“Rainbow Body Problem”
May 20th – June 19th
Reception: May 20th, 2022, 6 – 9 pm
No Gallery – 105 Henry Street NYC NY 10002
Milo Carney
Lea Cetera
Phillip John Velasco Gabriel
Whitney Hubbs
Devin Kenny
Sven Loven
Bob Mizer
Kevin Tobin
Alan Vega
Devin Kenny –I Do My Best Thinking On The Bus (Part A), 2021 – Found object and galvanized aircraft cable – 35 x 35 x 3 in. (88.90 x 88.90 x 7.62 cm.)
Whitney Hubbs – Untitled, 1997 – Archival pigment print – 40 x 25 x 1¾ in. (framed) (101.6 x 63.5 x 4.5 cm. [framed])
Bob Mizer – Dean Adams, Los Angeles, 1986 – Vintage color transparency, cibachrome print 1/3 – 4⅛ x 2¾ in. (10.5 x 7 cm.)
Bob Mizer – Nicky Blue, Los Angeles, 1980 – Vintage color transparency, cibachrome print 1/3 – 4⅛ x 2¾ in. (10.5 x 7 cm.)
Milo Carney – RVVC02 (Dance Monkey), 2021 – Acrylic screenprint on stretched canvas – 36 x 24 x 1½ in. (91.4 x 61 x 3.8 cm.)
Milo Carney – RVVC03 (The Box), 2021 – Acrylic screenprint on stretched canvas – 36 x 24 x 1½ in. (91.4 x 61 x 3.8 cm.)
Milo Carney – RVVC01 (Blinding Lights), 2021 – Acrylic screenprint on stretched canvas – 36 x 24 x 1½ in. (91.4 x 61 x 3.8 cm.)
Phillip John Velasco Gabriel – Untitled , 2014 – Oil on canvas – 6¼ x 7⅞ x ⅜ in. (16 x 20 x 1 cm.)
Kevin Tobin – Bat Legs (Piss Slit), 2021 – Oil on wood panel – 24 x 12 x 1 in. (61 x 30.5 x 2.5 cm.)
Alan Vega – Toopak, 2001 – Mixed media (Dimensions variable)
Sven Loven – Black Sailor Cash Pride, 2015 – acrylic on wood panel – 48 x 72 x 6 in. (121.9 x 182.9 x 15.2 cm.)
Lea Cetera – Prayer Hands (No.2), 2020 – Wax, HDPE and LPDE plastic bodega bags – 6½ x 4 x 3½ in. (16.5 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm.)
“The Rainbow Body Problem” is a phrase coined for this exhibition, a portmanteau of two concepts: the “rainbow body” of Tantric tradition, and the “mind-body problem” a term referring to conflicting ideas of human consciousness. In various schools of tantric thought, an especially enlightened practitioner is said to possess an etheric rainbow body; when they die their physical attributes quickly dissipate and rainbows are seen near the time and place of their death. Within philosophical thought, the mind-body problem alludes to the debate over whether human consciousness is dualist or monist in nature — Is the mind separate from the body or are both things one?
Using these ideas as inspiration, the Rainbow Body Problem explores how embrace of beauty can be a vehicle for freedom or conversely an escapist trap. A general conceit of the show is the rainbow palette, explicitly present in the idealized horizon of Phillip John Velasco Gabriel’s untitled meditative composition, the abstract cacophony of converging flags in Sven Loven’s painting, the dizzying whirl of commodities in Milo Carney’s frenetic collages. In contrast, many of the other works take on a muted, spectral tone, but have transcendent currents in form and content: Lea Cetera’s endearingly decrepit prayer hands cast in wax and plastic bodega bags, Whitney Hubbs’ intimately ritualized B&W photo of her painted body taken during youth, Devin Kenny’s video installation of ascension and detached longing, Bob Mizer’s quiet studies of sublimated desire, Alan Vega’s descending sculpture of lights and iconographic detritus. Kevin Tobin’s painting, Bat Legs (Piss Slit), is a meeting point of these two aesthetic poles, its skeletal forms and sexual symbolism grounding the opposing themes of ethereal purity and base corporality.
Much of the work revels in the beauty of aesthetics, but also takes heed to be suspicious of this power, evident in a common self-reflexivity in the process of creation. If the potential of the rainbow body lies in the clear light of unencumbered freedom, this show seeks to inquire into creativity’s destination, whether it be on earth or in the sky.
Artists: Milo Carney, Lea Cetera, Phillip John Velasco Gabriel, Whitney Hubbs, Devin Kenny, Sven Loven, Bob Mizer, Kevin Tobin, Alan Vega