Two exhibitions opening this weekend in the New York City borough of Brooklyn employ the sharp edges of glass in service of very different artistic visions. In her installation and performance work entitled Always on Our Plate (2014) at Bushwick's Slag Gallery, artist Alexandra Ben-Abba investigates her complex feelings about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Using the table set for a dinner party, Ben-Abba embeds images into the tableware, which is set with dishes as well as glass shards, chunks of stone, and cement. On Friday, January 17th, there will be a 7 PM performance in which a group of artists, curators and art critics consume a meal using these dangerous table settings as the forum for a conversation about identity and place. The exhibition continues through January 22, 2014. Not far away in the DUMBO neighborhood, Smack Mellon gallery will unveil a 48-foot-long menacing glass wall work made up of 7,200 painstakingly cut triangles of mirrored glass arranged into dangerously sharp points. The work of Robert Hickman will debut on Saturday, January 18th, and remain on view through March 2, 2014. "Although the work is fragile, it will cut you if you get too close," writes Hickman in his artist's statement about the work, which he calls "a cautionary tale of human interaction.”
Watch a time-lapse video of video of Hickman working on his piece entitled DMMDIA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mFRYqWezY
IF YOU GO:
92 Plymouth Street @ Washington
Brooklyn, NY 11201 Tel: 718 834 - 8761 Website: www.smackmellon.org