25 East Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Don’t be Chicken: Fear is the Mind Killer.
Representing the work of eight emerging artists who are housed in the MFA Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design, this exhibition engages with fear as a creative provocation. Normalized global events of mass shootings, the pandemic, and the climate crisis puts humanity at the precipice. Fear hums in our daily reality. With inspiration from Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune, the curatorial premise explores the strength of the mind in the face of external trauma and internal anxiety. Artmaking wielded as a form of resilience articulates moments of tactile representations of fear. Encompassing film, painting, sculpture, and print, each work touches on the artists’ unique experiences with fear as an underlying force. In pushing against numbness, taking risks in the work, and finding humor in the dark absurdity, this show exposes the inner self grappling with fear.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
-Frank Herbert
