clary designs around what he feels is important and then carefully cuts and layers paper into the slipcase of a VHS tape.
Co-curator and artist Jac Lahav explores their role as a parent to both biological and foster children. Lahav’s daily life is filled with joy, love, and also complex, impossible, gut wrenching decisions. Lahav’s abstract Foster Paintings series (recently at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum CT) are an attempt to process the emotional fallout of foster care within the studio. The figurative work in this exhibition, which Lahav humorously refers to as “childless cat paintings”, take influence from mid century horror film posters to express Lahav’s anxiety about parenting, the upcoming election, and generally being an artist.
SPRING/BREAK Art Show Fair
booth #42
September 6-9, 2024
Regular Show Days 12PM – 7PM
75 Varick Street, NYC
Thursday, September 5, 2024
VIP Preview Day 12PM-7PM
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Press + Collector Preview 2PM – 5PM
VIP Opening Night 5PM – 8PM
PRESS RELEASE | TICKETS | PURCHASE ARTWORK
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Charles Clary was born in Morristown, Tennessee, holds a BFA in painting from Middle Tennessee State University and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His work has been showcased globally, including exhibitions at Galerie Evolution-Pierre Cardin in Paris, CODA Museum Paper Biennial in 2021, and the Shanghai Paper Biennial in 2021. Clary earned the Top Prize at the 2016 ArtFields Competition and multiple awards at ArtFields in 2019. Notably, he sold three commissioned pieces to Google corporate offices and was named the HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar at Coastal Carolina University in 2022. His accolades extend to features in publications like WIRED, Hi Fructose, and appearances in exhibitions worldwide. Represented by Paradigm Gallery + Studio and R02 Gallery, Clary resides in Conway, South Carolina, serving as an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Coastal Carolina University. charlesclary.com
Caitlin McCormack Philadelphia-based fiber artist Cait McCormack has contributed works to solo and group exhibitions at Elijah Wheat Showroom, Hashimoto Contemporary, The Mütter Museum, Museum Rijswijk, The Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Field Projects, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, and Future Fair in NYC. Their sculptures have appeared in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Juxtapoz, Whitehot Magazine, Smithsonian, and Bust Magazine. In addition to holding teaching positions at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Hussian College of Art and Design, McCormack has participated in artist residencies at ChaNorth, The Peter Bullough Foundation, The Wassaic Project, Byrdcliffe Artist Colony, Monson Arts, and the Provincetown C-Scape Dune Shack Artist Residency. McCormack received a Joseph Robert Foundation grant in 2021 and the Woodmere Art Museum’s Maurice Freed Memorial Prize in 2023. caitlintmccormack.com
Taylor Lee Nicholson is a queer artist known for blending kitsch and creepiness to create comically grotesque art. Their work is deeply influenced by their personal story, particularly the demolition of their childhood home, which infuses Southern gothic undertones into their pieces. Exploring themes of self-performance and new media, Taylor’s work often delves into autobiographical installations that encourage interactive engagement. Their recent solo exhibition, “YARD SALE,” curated by Janet Loren Hill and Jonell Logan, garnered critical acclaim and was featured in Hyperallergic and Artnet. Taylor’s work has been showcased in galleries across the United States and featured in publications such as The New York Times and Vogue. Notably, they crafted paper mache heads for Bowen Yang and John Higgins in the film “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain.” Based in Charlotte, NC, Taylor is open to new artistic adventures. taylorleenicholson.com
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Jac Lahav (he/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, parent, arts writer, children’s book author, and community organizer. Born in Jerusalem Israel with Iranian and Polish roots Lahav was raised in the United States and graduated with an MFA from Brooklyn College where they studied with Vito Acconci. Lahav’s work focuses on traveling museum exhibitions revolving around large series of paintings that explore history, identity, and pop culture, often with educational content and experiential events. He is currently working on a large series of paintings inspired by vinyl record album covers, speaking to the connection between music and painting. jaclahav.com
Michele Jaslow is a NYC-based independent art curator and writer. A pioneer shaping the current visual arts landscape in Brooklyn Michele is founder and former Gallery Director of Brooklyn Artists Gym, worked with Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Arts Council, BRIC, Coney Island Museum, Waterfront Museum, Wagmag, Spaceworks, Photoville, and the American Society of Media Photographers. An art and technology focus has led her to work with the Paley Center, MIT Media Lab, and the Exploratorium Museum. more…