Stamford, CT -- On the closing weekend of Franklin Street Works current exhibition, “I hear it everywhere I go", the not-for-profit contemporary art space will host a discussion between exhibiting artist Nayland Blake and exhibition curator Terri C Smith. The free, public event will take place at Franklin Street Works on Saturday, January 6, 4:00 - 5:00 pm and will be followed by Q & A and wine reception in the Franklin Street Works cafe until 6:00 pm.
Blake, who received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012, is an internationally exhibiting artist based in New York City. Interracial desire, same-sex love, and racial and sexual bigotry are recurrent themes in Blake's sculptures, drawings, performances, and videos, which reflect the artist’s preoccupation with his own racial and sexual identities. According to Blake, his work often makes room for “contradiction and complexity” and what he makes is often “conceived of in relation to the kinds of objects we handle every day.”
Blake’s approach of using familiar objects and his interest in people “being present however they are” has led to a body of work that expresses the multifarious nature of identity.
“I have looked to my own work to provide the explanations for my life, rather than the other way around,” the artist says “My work has taught me what I think about race, why I like the kinds of sex that I do, where my fears and shames are located, and my pleasures as well. I make work because I want to learn these things.”
Blake and Smith will have an interview-style conversation about his larger practice and the works in “I hear it everywhere I go,” Franklin Street Works current group exhibition. The discussion will open up to audience questions, creating an intimate, casual setting in which to explore Blake’s practice.
“I’m excited to sit down with Nayland Blake,” Smith says, “I look forward to discussing aspects of his 30-year career and exploring this prolific artist’s approach to making work that has gone deeply into themes around identity, yet also consistently shifts strategies in surprising and gratifying ways.”
ABOUT NAYLAND BLAKE
After earning his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1984, Nayland Blake has exhibited his work internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Interracial desire, same-sex love, and racial and sexual bigotry are recurrent themes in Blake's sculptures, drawings, performances, and videos, which reflect his preoccupation with his own racial and sexual identities. Blake participated in the 1991 Whitney Biennial and the 1993 Venice Biennale. The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, presented a survey of his performance-based work in 2003, and his work was the subject of a 2008 survey exhibition at Location One, New York. In 2012 Yerba Buena Arts Center in San Francisco presented a one-man exhibition entitled "Free!Love!Tool!Box!" and Blake was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. Blake chairs the International Photography Center-Bard MFA program and lives and works in Brooklyn. His work is on view through Dec 22 at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, in the solo exhibition “#IDrawEveryDay.” He is also currently showing in the group exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and as a Weapon,” at the New Museum, New York, NY.
ABOUT FRANKLIN STREET WORKS
Franklin Street Works is a not-for-profit contemporary art space and café whose mission is to manifest contemporary art projects in a professional and welcoming setting. Franklin Street Works aims to broaden community participation in the arts, contribute to a larger arts dialogue, and cultivate emerging artists. To date, the organization has exhibited the work of more than 350 artists, curated 26 original exhibitions, and organized approximately 130 programs, including talks, tours, and performances. Their work has received national and regional support, including two, multi-year grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, as well as grants from Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and more. Exhibitions have been recognized with positive reviews in major publications such as Artforum online, Art in America online, Art New England, Art Papers, Modern Painters, Hyperallergic, Bomb blog, the Daily Serving, and artcritical.com.
GETTING THERE:
Franklin Street Works is located at 41 Franklin Street in downtown Stamford, Connecticut, near the UCONN campus and less than one hour from New York City via Metro North. Franklin Street Works is approximately one mile (a 15 minute walk) from the Stamford train station. On-street parking is available on Franklin Street (metered until 7:00 pm except on Sunday), and paid parking is available nearby in a lot on Franklin Street and in the Summer Street Garage (100 Summer Street), behind Target. Hours: Café: Tues-Fri, 10:00 am-5:00 pm; Sat/Sun, 9:00 am-5:00 pm. Gallery: Tues-Sun, 12:00 pm–5:00 pm.
ACCESSIBILITY:
Franklin Street Works has a temporary ramp for accessing our gallery. Please call 203-595-5211 or 203-253-0404, or email terri@franklinstreetworks.org for access requests. The ramp is connected to the back entrance, across approximately 4 feet of mulch and a parking lot next door. Once inside there is an elevator and bathrooms are large and clear but do not have access bars. Franklin Street Works is in the process of finishing a permanent ADA ramp.