“To live Unbound is freedom, fluidity. Freedom from judgement & fear. Unbound by sexuality and traditional labels or gender roles.”
– Austin Green, Photographer
OPENING: Saturday, October 10th, 7-10pm.
XY ATELIER GALLERY (81 Hester Street, NYC, LES)
UNBOUND is an exhibition celebrating fluidity and gender balance. In this first collaboration, photographer Austin Green and illustrator Jon Mann examine the concept of femininity through individuals assigned male at birth. Green demonstrates a quiet sensitivity and gentle eye for portraiture capturing intimacy, while Mann employs fantasy to offer a further window into the subject’s unconscious. This collection attempts to explore self manifestation and celebrate those fearless enough to seek balance within their own non binary identity. Green and Mann draw visual inspiration from photographers such as Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Judy Linn, and Diane Arbus. Using 35mm and medium format film, Green photographed each subject in candid and quiet moments in order to tell their story, free from boundaries and self consciousness. A selection of photographs are then re-interpreted by Mann through illustration, creating a fantastical element that augments a whimsical inner dialogue.
Austin Green has been photographing subjects from around the world since 2004. In a culture where one’s self perception is so innately bound to social preoccupations, digital personas have become the mask one wears. Green’s work attempts to slow the shutter and reveal truths of human inner life. Inspired by the counter-culture of New York City’s underground nightlife scene, Green’s work examines prescribed notions of beauty, narcissism, loneliness, sex, and nonconformity. In his world, gender is ever shifting and interchangeable, just as his camera lens. Like Green’s artistic inspirations Nan Goldin and Sally Mann, his work tells intimate stories while offering rare glimpses into his own private life. Green currently lives and works in New York City. brutal-beautiful.com
To Jon Mann, art is therapy. Rather than offering his interpretation and commentary on the outside world, his work displays the imagery in his mind: his more subconscious perception of reality. The first step in realizing these internal images is finding matching photographic reference material, which Jon takes everywhere he goes: pictures of architecture, random items off the street, and models. He begins to layer the traces of these images, confusing his own perception of them, leading to a focal point within the chaos. Using brightly colored pencils on paper, he distorts the real images to match his internal ones. Jon was born in Columbus, OH, and has studied art at the University of Cincinnati DAAP and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has recently moved to New York City to further pursue his art. genpopart.com
Soundscape courtesy of Brian Patrick.
Performance: Dolly Dharma presents the World Premiere of ‘Acoustic’, a ONE NIGHT ONLY performance.
The exhibition will be on display from October 10 – 24, 2015.
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CONTACT:
Winter Mendelson
Editor-in-Chief, Posture Magazine
[email protected]
