Subscribing to the belief that the contemporary artist is an entrepreneur, Brent Birnbaum channels the infamous and legendary traditions of snake oil salesmen and street psychics, in his performative installation, The Bureau of Apology. A real, functioning business in which viewers can partake to absolve themselves of guilt and burden, The Bureau of Apology is as credible as a vision in a crystal ball: it is out of our own necessity that we believe.

Brent Birnbaum: Mini Doc

A site-specific installation for The LAB Gallery’s “fishbowl” space, The Bureau of Apology is a “family-run” organization, spearheaded by the ever-engaging Brent Birnbaum, clad in an unforgettable purple suit. Considering himself to be “a traveling salesman, snake charmer, and street preacher” rolled into one, the artist has created his own unique brand, that is as relevant as it is irreverent.

Studio Visit with Brent Birnbaum, March 2012

A “walk-in sculpture”, that resembles a defunct office, The B.O.A. is replete with outdated consumerist bric-a-brac, re-imagined into sculptural objects- a hallmark of Birnbaum’s work. The artist will appear for a limited number of performances, offering Bureau services to passersby. For the first time, The Lab Gallery will open its doors to admit a limited number of guests to interact with the artist and essentially become part of the performance.

In an effort to break down the boundaries between viewer and artwork, Birnbaum’s work is often interactive, daring visitors to engage on a personal level. The Bureau of Apology will offer conscience-clearing services that range from hand-scribed pre-written and custom apologies, to “house callz”, wherein Birnbaum will appear at a prescribed location to apologize on your behalf.

To ensure that apologies are indeed authentic: all correspondence will bear the official Bureau seal, however, there is no guarantee of honesty, as each participant will ultimately be required to confront themselves in the process.

The LAB Gallery
501 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10017
212.339.2092
rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com
http://thelabgallery.com/

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March 7-30th 2012

THE LAB is pleased to present Bear Forest, an installation comprised of 30 over-sized bear sculptures of different colors and different sizes.

dEmo is one of Spain’s most original and internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artists with an unmistakable aesthetic rooted in pop. In recent years his public work has become a consistent presence outside museums and galleries throughout the world. dEmo strives to uncover hidden meanings in everyday objects, transforming them into veritable icons.

All works of art and performances in The LAB: GALLERY are shown within the confines of the space, and are intended to be viewed by the audience from the sidewalk.  This event is free and viewable 24/7.

BEAR FOREST, Installation in Time Lapse

THE LAB:GALLERY
501 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10017
212.339.2092
rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

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THE LAB: GALLERY is pleased to present Breath of Water, an installation by Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse.

Breath of Water is part of the artist’s on-going exploration into the representation of water both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally. Their work is framed by the ideas of two Presocratic philosophers: Thales and Heraclitus. Thales discusses the omnipresence of water and it’s shape-shifting ability when he claimed that everything is water. Heraclitus, by asserting that one can not step in the same river twice, argues that identity is deeply rooted in change. Breath of Water looks at winter water as an almost secret environment not unlike the world inside a snow globe.

Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse have been collaborating since 1999. During this time, they have produced large-scale sculpture, painting, and prints. Mickett comes to the collaboration from a background in philosophy, film, radio, poetry, and theater. Stackhouse followed a traditional visual arts path, and his individual work can be found in museum collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Both Mickett and Stackhouse hold Ph.Ds: Mickett in philosophy and Stackhouse has an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of South Florida.

All works of art and performances in THE LAB: GALLERY are shown within the confines of the space, and are intended to be viewed by the audience from the sidewalk.  This event is free and viewable 24/7.

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A sound-based, site-specific installation by Pat Badt and Scott Sherk                                  Curated by Creighton Michael                        February 10-March 2, 2012

The LAB: GALLERY is pleased to present Intersection, a sound-based, site-specific installation by Pat Badt and Scott Sherk.

Badt and Sherk’s creative practice involves cultivating awareness of the qualities of specific spaces through the realignment of the senses. This installation, Intersection, concentrates on the stop and go of the midtown traffic outside the gallery, focusing on the pulse and energy of the city.  A hanging string column cycles between stillness and movement, while real time video  sonograms and spectrograms are projected on to the gallery walls making the sound of the intersection visual.

Intersection: The Teaser

Pat Badt and Scott Sherk have collaborated on several site-specific installations, shown at Katonah Museum of Art, the Kim Foster Gallery, Point, Line, Lafayette College, Marshall University and Martial Arts Center, Memphis.  Pat Badt is a painter and a Professor of Art at Cedar Crest College.  Scott Sherk is sculptor who often works with sound.  He most recently completed a sound project for the Katonah Museum of Art and is a Professor of Art at Muhlenberg College.  Together Pat Badt and Scott Sherk curate thethirdbarn.org.

All works of art and performances in THE LAB:GALLERY are shown within the confines of the space, and are intended to be viewed by the audience from the sidewalk.  This event is free and viewable 24/7.

MORE ABOUT THE LAB:GALLERY

THE LAB:GALLERY
[a roger smith collaboration]
501 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10017
ph. 212.339.2092
www.thelabgallery.com
rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

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Warmest wishes from us on the corner of 47th and Lex,

Matt and Danika

THE LAB
[a roger smith  collaboration]
501 Lexington Ave NYC (map)
212.339.2092
email address
www.thelabgallery.com
www.rogersmithlife.com

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The LAB (for installation + performance art) is pleased to present Fantastic Lonely Heart, a light based installation by the Korean artist Hyong Nam Ahn.

Ahn uses “the magical and transcendent” qualities  of neon light as a way of exposing the arduous aspects of the human condition; much like the great Spanish philosopher Ortega Y Gasset did in the 1920′s writing on the conflicts intrinsic to modernity and the impact of industrialization’s rapid spread, specifically regarding the increasing disappearance of human values. Despite being separated by both decades and continents, the importance of maintaining an equal balance between spiritual and material realities is a philosophy shared by both the spaniard and this sculptor here.

Video: Studio Visit with Hyong Nam Ahn

This exhibition was made possible in part by the support of the AHL Foundation.

Hyong Nam Ahn has lived and worked in the United States since 1973. He holds an MFA (1980) in Sculpture with Kinetics and a BFA (1978) in Painting & Experimental Art from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked in the fields of sculpture, installation, and public art installation.He earned Illinois Project Completion Grant (1982), Wiebolt Artist Contest, Gold Key Award Scholastic National Drawing Contest, First Prize Award (1974). He has shown in many solo and group exhibitions in Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Tweed Museum; MN, Jamaica Cultural Center in New York, and IHN Gallery (Korea). website

The AHL Foundation is a non-profit organization formed in 2003 by Sook Nyu Lee Kim to support Korean artists living in the United States and to promote exposure of their work in today’s highly competitive contemporary art world. In 2004, the foundation established an annual competition that is open to all artists of Korean ancestry living in the United States. AHL awards four monetary prizes each year and has been mounting bi-annual exhibitions to display the winning works. Since 2008, AHL has advanced to an annual exhibition, and this year, 2010, AHL has expanded its awards to honor five artists, thus broadening their scope of diversity and opportunity. website

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Working in various disciplines the members of AMBruno were brought together by ‘their wish to extend beyond their particular discipline, be it painting, photography, video, performance or sculpture’. Initially this exploration focused on the medium of artists’ books; a number of which are now in private and major public collections, including those of the Tate and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

AMBruno‘s commitment to experimentation led the members to take their work beyond the material temporality of the book, into that of the moving image. It was proposed that each member develop a screen work with the single formal constraint of 101 seconds duration; being more than a clip but less than a short.

Watch The Interview

Teaser by John Birdsong

Twenty-three pieces were shown at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds in March 2010. The success of this has encouraged the group to expand the project by inviting an open international submission for new works, made to the same time specification. In order to truly represent the formidable variety and quality of proposed pieces 101 works have been selected. These films have been produced with a wide range of technical means, from mobile phones to high-definition video. Forms include animation, live action, sequential stills, written text and computer-generated image.

101 was initiated by Sophie Loss. The project was developed and co-ordinated by Sophie Loss and John McDowall. Additional supervision by Joanna Hill with the help of Judy Goldhill, Claire Deniau and Steve Perfect.

PROJECT 101
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Charlotte Andrews   John Archer   Louise Atkinson   Joseph Cutts   Sara Dell’Onze   Claire Deniau   Manya Donaque   Georgia Elizey and Tim Riley   Warren Garland   Clara Glyn   Tim Goffe   Judy Goldhill   Joanna Greenhill Jane Grisewood   Joanna Hill   Lilian Igbinosun   Ingrid Jenson   Carl Jaycock   Kurt Johannessen  Paul Jones   Sean Kaye and Jenny West   Noe Kidder   Sharon Kivland   Ron Lapid  Philip Lee   Simon Lewandowski   Toby Lloyd  Sophie Loss   John McDowall  Katherine Melancom   Steve Perfect   Veronica Perez Karleson   Christina Reading   Lucy Reynolds   Rekha Sameer   Carl Slater   Chris Taylor   Susan Trangmar   Cally Trench   Helen Wood

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We are pleased to announce Kata Mejia’s fifth show at The LAB (for installation + performance art). APOLOGY, a performance installation, questions the meaning, effects and repercussions of both asking for, and being asked for forgiveness.

Through physical actions that transcend the spoken, written and felt qualities of an apology, the performance installation will focus on the idea that an apology cannot repair damage. “Receiving an apology may at times even cause a feeling of emptiness within those wronged.” explains Mejia.

The artist  will use her body to paint the gallery floor. Using a paint soaked thread to create winding, meandering traces in an abstract oval shape, she will use only her feet to pull her proned body and the thread backwards through the   space. Mejia’s struggle to complete the action will reference the idea that an apology is a difficult journey for those who receive it as well as a weight laden with guilt for those who offer it. Furthermore, as the artist moves throughout the space the lines on the floor will build up causing past lines to become less intense and less significant, reflecting the way memory and possibly pain diminish with time.

Performances will take place October 6th and 7th, 6-8pm. The installation will be on view October 7-28th.

Kata Mejia is a performance artist with a background in painting and dance who lives and works in Philadelphia. She graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Masters degree in Performance in 2004. She received her BFA from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin. She has been awarded several grants and scholarships, including the James Nelson Raymond Fellowship in 2004, the Trustee Scholarship from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a Colombian Government Scholarship for Graduate Studies abroad, and a Graduate Studies Scholarship from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2002. Kata Mejía received a 2009 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.Kata Mejia website

The LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, The LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force an interaction between the high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions it produces and the nearly 25,000 daily passersby. The LAB is located on the North East corner of 47th and Lex and is a Roger Smith Collaboration. The LAB Gallery website

For further information contact Danika Druttman on 212.339.2092 or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

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APPLE DONUT AND CIDER DANCE-OFF
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2011
6:30-7:30pm

Interview with Jongil Ma and Elizabeth Winton

Installation Time Lapse

Video from our last LAB food cart evening: POPSICLE PARTY!

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In his second show at The LAB Gallery, Jongil Ma will be collaborating with Elizabeth Winton to create a forested enclave that will transform The LAB into a real life illustration as if `from a children’s book. The scene will include a troupe of elaborate, fantastical beetles and a wolf preying over them as they prepare for a feast. They will be surrounded by both urban and wild landscapes with flickering buildings, leafless dead trees, paper cutouts and bushes.

Jongil Ma, best known for creating large abstract installations of bound colorful wood strips, and Elizabeth Winton, who has been working with mixed media collage and painting for years, will come together to build a surreal picture of our time’s concerns. Steeped in both humor and a more serious social awareness, the installation will illuminate the unique fears of our current time. The piece will play off innate tensions between the playful and political, the individual and the social, the real and manipulated.

Interview with Jongil Ma and Elizabeth Winton

Studio visit with Jongil Ma

Jongil Ma received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2002. He has had a solo exhibition at The LAB Gallery in 2009 as well as participating in shows at in Jamaica Flux: Workspaces & Windows at Jamaica Center For Arts & Learning in Queens, LMCC Governors Island Project in 2010, as well as public art projects sponsored by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism of Korea in Kwangju and Damyang respectively. His work has been featured in international exhibitions including the 2009 International Incheon Women Artist’s Biennale in Korea and he participated in the Lodz Biennale 2010 in Poland. Jongil recently showed in the AIM Biennial Exhibition in the Bronx Museum in June and ‘Flow. 11 Art and Music at Randall’s Island, Islip Art Museum in May, 2011 and Space K Gallery at Kolon Building in Gwacheon Korea. His awards have included the INC Visual Arts Award from the AHL Foundation and a Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park, The artist of year from Hanyang. Jongil Ma website

Elizabeth Winton is a Brooklyn-based visual artist working primarily in painting, collage and printmaking. She received her BA with a focus in fine art from Connecticut College in 1991. During this period and continuing after graduation she studied independently in New York, working as an artist’s assistant to Elizabeth Murray and Mimi Gross. Elizabeth has had residencies in Johnson, VT and retreats in Provincetown, MA and East Hampton, NY. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, including shows at Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY; Kolok Gallery, North Adams, MA, Margaret Bodell Gallery, New York, NY; the Ruby Green Contemporary Art Center in Nashville, TN; and the Guadalupe Cultural Center, San Antonio, TX. Her most recent solo show, curated by Douglas Dunn, was at CUE Art Foundation in 2011. Elizabeth Winton website

The LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, The LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force an interaction between the high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions it produces and the nearly 25,000 daily passersby. The LAB is located on the North East corner of 47th and Lex and is a Roger Smith Collaboration. The LAB Gallery website

For further information contact Danika Druttman on 212.339.2092 or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

Installation time lapse video

The Roger Smith is a hub for social media in #NYC. People. Art. Food. Wine. For 10% off our best available rooms rate: bit.ly/RSrooms

twitter: twitter.com/rshotel
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blog: bit.ly/RSlife
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