You’re Finally Awake! at Theta

Artists: Paige K. B., Claude Closky, Graham Hamilton, Bradley Kronz, Spencer Lai, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Molly Rose Lieberman, Carlos Reyes, John Sandroni, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven

Exhibition title: You’re Finally Awake!

Venue: Theta, New York, US

Date: January 14 – February 12, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Theta, New York

Wow, you really hit your head on that cellar door coming in here. 2022? Still in a global pandemic? NFT?

Y2K jeans on Depop? What are you talking about???

At the end of each year since the new millennium, one, sometimes two, color(s) are chosen by a team of trend forecasters at the headquarters of Pantone to refect what is happening in global culture, and to “express what people are looking for that color can hope to answer in the following year.” One of the two Colors of the Year for 2021 was vibrant yellow, or PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating. Remember all the yellow you saw everywhere?

More interesting perhaps than the occurrence or proclamation of a trend is its before-and-after, and the relationship it holds to our perceptions of time. To trot alongside the zeitgeist, to obey the commands of the colors of the year, is for many the baseline of cultural awareness. Anticipating the moment is an ephemeral power; there is often a desperation to claiming primacy as stampedes thrash forward. Even the Dadaists recognized the instability of the avant-garde. True power, I think, lies in the understanding that moments can evaporate into the ether, or crystallize into funny little emblems. If I decided, in 2021, to show a bright yellow painting at the outset of 2022, it will be right on time, because I’ve already planned to do it, in that future and also belated present.

There is an art to being late (I should know) and a joy in mining new ideas or diverging from expectations of timelines, both cultural and personal. To utilize the past to fourish on the present and twist the future is a balancing act over the pits of derivation, a choreography of control and a manipulation of measurement. The way we stretch and express time is a choice split by circumstances and reactions, records and recollections. You try a new pen: what do you write? “A B C D. . .” or, “April is the cruelest month”?

Paige K. B. (b. 1988, Los Angeles) lives and works in New York. Recent exhibitions include Canal Street Research Association and a collaboration with Shanzhai Lyric at MoMA PS1 for Greater New York (2021). Group exhibitions at Artforum, online (2020); Kimberly-Klark, Brooklyn (2019).

Claude Closky (b. 1963, Paris) lives and works in Paris. In 1982 Closky co-founded the street art group Les Frères Ripoulin alongside Pierre Huyghe. Recent solo exhibitions include Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris (2020); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); Grand Palais, Paris (2018); Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin (2010). Institutional group exhibitions at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021); West Bund Museum, Shanghai (2020); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2019); Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco (2015); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2014); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2014); Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2014); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012). He is the 2015 recipient of the Prix Marcel Duchamp. Closky’s artist web project in this exhibition is held in the permanent collection of Dia Art Foundation.

Graham Hamilton (b. 1988, New York) lives and works in Frankfurt. Recent solo exhibitions include Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); False Flag Gallery, Long Island City (2018); Index, Hudson (2018); 247365, New York (2015). He is a 2021 graduate of Städelschule.

Bradley Kronz (b.1986, San Diego) lives and works in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include Galerie Lars Friedrich, Berlin (2021); Bar, Torino (2020); Gandt, Astoria, NY (2019); Mulier Mulier, Knokke-Zoute (2019); Forde, Geneva (2018); High Art, Paris (2017).

Spencer Lai (b. 1991, Malaysia) lives and works in Melbourne. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Bossy’s Gallery, Melbourne (2021); Neon Parc, Melbourne (2021); Ge Hinnom, London (2021); Kimberly-Klark, Brooklyn (2019). Group exhibitions at Thierry Goldberg, New York (2021); Discordia Gallery, Melbourne (2020); Low Standards, Oslo (2019); Lubov, New York (2018). Upcoming solo exhibition at Theta, New York in September 2022.

Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941, Cleveland) lives and works in San Francisco. Recent solo exhibitions include the New Museum, New York (2021); Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo Comunidad de Madrid (2019); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2018); Haus der elektronischen Künste, Basel (2018); Modern Art Oxford, UK (2015); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2013); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2007). Her work has been included in group exhibitions, at the de Young Museum, San Francisco (2020); The Shed, New York (2019); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (2018); Whitney Museum of American Art (2017); and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); as well as international exhibitions, including the Riga Biennial of Contemporary Art (2018) and the upcoming 14th Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2023).

Molly Rose Lieberman (b. 1994, Brooklyn) lives and works in New York. Recent solo exhibitions at Gern, New York (2021); Gymnasium, Brooklyn (2020); Fonda, Leipzig (2020). Group exhibitions at Carriage Trade, New York (2021); Thierry Goldberg, New York (2020).

Carlos Reyes (b. 1977, Chicago) lives and works in New York and Puerto Rico. Recent solo exhibitions at Soft Opening, London (2021); Waldo, Seaport, ME (2020); Galerie Joseph Tang (2019); Bodega, New York (2018); Jan Kaps, Cologne (2016). Reyes has been featured in institutional exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2020); the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018); Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague (2016); Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013).

John Sandroni (b. 1994, New York) lives and works in New York. Recent exhibitions include Ghouliana, Brooklyn (2021); Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York (2019); Museum Gallery, Brooklyn (2018).

Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (b. 1951, Antwerp) lives and works in Antwerp. Solo exhibitions at Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin (2021); Zeno X, Antwerp (2019); Fridericianum, Kassel (2018); Kunstverein Hannover (2017); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2016); Kunstverein München, Munich (2015); The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2011); among others. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions at ICA, London, most recently (2016); Yale Union, Portland (2015); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2015); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires (2015); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2013); ICA, Philadelphia (2013); The Artist’s institute, New York (2011); Shanghai Art Museum, (2009); among others.

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

Spencer Lai, untitled (variation 2), 2021-2022, LED light fixture, balsa wood, plastic sheeting, beads, magazine, staples, glue, dyed ostrich feathers, 31.5 x 4 x 4 in, 80 x 10.2 x 10.2 cm

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

Spencer Lai, intrusive recreational piece (figures, object), 2021, Synthetic felt (set of 3), adhesive, 23 x 54.5 in, 58.4 x 138.4 cm

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York

Lynn Hershman Leeson, Synthia Stock Ticker, 2000-2002, Custom software, LCD, glass, electronics 15 × 11 × 11 in, 38.1 x 27.9 x 27.9 cm

You’re Finally Awake!, 2022, exhibition view, Theta, New York