Jennifer Williams
August 7 – October 2, 2010
On Saturday August 7th, The Homefront Gallery will open to the public with an exhibition of photographs and collages by Jennifer Williams, whose work examines the everyday architecture of New York City and our changing perceptions of the city’s visual environment. Ms. Williams is an artist whose work addresses what it means to be “at home” amid beauty and decay.
The show features new works from Ms. Williams’ series “Stalled” that continue her response to the city’s complex spaces and buildings altered by the “anxiety of gentrification.” The project documents the continuous process of physical transformation within the city: empty lots and construction barriers “sheathed in rows of plywood, chain-link fences, and plastic tarps.” The images find expression in layers of construction materials and graffiti marks—ready-made abstractions that call to mind decollagé techniques and photographs of involuntary sculpture.
For this exhibition, the artist created a special installation collage that invites elements from the street into the gallery. Jennifer Williams writes about the chaos of Long Island City and its “transition from low-rise sleepy working class manufacturing to high-rise glassy office buildings. It’s almost sci-fi.” The forms and gestures of these collages activate the gallery’s walls, windows and viewing spaces.
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 7, 12pm – 6pm