Misha Kahn / Mall Girl
Gallery Loupe is pleased to present Mall Girl – a fanciful jewelry installation by artist Misha Kahn. This multiform exhibition of necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and earrings, installed on coordinated displays designed by Kahn, will be presented at a Pop-Up Gallery at 2 Rivington Street, New York City – transformed, for the occasion, into a dystopian wonderland of ironic enchantment. For, after all, what is a mall?
The equilibrium between passion and flippancy is Kahn’s self-proclaimed agenda. Whether expressed through performance, installation, furniture, domestic objects, personal accessories, or jewelry, his works exude an irreverent goofiness that not only makes us smile but encourages re-evaluation of our native vernacular, while taking us on a joyous but satirical journey along the scenic roots of American popular culture. Inspired by American icons like roadside attractions, national landmarks, cowboys and Indians, hell-bent bikers, and kitschy malls, this captivating young maker mixes his own special blend of the everyday with the eccentric, often resulting in imagery that evokes cartoons as well as Jeff Koons.
All of the works in Mall Girl are fabricated by Kahn using one of his unique processes. Some are achieved with opaque resin poured into colorfully painted vinyl “balloons” that have been cut into evocative silhouettes, sewn together, and then removed to reveal the alluring forms within; others are derived from serendipitous experimentation – a cornerstone of Kahn’s practice. Large and loony, the jewelry is deceptively lightweight and easy to wear. Returned to their home bases, every combination is a complete sculptural statement; nonetheless, even the denuded platforms boast a fully resolved presence.
Kahn holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; he studied at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel, where he was a Fulbright Fellow. He has designed and fabricated animatronic figures and displays for Saks 5th Avenue, Macy’s, and Bergdorf Goodman windows in New York. His lamps were featured in Bjarne Melgaard’s installation at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Kahn’s wacky, but nonetheless functional “Pig Bench,” made from urethane resin and trash, along with “Saturday Morning Store,” a wall installation of brightly colored, inflated domestic appliances and jewelry, were prominent inclusions in NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.
The Pop-Up will be open June 17 – 21, 2015 from 11am-7pm. On Saturday June 20 at 2 pm, Misha will participate in a “conversation” about his practice with Glenn Adamson, Nanette L. Laitman Director of the Museum of Arts and Design. After the Pop-Up, Mall Girl will travel to Gallery Loupe and can be seen there from June 23 – July 10, 2015.
Pop Up Exhibition @ 2 Rivington St., NYC, June 17 – 21, 2015
Artist Reception: Wed, June 17, 2015 6-8:30pm
Exhibition @ Gallery Loupe, June 23 – July 10, 2015