Venus Occults Jupiter

September 16TH, 2018 – November 25TH, 2018

1421 New York 9H
Ghent, NY 12075

Carolyn Salas, Tamar Ettun, Sara Jimenez, Lilly McElroy, Lily Cox-Richard, Markel Uriu, Paula Wilson

Love Apple Farm, in partnership with Art-in-Buildings, is pleased to announce the opening of its new fall exhibition, Venus Occults Jupiter. The new show features works of seven artists including Tamar Ettun, Sara Jimenez, Lilly McElroy, Lily Cox Richard, Carolyn Salas, Markel Uriu, and Paula Wilson.

Venus Occults Jupiter uses the 2018 bicentennial of Ghent, NY, (the location of Love Apple Farm in the Hudson Valley) as the jumping off point to examine artists who employ beauty and empathy as techniques to challenge the presentation and distribution of information and subvert conventional historical narratives.

The exhibition’s title references the 1818 occultation of the planet Jupiter to Venus, an extremely rare eclipse that occurs when one planet passes directly in front of another planet, obscuring it from view. Coinciding with the founding of Ghent, NY, in that same year, this occultation was the last recorded – the next such eclipse is not forecast to occur until the year 2065.

In 1818, the planet Venus, named after the ancient Roman goddess of love, beauty, prosperity, and victory, crossed Jupiter, the gas giant named after the Roman king of all gods, of light and the sky, and the protector of the state and laws.

This exhibition considers the auspicious relationship between these mythological characters, the critical values they represent, and the facility of the artists on view to use beauty as a tool to question contemporary political and cultural norms and traditional modes of representation.

The artists in this exhibition explore ritual, mythologies, and the contradictions between the personal and historical. They draw attention to ideas often overlooked, breaking down traditional presentations of power and control. Two hundred years after the astronomical event, Venus Occults Jupiter reflects on the importance of challenging conventional narratives, exploring empathy as a means to combat exclusionary histories.

Venus Occults Jupiter is co-curated by Eliana Blechman and Jennie Lamensdorf and sponsored by Time Equities Inc. (TEI). TEI is committed to enriching the experience of our properties through Art-in-Buildings, an innovative approach that brings contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists to non-traditional exhibition spaces in the interest of promoting artists, expanding the audience for art, and creating a more interesting environment for our building occupants, residents, and their guests.

For more information about Love Apple Farm and Love Apple Art Space, please check out this website.