Above L-R: Jerry Meyer, Smash-ola (detail),
2011, mixed media lightbox, My great-grandfather's attempts to turn sexual
energy into electricity to power small machinery based on the principles of
Sigmund Freud and Nikola Tesla (detail), 2011, mixed media
installation.
Denise Bibro Fine Art presents Jerry Meyer: Civilization and It's
Discontents,on view April 14th through May 28th, 2011. Combining
appropriated text and images-deftly manipulated in Photoshop-with ancestral
ephemera and other nostalgic objects, Meyer's third solo exhibition features a
new series of multimedia light boxes and a major
installation.
Sigmund Freud claimed that civilization begets discontent and pathology
through the repression of human instinct. His claim is manifest in Meyer's
humorous and fanciful exploration of guilt, anxiety, and neurosis. The work's
luminous, theatrical glow beckons the viewer. Closer inspection reveals Meyer's
cunning sensibility. A jukebox showcases song titles such as the Prozac
Music Company's Today Is Slightly Less Horrible Than Yesterday. Among the
stops on a New York City subway map are La La Land, Out There, and
Out to
Lunch.
The exhibition's centerpiece is the room-sized installation My
great-grandfather's attempts to turn sexual energy into electricity to power
small machinery based on the principles of Sigmund Freud and Nikola Tesla.
The exterior is clad in wooden explosive crates. The interior radiates
multicolored light. An antique dressmaker's form clothed in prim Victorian
attire greets us, a wire clamped firmly to its glowing nipple. Myriad electronic
machinery blinks, whirs and hums in valiant
effort.
Poking fun at psychology and universal fears, Meyer forces us to laugh
out loud, while his work also encompasses a softer side, evident in his tender
tributes to Billie Holiday and his own great aunt Ida. Enshrined in vintage
wallpaper and silk flowers, the women are elevated to sainthood, while the boxes
become
reliquaries.
Meyer has exhibited widely at venues including the Eli Whitney Museum,
Hamden, CT; Artspace, New Haven, CT; Art Miami, Miami, FL; the Red Dot art fairs
in New York City, Miami Beach and London; Art Hamptons, Bridgehampton, NY; the
Arts Council of Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT; the San Jose Rep Gallery, San
Jose, CA; and the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, NH. He is represented
exclusively by Denise Bibro Fine
Art.
For more information, or to request high resolution images, contact us
at 212.647.7030, info@denisebibrofineart.com or visit
www.denisebibrofineart.com. Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 11AM -
6PM.
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