THE MUSHROOM SHOW
Organized by Dan Gratz & Lacey Fekishazy
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 5, 6 - 9 pm
Saturday, October 5 - Sunday, November 3, 2019
SARDINE is pleased to present THE MUSHROOM SHOW, featuring artwork by Conor Backman, Conrad Bakker, Zach Bruder, Andrew Cannon, George Carr, Drea Cofield, Vince Contarino, Andy Cross, Alex Da Corte, Lacey Fekishazy, Amy Feldman, Matthew F Fisher, Paul Gabrielli, Tamara Gonzalez, Quinn Gorbutt, Dan Gratz, Laurie Hogin, Brook Hsu, Gabriel Hurier, Sam Jablon, Roxanne Jackson, Butt Johnson, Robin Kang, Jim Lee, Paul Lee, Tara Long, Esperanza Mayobre, Matthew Mahler, Lydia McCarthy, Benny Merris, Doug Melini, MMAS, Ben Pederson, Eric Shaw, Kate Steciw, Karen Tepaz, Richard Tinkler, Tim Van Laar, Anne Vieux, Letha Wilson, and Alex Yudzon.
THE MUSHROOM SHOW was initially organized by Letha Wilson and Dan Gratz in Letha’s upstate New York studio in the summer of 2018, and like a mushroom, it was only up for a few days. Bringing a version of the show back to New York City, where many of the artists in the show live and work, was natural enough. It’s also significant that this particular iteration of The Mushroom Show is at Sardine, an artist-run space and focal point for connectivity. Coincidentally, Sardine celebrates 8 years in existence this month.
Artists and fungi both have extensive unseen networks, and both change and enhance their surroundings in ways that often go unnoticed by the casual observer. Mycelium, the root-like vegetative structure beneath mushrooms, has been called a “natural internet,” where fungi and other plants can communicate by sharing nutrients or information. The artists in THE MUSHROOM SHOW are similarly connected through their own network, sharing ideas and energy. Sometimes the connections between artists are direct, but perhaps more often these connections occur on a nearly imperceptible level and have many paths.
Connectivity goes hand in hand with what might be the most important quality of THE MUSHROOM SHOW: its openness. In this show the theme is approached from many perspectives, by artists from a wide range of ages and backgrounds working across different mediums. There are paintings, photographs and sculptures of mushrooms in a literal sense, cartoon mushrooms, mushroom clouds, references to fungi in general, networks that reference mycelia, and of course psychedelic mushrooms and imagery alluding to experiences that transcend conventional reality. Perhaps the fact that almost any kind of art in any medium could have been included hints at a deeper relationship that humans, and artists in particular, have to the mushroom.
SARDINE is located on the ground floor of 286 Stanhope Street between Wyckoff and Irving Avenues in Bushwick, Brooklyn, one block from the Dekalb L train and near the Knickerbocker M. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 6 pm when a show is in progress or by appointment. For more information, please visit sardinebk.com. Contact: Lacey Fekishazy at 914.805.1974 or sardinebk@gmail.com.
