I Feel Different

October 20, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Curated by Jennifer Doyle

Opening reception: Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 8PM
with performances by resident artist Niña Yhared (1814) and James Luna

LACE is pleased to present I Feel Different, a multi-media group exhibition organized by guest curator Jennifer Doyle. Participating artists: Nao Bustamante, James Luna, Lezley Saar, David Wojnarowicz, Monica Duncan, Lara Odell, Raquel Gutierrez, Susan Silton, and Niña Yhared (1814).

This provocative project explores both the experience of feeling different from others and the transformational power of art to make one feel differently. Most of the time, we attend museums and galleries with our social armor “up” – approaching art with sophistication, irony, and even a degree of cynicism. This exhibit gathers together artists working in the unusual registers of the sentimental and the sincere – testing the limits of what kinds of emotional expression are possible within art. In doing so, they ask us if tears register as “real” in art (and what happens when they do), what happens when we are asked to take on an artist’s outrage, depression, or pleasure as our own, or how much can an artist can really change how we feel (and if this what we want from them). The show acknowledges that contemporary art is powerfully defined by the relationship between art and the spectator, and asserts that emotion plays a major part in this story. ??I Feel Different opens with an evening of moody performance – a reading by Raquel Gutierrez (the text of which is available on the exhibition’s website), and live performances by LACE resident artist Niña Yhared (1814) and James Luna.

To read Jennifer Doyle’s essay “Feel Your Way Through It,” download the exhibition catalog. ??Read about the exhibition on art 21 blog.

RELATED SALON EVENTS

Tuesday 13 October 2009 – 11PM
Niña Yhared performs a special cabaret at Wildness (2700 West 7th St., LA 90057).

Sunday 15 November 2009 – 2PM
Join curator Jennifer Doyle as she leads us through the exhibition and talks about the theme, each artist’s work, as well as her research and interest in the role of emotion in contemporary art. ??Thursday 14 January 2010 – 8PM?Artist Lezley Saar and curator Jennifer Doyle discuss the exhibition currently on view at LACE. Saar will talk about her practice, her “Tragic Mulatto” series, and the way in which her work ties into the exhibition’s central themes.

I Feel Different is made possible with the generous support of the Pasadena Art Alliance and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles, Cultural Exchange International grant.