HELL, NO!
Opening Friday April 30, 2010 7-11PM, May 1, 12-8PM, May 2, 12-6 PM
Friday May 7, 2010 7-11PM, May 8, 12-8PM, May 9, 12-6 PM
“I’m talking about carving out a place in the larger culture where a condition
of abnormality can be sustained, where imagining the unknown and the unknowable
— impossible to buy or sell — is the primary enterprise. Crazy! says anyone with
an ounce of business sense.
Right. Exactly. Crazy.”
Holland Cotter, The New York Times, February 12, 2009.
RJ Supa and David Louis Fierman are pleased to present HELL, NO!, a group
exhibition at the Convent of Saint Cecilia in Brooklyn, NY. For two weekends,
from April 30 to May 2 and May 7 to 9, the former convent will be activated by
new work from over thirty artists working in varied media. Heralded by a riff on
Ugo Rondinone’s ubiquitous affirmation emblazoned on the New Museum, RJ Supa’s
HELL, NO!presents both a celebration and a warning: a celebration of artists
working today, desperate to create despite the diminishing art market, and a
warning not to give in: to say (to whomever) HELL, NO!. HELL, NO!takes Holland
Cotter’s call to arms and runs with it.
Artists include Leidy Churchman, Lucas Michael, Becky Brown, Wardell Milan, Debo
Eilers, Richard Ziello, Matthew Kirk, Faren Ziello, Michael Mahalchick, Beth
Beverly, Jaimes Mayhew, Amanda Maher, Cyle Metzger, Benjamin Fredrickson,
Victoria Keddie, Hank Shedd, Gretchen Winterkorn, Carter, Titus Kaphar, Jaeeun
Lee, Joshua Johnson, Katia Sobolski, Davina Semo, Zackary Drucker, Juan
Betancurth, Mike Kenney, Michael Hilsman, RJ Supa, Julie Opperman, Virginia Ines
Vergara, Nora Griffin, Elias Melad, Kalika Farmer, Marianna Ellenberg, Luiza
Kurznya, Seldon Yuan, Michael Rudokas, Christian Dietkus, Jesse Greenberg,
Michelle Rosenberg and Howard Huang, Matthew Fischer, and many more.
The artists’ varied work deals with issues of violence, abstraction, sexuality,
reflection, medicine, science, religion, consumer culture and its detritus, and
art history, among other wide ranging topics. HELL, NO! aims to find the
commonalities amongst the discord, to find the thematic and formal links that
bring a cohesion to the chaos. Further, the space itself, a worn out, bare
bones, beautiful and eerie former convent plays as much a role in the show as
the art itself. Its quiet dignity, holding on in the face of half-finished glass
towers surrounding it, presents a final HELL, NO!,reminiscent of the nuns who
once inhabited it, working furiously to ward off condemnation and oblivion.
The opening night celebration will be on April 30 from 7-11 PM, with a roster of
new and thrilling performances by Fetchin’ Gretchen, Juan Bethancurt, Jaimes
Mayhew, Victoria Keddie, and more. A full schedule will follow on
www.davidlouisfierman.com.
The Convent of Saint Cecilia is located at 21 Monitor Street, Brooklyn, NY. For
more information please email davidlouis@davidlouisfierman.com
[mailto:davidlouis@davidlouisfierman.com] or call 917 593 4086.