OPENING
Saturday, October 5 6–8pm
ON VIEW
October 5–November 10, 2024
Friday–Sunday 1–6pm and by appointment
See Your Country Clearly is a series of collages, prints and videos that ask questions, expose uncomfortable truths, and provide no simple answers.
In their work, artists Michael Paul Britto and Jonathan Allen often respond critically to the social and political status quo. This fall, in the weeks leading up to and immediately following the consequential U.S. presidential election, Britto and Allen present this two person show, the title of which is taken from Black Boy Interrupted: American Plunder and the Incomplete Life of Jordan Davis, a speech by Ta-Nehisi Coates imploring the audience to educate themselves on the history, politics, and social conditions of life in the United States.
Michael Paul Britto works in digital photography, sculpture, collage and performance, and video. He is based in Bronx, NY. Britto will exhibit collages from his NYCHA series, contrasting silhouettes of people with the architecture of New York City public housing. The uneasy tension between these posturing figures and the spaces they inhabit is amplified by intricately cut and seamlessly collaged magazine advertisements. britofied.com, @brittofied
Jonathan Allen works in painting, collage, video, and performance. He is based in Brooklyn, NY. Allen will exhibit a selection of videos and prints from his Interruptions series which are painted, collaged interventions in NYC street advertisements, publicly installed for an incidental audience. It is an ongoing project that began in 2017. Individual pieces are destroyed within hours of installation, the documentation of which exists on Instagram @jonathanallenstudio. In total, over 370 unique interventions have been installed as part of this project; the works presented in this exhibition form a window into the United States’ social, political, and healthcare struggles over the last four years. The complete series can be viewed online at JonathanAllen.org
FREE PUBLIC EVENTS:
Saturday, October 26th 3pm
Artist Talk
Michael Paul Britto and Jonathan Allen will speak about exhibited artworks, and about their experiences as working artists in New York City. Britto works as an educator in the New York City Public School system, Allen works as a scenic artist for the NYC TV/Film industry. They will address the question of how artists support themselves and organize the infrastructure of their lives, while discussing how their positions in these adjacent fields intersect with their artist lives.
Tuesday, November 5th 9pm
Election Return Viewing Party
Please join us as we watch coverage of the historic 2024 US presidential election results. We will stream online coverage and project it in the gallery so that we can be together to predict and respond to the returns as they are reported.
Saturday, November 9th 3pm
Collage Workshop
Michael Paul Britto and Jonathan Allen will co-lead a hands-on collage workshop for high school students, focused on helping them develop stories and narratives to tell their own stories, with the following prompt: What would you like others to see clearly about your community?
NYCHA #1
10″ x 10″ black aqua cold press paper, with cut magazine pages, and laser prints.
“These collages address pride, anger, depression, hopelessness, and misunderstanding, all stemming from the occupancy of the New York City House Authority public housing.” – Michael Paul Britto
Interruption 238
paint, plastic on video screen, 27 x 48 inches, Brooklyn Public Library*
*The text is a James Baldwin quote. The piece was installed on the occasion of his 96th birthday, August 2, 2020
“Interruptions began in 2017 as a response to Trump and the harsh, rightward lurch of America’s body politic after Obama. Since then, the project has maintained its sceptical stance and evolved into a hybrid of performance, installation art, and political commentary.”
– Jonathan Allen