Join us for a glass of wine, and a tour of the exhibit!

Domesticated

Through January 2017
A contemporary art exhibition curated by Abby Subak

Exhibiting Artists: Liza Cassidy; Paul Gagnier; Sara Jones; Tara Kopp; Susan Newmark; Abby Subakand Jessica Weiss

When people reference gender stereotypes, with men going “out into the world” to earn the income and women staying home to take care of household chores, they often reference the 1950s. This implies that these gender roles are of a time past. Yet, while gender assumptions have undoubtedly evolved over the past 6+ decades, today the bulk of household chores still falls to the woman of the house. The Council on Contemporary Families reported in 2015 that although men pick up more housework than they used to, women still do a larger portion, sometimes even three times as much.

The artworks in Domesticated aim to challenge assumptions about gender roles and how these assumptions impact our views of ourselves and our partnerships. Domesticity can be a joy and an expression of love for your life and your family. Yet feeling domesticated can also be constraining and limiting. The exhibiting contemporary artists struggle with balancing the upkeep of their daily lives and quotidien chores, and their desire to make a contribution to a broader society. These artworks explore these tensions through examining relationships to the space we live in, architecturally, decoratively, and psychically. They reflect a tension between interior and exterior, literally and figuratively, and the struggle to find balance and respect for each. They also grapple with the interior psychological space of home and gender roles.

Literal depictions of household chores are found in the works of Liza Cassidy , Tara Kopp , and Abby Graf Subak . Decorative elements of the home represent confinement and sometimes confusion, yet also beauty, in the work of Sara Jones , Susan Newmark , and Jessica Weiss . Attempts to make sense of the physical and architectural space is found in the work of Sara Jones and Paul Gagnier . The repetition of domestic and decorative patterns permeates the show, paralleling the repetition of daily chores that are never finished, as artists seek to create meaning from this repetition, particularly in the works of Liza Cassidy , Sara Jones , Susan Newmark , Jessica Weiss .

This exhibition is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts.