The LAB (for installation + performance art), in association with SLAG Gallery, has been converted by Grimanesa Amorós’ into “LA INCUBADORA”, which will be featuring “You Cannot Feel It… I Wish You Could” a sculpture lighting installation arising out of her personal experiences during and immediately following her pregnancy with her daughter Shammiel. The installation explores the interplay between biology and society and particularly the concept of male pregnancy.

“In this particular installation, I am re-envisioning the Lab Gallery at Roger Smith Hotel as a warm human incubator, in contrast to the cold exterior of Manhattan, yet concurrently reflecting its sterility. This is a new way to present You Cannot… I Wish You Could that works with my current sensibilities while still staying true to the original sculptures.”

“During my pregnancy with my daughter, and afterwards when I was nursing her, I noticed how curious her father was about my experiences,” recalls Amorós. “I wanted to create a piece around motherhood, and the unbridgeable gulf between the male and female bodies, specifically in the area of reproduction. Then I began to imagine ways in which that gulf might be bridged.”

The installation is comprised of eleven “clones” of a new kind of human body: a pregnant female torso with the same male head attached to each of them. The casts were taken from a mold made from the artist’s body one week before she gave birth to her daughter. The floor beneath and around the body-casts is covered with soft, pale sand referencing the earth as a foundation for biological manipulation.

Composer Meshell Ndegeocello created a piece of music made specifically for the installation, which reinforces the magical quality that many of us feel when confronting the wonders (or monsters?) of modern science.

Grimanesa Amorós is an interdisciplinary artist with diverse interests in the fields of social history, scientific research and critical theory, which have greatly influenced her work. She often makes use of sculpture, video, and lighting to create works that illuminate our notions of personal identity and community. Amorós utilizes her art as an agent for empowerment to involve viewers from all different backgrounds and communities. She was born in Lima. Lives and works in New York City and Peru.

THE LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing many performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, THE LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force interaction between high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions and nearly 25,000 daily passersby. For more information, call 212-339-2092, or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com.

Multimedia Lighting Sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós

Aurora is a series of Mix Media Light Sculptures. I found it’s original inspiration from the natural phenomenon of what is known as the Northern Lights.

Light is one of my primary materials because it creates presence without physicality. In many occasions, it can be easily taken for granted, since much of what humans perceive comes from light, yet even that which is apparent can be mysterious. I’m always looking for the instance when light, in its changing forms, makes us contemplate and experience an ordinary circumstance in a different way.

tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE is the worldwide flagship store for Issey Miyake. It houses all the Miyake collections under one roof for the first time, principally the Issey Miyake women’s and men’s collections, Issey Miyake Fete, A-POC, HaaT, Me and Pleats Please. Located in the downtown Manhattan neighbourhood from which it takes it’s name, tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE is a uniquely modern boutique, set against the backdrop of a landmark cast-iron building. A titanium sculpture by Frank Gehry winds its way through the space that doubles as a creative venue of artist collaborations, exhibitions and events.

MEAT MARKET

Sculpture by Grimanesa Amoros

When I was young, I ventured into The Vault, an S&M club in the meatpacking district. I will never forget the things I saw there. Some years later, I found, discarded in the same neighborhood, a meat hook tree that would become “Meat Market”.

Our sexual desire is like a hunger that can only be satiated by consumption and the more we consume the more we need. We crave the freshness of youth, and throw away the old and rotten. What once held the flesh of animals, now skewers fresh human meat. This piece sexualizes parts of my own body; candy-colored nipples made of silicone, cut into slabs and penetrated by rusty hooks. The resulting image is seductive as well as grotesque.

Hardcore Art Contemporary Space opened its doors in late 2005. The gallery focuses on projects and proposals that touch on present universal subject matters as: genetics, green issues, abuse, cloning, politics, sexuality, and other social topics. It also supports artists who often adopt extreme positions, those who push limits and those who question their impact on society.

Gallery Hours Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm

531 West 25th St, Ground 10
New York, NY 10001

For more information about this group exhibition
please contact Slag Gallery, Özkan Cangüven,
Email: ozkan@slaggallery.com or Tel: 212.967.9818

For more information about the artist, please email: info@grimanesaamoros.com