NYAB Event - “Objects of Desire” Exhibition

“Objects of Desire” Exhibition

Kustera Projects Red Hook

This event has ended.

“Objects of Desire” is an intimate grouping of sculptural objects by Kathe Burkhart,
Lovett/ Codagnone, Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Terence Koh, Nice Collective, Surface to Air, Various Projects, Playground, and Mimi Smith. Each work touches upon culture’s subtle, yet subversive infatuation with and aversion to desire.

Using 6” chocolate letters imported from Holland that are traditionally given out around Christmas time to children, Kathe Burkhart turns that custom on its head with a fetishized text based work entitled “Yes is the New No.” Sex, gender and duality appear again in a second piece, “Untitled”, consisting of a pair of Smith and Wesson handcuffs with engraved text on the front and back. The source is an excerpt from the poem “The Match” by the English poet Algernon Swinburne, however, the artist has gender-switched the subject from male to female.

The collaborative team, Lovett/ Codagnone continue their exploration of power, danger and sexual tension with a seductively elegant neon piece called “Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves.” Hanging from the ceiling with angelic like grace are a pair of interlocking white neon nooses further delving into the duo’s loaded use of explicit cultural signifiers.

New York artist/designer Ju$t Another Rich Kid has teamed up with a small group of artists/designers for a new project called “He Loves Me. He Loves Me Not.” – a set of 5 custom designed coke spoons housed in an austere metal box fit with a bed of nails. It contains a silver version of the contraband coke spoon by Ju$t Another Rich Kid that features the golden arches of one well-known American fast food restaurant; a baroque style skull piece with multiple spoons by Surface to Air; a simple, minimal chic piece by Various Projects; an old school key with a secret compartment and ingesting mechanism by Nice Collective; and a metal credit card sprayed slick white with automotive paint by Terence Koh; all housed in a custom made steel box by Playground.

Mimi Smith is a pioneer of both the feminist and clothing art movements whose career has spanned over 4 decades. Smith’s historical and playful “Candy Bra” (1972) both references the nurturing and sexual aspect of the breast. “Jockstrap” (1972) however is a bit more cynical but no less playful, made from tootsie roll midgees hand sewn together in a cradle of short stubby emasculated phalluses.