VOLTA NY 2018: The Aesthetics of MatterParticipating Artists for Curated Section

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9, 2018: VOLTA NY is pleased to announce the participating artistsin The Aesthetics of Matter, the third iteration of the critically acclaimed Curated Section — athematic exhibition within the fair, organized by an independent curator — occurring at the fair’seleventh edition in the city and fourth year at PIER 90, from March 7-11, 2018. Mickalene Thomas, aprominent artist and teacher, and Racquel Chevremont, New York-based collector and philanthropist,are co-curating this project as a team, assembling eight artists who explore ideologies of collage as aconstructive mode through material, language, text, cultural and personal concepts.

The curators note: “This exhibition will include paintings, sculpture, photography, video, text, andprinted matter. The artists’ works are social and political through the form of collage, which has alwaysbeen thought of as ‘a moment of crisis in consciousness’.”

Exhibiting artists in The Aesthetics of Matter are:Tomashi Jackson / presented by Tilton Gallery (New York); Troy Michie / presentedby COMPANY (New York); Devin N. Morris / presented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery (Brooklyn/SanFrancisco); Christie Neptune / presented by Rubber Factory (New York); Kameelah JananRasheed / presented by Project For Empty Space (Newark); David Shrobe / presented by Studio301 NYC (Brooklyn); Didier William / presented by Anna Zorina Gallery (New York); and KennedyYanko / presented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery (Brooklyn/San Francisco).

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Images: Troy Michie, Piensa en Mi, 2017, Paper, photography, clothing, and acrylic on masonite panel, 60 x 48 x 2

in. Presented by COMPANY, New York.

Contemplating his recent body of work, Troy Michie notes: “Most recently I have been working on aseries that incorporates Roland Penrose’s camouflage theory, Pachuco history in El Paso, TX and aseries of attacks in Los Angeles known as the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. The zoot suit is a point ofdeparture; within which notions of class, self-expression, and masculinity unfold. Thinking of the dualityof camouflage, I am forming relationships between the implied threat of ‘otherness’ to Americannationalism and a form of camouflage known as disruptive patterning.”

Images: Christie Neptune, Flat Surface and 3D (from series Unpacking Sameness), 2018, Photography, vinyl wall adhesive,

30 x 40 in. Presented by Rubber Factory, New York.

Christie Neptune discusses Unpacking Sadness, currently in production ahead of the exhibition: “It isa counter-narrative which aims to critique the social ills of white supremacy, colorblind ideologies, andfragility. In Unpacking Sameness, I use reflective surfaces, curtains and assembled industrial pieces toexplore the psycho-social divisions of double consciousness, institutionalized racial difference andspatial thinking, in respect to the framing and positioning of my body and objects in space. Within thispiece, I invite my viewers to catechize what is ‘unseen’ behind The Great American Curtain; the ‘most

disagreeable mirror’ in James Baldwin’s The White Man’s Guilt.”

Images: Tomashi Jackson, States’ Rights (Brown et al. vs The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas) (Limited Value

Exercise), 2017, Mixed media on gauze, 89 x 91 x 45 in. Presented by Tilton Gallery, New York.

Tomashi Jackson comments on her process: “The methodology of the current work focuses on lawsand policies that govern the social infrastructural sites of education and transportation (public andprivate) in the United States for research and visualization. Paintings, prints, photographs, and videoworks flirt with censorial identification as sculpture and drawing through the use of collage acrossobjects and spaces. All of the work operates through a principle of collage collapsing the past and

present in formal compositions of relationships that are linear, color, light sensitive, and material innature.”

VOLTA NY 2018 at PIER 90 runs from March 7 – 11, 2018. The venue may be reached by publictransportation via the Eighth Avenue line (E or C trains to 50 St), as well as direct shuttlebetween VOLTA NY and Pier 94: The Armory Show. Additionally, PIER 90 is connected by anelevated, covered and heated passageway to Pier 92: The Armory Show.

VOLTA was founded in Basel in 2005 by dealers Kavi Gupta (Chicago), Friedrich Loock (Berlin), andUlrich Voges (Frankfurt/Main). VOLTA14 in Basel will coincide with Art Basel Week from June 13 – 18,2018.

Essential Information:DATES //March 7–11, 2018

LOCATION //PIER 90, 12th Avenue (at West 50th Street)New York, NY 10019

PRESS CONTACT //Brian FeeVOLTA Communication Managerbrian@voltashow.com

Amani Olu, Olu & Companyamani@olucompany.com

TIMES //PRESS PREVIEW:Wednesday, March 74 – 6 pmPublic Vernissage6 – 9 pm

PUBLIC HOURS:Thursday – Saturday, March 8 – 1012 – 8 pmSunday, March 1112 – 5 pm