Boundary Proof
October 21, 2011- December 3rd 2011
Curated by Rod Malin
Works by: Gina Dawson, Carl Gunhouse, and Cyle Metzger
Opening Reception: Friday October 21 7pm-10pm
Closing Artist Brunch: Saturday December 3rd 2011 1pm-5pm
Hours: Saturdays 1-5pm & Wednesdays 5-7pm or by appointment
Location: 1826 Fleet Street, Baltimore, MD 21231
Boundary Proof is a group exhibition that features three artists whose works address cultural use of border limitations, and the ability to navigate beyond and challenge specific cultural red lines. Each in their own right justifies expectations associated with their subject and examines contextual and metaphoric limitations, thus pushing past preconceived ideas.
Labels such as “rebel”, “freak” and “prophet” mainly serve to marginalize, thus reinforcing preconceived ideas about cultural boundaries. As didactic as one may be about transformation and innovation, programmatic barriers are still usually fully encouraged, driven by apprehension of existing restrictions. The line is drawn in the sand not to casually walk over, and it is the strained relationship between boundaries that one must supersede. In order to maintain a viable state, keeping up the appearance of boundaries and borders cultivates a close relationship with the opposition, creating a unique exchange that is anything but unpoetic.
Gina Dawson was born in Dallas, TX and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received a BFA from the University of North Texas in 2002 and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2005. While in graduate school, she received a Dean’s discretionary fund and a travel grant. She has been in multiple group exhibitions in Texas, Boston, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. In January of 2010 she had a solo show at Galerie Jeanroch Dard in Paris and in April of the same year was in a two person exhibition at Judy Rotenberg Gallery in Boston.
Carl Gunhouse was born in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts, but he spent his formative years in suburban New Jersey. Growing up, he developed a love/hate relationship with suburbia that led to the angst familiar to most suburban youth. With this unrest came the discovery of the anger and DIY ethics of hardcore punk rock. Yearning to be part of the hardcore scene, he started photographing bands, which began his love of photography. To escape suburban New Jersey, Carl enrolled in Fordham University in New York City. While completing a BA in European History at Fordham, he discovered that photography could be something to pursue as career so he decided to simultaneously complete a BFA in Photography. After going on to earn his MA in American History from Fordham, Carl threw himself into finding an expression for his suburban angst in street photography. In a hope to develop and refine his photography, Carl completed his MFA in Photography at Yale University. Since graduating, he has found a great deal of personal satisfaction teaching as an Adjunct at Montclair State University, Cooper Union, and Nassau Community College. He has also gained some renown for his straightforward writing on photography for such web sites as Searching For the Light, Skuawk, and BigREDandShiny. His photography has been shown nationally and internationally. As an artist, he has produced a body of landscape photographs in New Jersey that deals with his complex personal relationship to suburbia. He is now investigating the suburban experience by driving around the United States and exploring what it is to be an American. Carl currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Cyle Metzger is an artist and writer raised in southern California. His work is inspired by inaccessible spaces and experiences of negotiating social barriers. Since receiving his MFA from MICA in 2010, he has been granted residency fellowships to the Vermont Studio Center and New York State’s Salem Art Works, a number of exhibition opportunities in California, New York, Maryland and Delaware, and the opportunity to teach at Towson University in Maryland. He currently lives in Baltimore.
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