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A Love Letter to a Nightmare

The skeleton was as happy as a madman whose straitjacket had been taken off. He felt liberated at being able to walk without flesh. The mosquitoes didn’t bite him anymore. He didn’t have to have his hair cut. He was neither hungry nor thirsty, hot nor cold. He was far from the lizard of love.

–Leonora Carrington, The Seventh Horse and Other Tales

As we reopen, Petzel Gallery is pleased to present A Love Letter to a Nightmare, a summer group exhibition that will be on view from July 15 – August 14 at the gallery’s Chelsea location. A Love Letter to a Nightmare includes work by Danica Barboza, Genesis Belanger, Meriem Bennani, Sascha Braunig, Florencia Escudero, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Anna Glantz, Ivy Haldeman, Christina Quarles, Emily Mae Smith, and Greg Parma Smith.

The exhibition’s premise is to take into consideration contemporary visual modes and expressions that trace back to historical movements such as Surrealism, Symbolism and Pop, through the lens of our current uncertain existence. Call it vamped Surrealism and Symbolism. The show ponders how the aesthetic of modern surrealism/symbolism has been dressed up and added upon, sexualized, feminized, and reworked in the 21st Century. How does the state of a bound subconscious affect these artworks? This has become especially prevalent while the world shelters from the coronavirus pandemic and confronts centuries of inequity in a moment of historic unrest and great potential for revolutionary change. Beneath our daily struggle for normalcy bubbles a shared unconscious anxiety, fear, loneliness, despair, and trepidation of the future.

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Christina Quarles, All I Need is the Air That I Breathe

Christina Quarles

All I Need is the Air That I Breathe

2020

Acrylic on canvas

56 x 60 inches

142.2 x 152.4 cm

Sascha Braunig, Deep V

Sascha Braunig

Deep V

2019

Oil on linen over panel

60 x 38 inches

152.4 x 96.5 cm

Sascha Braunig, Holding Myself Up

Sascha Braunig

Holding Myself Up

2020

Oil on linen over panel

39 x 15.6 inches

99.1 x 39.7 cm

Emily Mae Smith, Daphne of the West

Emily Mae Smith

Daphne of the West

2020

Oil on linen

48 x 37 inches

121.9 x 94 cm

Anna Glantz, The Music Lesson (Mercedes Sosa)

Anna Glantz

The Music Lesson (Mercedes Sosa)

2019

Oil on canvas

50 x 34 inches

127 x 86.4 cm

Greg Parma Smith, Red Snake Scene in Felicitous Continuity

Greg Parma Smith

Red Snake Scene in Felicitous Continuity

2020

Oil on canvas

44 x 44 inches

111.8 x 111.8 cm

Ivy Haldeman, Colossus, Head Leans Right, Hand Supports Bun, Face Covered

Ivy Haldeman

Colossus, Head Leans Right, Hand Supports Bun, Face Covered

2020

Acrylic on canvas

84 x 58 inches

213.4 x 147.3 cm

Ivy Haldeman, Heels, Peel Under Shank, Soft Wrap

Ivy Haldeman

Heels, Peel Under Shank, Soft Wrap

2020

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 16.5 inches

61 x 41.9 cm

Danica Barboza, Cleft   [ dramaturgical  pîlos ]

Danica Barboza

Cleft   [ dramaturgical  pîlos ]

2020

Clay, paint, rope, wood, felt, fleece, tape, cardboard, acrylic yarn, newspaper, polyvinyl acetate, gloss finish, polyurethane foam, cabinet door, beanbag chair, shower curtain rods, metal computer monitor, scanning beds, shiny shag chenille fabric, dress, canvas fabric, upholstery padding, cloth back scrubber, black and white cotton shirt

54 x 116 x 150 inches

137.2 x 294.6 x 381 cm

Meriem Bennani, Ghariba

Meriem Bennani

Ghariba

2017

Video

22 minutes 47 seconds

In these times, the fabric of society is now both flattened into two dimensions as we socialize through screens – from our Zoom meetings, family check-ins, and “cocktails with friends,” to the daily State and Federal news conferences, Instagram stories, and Tik Tok videos – and yet simultaneously burst open in valiant action both intellectual and physical as we gather, protest, and organize in efforts to reimagine and rebuild a more just world. Our dreams have become more “vivid” and “menacing,” according to The New York Times, and, of course, in fantasy there is room for radical possibility. How might these practices of contemporary Surrealism, Symbolism and Pop, be read and implemented in reaction to the current upheaval? As one of the artists offered – how might these daydreams and nightmares be used as “forms of resistance, or in addressing trauma, enfranchising the masses, and envisioning necessary escape?” The exhibition asks how does each artist’s subjective work – painting, sculpture, installation, and video – explain a world riddled with multiple “objective” truths?

Florencia Escudero, Lion's Breath

Florencia Escudero

Lion's Breath

2019

Machine-sewn, cut bathrobes and velvet, metal purse clasps, hand-sewn digitally-printed stain, paracord, and upholstery foam

72 x 49 x 10.5 inches

182.9 x 124.5 x 26.7 cm

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Florencia Escudero, Reptilian Couture

Florencia Escudero

Reptilian Couture

2019

Hand-sewn, digitally-printed, silkscreened, and machine-embroidered satin with spandex, velvet, and hand-drawn, 3-D-penned plastic with ink residue, silver chain, metal purse clasps, and laser-cut mirrored plexiglass

60 x 36 x 8 inches

152.4 x 91.4 x 20.3 cm

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Florencia Escudero, Untitled

Florencia Escudero

Untitled

2019

Hand-sewn velvet and machine-embroidered pleather, upholstery foam, spacer mesh, foam, and cast concrete base

9 x 13 x 12 inches

22.9 x 33 x 30.5 cm

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Florencia Escudero, Frog Licker

Florencia Escudero

Frog Licker

2019

Hand-sewn, digitally-printed satin and silkscreened spandex, 3D-printed plastic, metal purse clasp, with hand-sewn velvet, foam, and spacer mesh base, and hand-sewn, digitally-printed satin, silkscreened spandex, foam, and spacer mesh parts

6.5 x 13.5 x 5 inches

16.5 x 34.3 x 12.7 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Kill Him

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Kill Him

2020

Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper

77 x 43 x 2 inches

195.6 x 109.2 x 5.1 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Clear Evidence

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Clear Evidence

2020

Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper

86 x 42 x 2 inches

218.4 x 106.7 x 5.1 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Hi Cutie

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Hi Cutie

2020

Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper

76 x 40 x 2 inches

193 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Stay

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Stay

2020

Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper

86 x 42 x 2 inches

218.4 x 106.7 x 5.1 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Persian Cat Isabella (Mouse House)

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Persian Cat Isabella (Mouse House)

2020

Ceramic

12 x 16 x 16 inches

30.5 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Persian Cat Ali (Mouse House)

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Persian Cat Ali (Mouse House)

2020

Ceramic

12 x 16 x 16 inches

30.5 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm

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Hadi Fallahpisheh, Persian Cat Mike (Mouse House)

Hadi Fallahpisheh

Persian Cat Mike (Mouse House)

2020

Ceramic

12 x 18 x 18 inches

30.5 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm

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Genesis Belanger, Picking up the pieces

Genesis Belanger

Picking up the pieces

2020

Stoneware (set of 3 unbreakable elements)

Dust pan: 20 x 3.5 x 15.75 in; 50.8 x 8.9 x 40 cm

Mouth: 6 x 3.5 x 2.5 in; 15.2 x 8.9 x 6.4 cm

Brush: 15.5 x 4 x 5.5 in; 39.4 x 10.2 x 14 cm