Form + Dysfunction: A Solo Show by Laura Holmes McCarthy
Super Secret Projects presents Form + Dysfunction, a solo exhibition by Laura Holmes McCarthy, showcasing her continued exploration of the limits of functionality through sculptural ceramic vessels.
In Form + Dysfunction, vessels express maladaptation like bodies holding physical memory, informed by McCarthy’s personal history of engaging with productivity as a means of disengaging from grief. Straddling the line between sculptural art and functional objects, each vessel subverts the conventional concept of ‘good design’—which extols a frictionless merger between form and function resulting in objects that succeed in their failure to draw attention to themselves—by purposefully introducing formal disorder as a means of actively forcing the user’s attention. As functional design, they are not so much high-performing as they are high-functioning in spite of their dysfunction. As sculptural pieces, they ask us to interact with the way in which our bodies–often seen as disposable resources within a larger economic framework–cannot escape their innate humanity; revolting through breakdown and reactive adaptation to force us back into acute awareness of our most fundamental self
Work will be on display at the Super Secret Project speakeasy-style gallery, located at 484 Main St, Beacon NY, behind the Hyperbole shop.
Personal Protest
Personal Protest: A Community Group Exhibition
As an artist-run gallery, we aim to create exhibits that are innovative and that gives a place for artists to experiment and create a space for artists to meet and share. As we grow as a collective, we find ourselves yearning to give as many opportunities to our fellow artists in the community as possible. This is why we are calling for more community art to fill our walls with the theme: Personal Protest. Personal Protest is on view from September 14th to October 3rd.
Personal Protest, will come to an end on October 3rd. We encourage you to check out the exhibition as there are works in various disciplines. These pieces explore not only the nature of protest as a political act beyond its utility , but also as a personal interrogation of our reaction and resistance to the moral, practical, and spiritual condition that challenge our very core of our personal values.
Solastagia: A Solo Exhibition by Kohar Minassian
Super Secret Projects presents Solastagia, the debut solo exhibition by Kohar Minassian, showcasing the artist’s exploration of analog photography processes, including cyanotypes, anthotype, and lumen prints.
Solo Show Opening - Tom Stringer
Opening Reception: June 8th, 6-9pm
Through the Diamond Window
Exhibition Statement:
Through the Diamond Window invites the viewer to peek behind the ramshackle plywood barrier and witness the world in production. With this series of images, Beacon based photographer Tom Stringer reflects on three years spent working on commercial construction sites, where he witnessed the beauty and strength of the collective. The photos celebrate the comradery of the work site. Teams arriving with only their purpose in mind are inevitably weaved into a web of trust. The chaotic fabrication always boils down to a meticulously cohesive design greater than the sum of its parts. Everyday people erecting towers that touch the sky.
Collage Workshop: Surreal Realities
Join multi-media artist + co-director of Super Secret Projects, Diana Vidal for a unique Collage Workshop using Vintage National Geographic magazines and images giving participants the opportunity to create truly one of a kind art with rare collage materials provided.
Workshop info
2 Hour Hands-on Workshop covering:
Sourcing materials and overview of tools
Overview of techniques + tips
Prompts & inspiration
Ability to make 1 or several collages throughout the workshop with materials provided
Materials to prep your collage to frame. A mat, backing and archival bag will provided for your work.
Feel free to bring anything you’d like to work with!
At the end of this workshop, everyone will have created at least one totally unique, fine art collage piece, and learn how to preserve their artwork.
Collage Workshop: Surreal Realities
Join multi-media artist + co-director of Super Secret Projects, Diana Vidal for a unique Collage Workshop using Vintage National Geographic magazines and images giving participants the opportunity to create truly one of a kind art with rare collage materials provided.
Workshop info
2 Hour Hands-on Workshop covering:
Sourcing materials and overview of tools
Overview of techniques + tips
Prompts & inspiration
Ability to make 1 or several collages throughout the workshop with materials provided
Materials to prep your collage to frame. A mat, backing and archival bag will provided for your work.
Feel free to bring anything you’d like to work with!
At the end of this workshop, everyone will have created at least one totally unique, fine art collage piece, and learn how to preserve their artwork.
Solo Show Closing - Diana Vidal
Closing: October 8th
Forgetting
Exhibition Statement:
Step into my world after an epileptic episode, where memory dances on the edge of illusion and a warped reality seems true. These experiences have brought me face to face with the delicate threads of time and how memory can unravel or disappear altogether.
These experiences leave me questioning: What is existence if you can’t remember it? Where do those lost memories go?
In "Forgetting," I explore the transient nature of time, memory and existence. Through videos, collaged imagery, and an artist book, I offer the viewer an opportunity to experience a distorted reality that I often visit. With each episode, there are large holes in my memory with flashes of images or memories surfacing weeks later.
Along with video and imagery pieces, this show’s accompanying book stands as a tangible embodiment of my experience—a collection of textures, gaps, and imprints that echo the very essence of memory's ephemerality. As memory intertwines the past and present, my work weaves a narrative that asks viewers to confront the mysterious and ethereal nature of memory and the distorted experiences that create a person.
Solo Show Opening - Diana Vidal
Opening Reception: September 9th, 6-9pm
Forgetting
Exhibition Statement:
Step into my world after an epileptic episode, where memory dances on the edge of illusion and a warped reality seems true. These experiences have brought me face to face with the delicate threads of time and how memory can unravel or disappear altogether.
These experiences leave me questioning: What is existence if you can’t remember it? Where do those lost memories go?
In "Forgetting," I explore the transient nature of time, memory and existence. Through videos, collaged imagery, and an artist book, I offer the viewer an opportunity to experience a distorted reality that I often visit. With each episode, there are large holes in my memory with flashes of images or memories surfacing weeks later.
Along with video and imagery pieces, this show’s accompanying book stands as a tangible embodiment of my experience—a collection of textures, gaps, and imprints that echo the very essence of memory's ephemerality. As memory intertwines the past and present, my work weaves a narrative that asks viewers to confront the mysterious and ethereal nature of memory and the distorted experiences that create a person.
Solo Show Opening - Alyssa Follansbee
Alyssa Follansbee’s Solo Show - Opening reception July 8 from 6-9pm
Show title: Interior
Exhibition Statement:
This show is about traveling inward to find inspiration. I am at a phase in my life where I tend to be home a lot, either with my young children or working on my art. I’ve really valued the peace, privacy, and solitude, and this work draws on the beauty I have discovered in this interior life. Consisting of various self portraits, these paintings explore the profound connection between the intellectual pursuit of knowledge and the sanctuary of personal space.
As a woman relatively confined to my domestic space the past few years, I’ve spent alot of time imagining those who have come before me- particularly women who have an urge to create art. The urge is not eclipsed by the relentless responsibilities. Instead, my imagination has shifted to fill and expand the space I inhibit. Intellectual pursuit does not need a passport, and seclusion has allowed me mental growth and stimulation in a way I would not have anticipated. What do we decide to share with the outside world? What do we keep just for ourselves, and why?
All of the work here was created from photos of myself and my family in my actual home. These paintings serve as a visual metaphor for my interior life- my daydreams, my observations, my boundaries, my cycling thoughts. My tribute to the countless artist mothers of the past who never stopped creating and intellectually exploring.
Perspective
A Super Secret Projects group exhibition. Opening reception April 8 from 6-9pm.