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Ripening Towards the Knife

    Ripening Towards the Knife, Curated by Erin Carey
    September 14th – November 1, 2020

    Ripening Towards the Knife  is an exhibition produced by Guest Curator Erin Carey which explores ideas of masculinity and friendship, featuring works by Alex Pigeon, Bryan Prendeville and Brian Christopher Sargent. Excerpts from projects by these artists are woven together into an overarching narrative describing the magical years which follow the coming-of-age, a time when young men must define the terms manhood and brotherhood for themselves. Each artist takes up that charge differently, revealing personal questions of identity and desire which play out in the shelter of intimate landscapes, from Sargent’s Eden-esque garden and Pigeon’s island sanctuary to the dusty streets of Prendeville’s hometown. While the story lines diverge, the personal expressions of love and fraternity amongst men and what it means to be a young man are broached with tenacity and tenderness, leaving us not with a singular definition but with a mosaic of possibility.

    Erin Carey > >
    is an independent curator, educator and artist based in New England. She earned her B.A. in Art History and Criticism from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.F.A. in Studio Arts from Tufts University/SMFA Boston. Carey is the former Academic Director and Gallery Director at New England School of Photography, where she had the privilege of working with more than one hundred artists from around the U.S and Europe, exhibiting diverse photographic projects and collaborating on public programming with other regional institutions and educators. Carey is a regular contributor to regional portfolio reviews for emerging professionals and undergrads in Boston and has been featured as a juror at Photoville’s The Fence (2016 and 2019) and Dodho Magazine of Barcelona (2020) and currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Griffin Museum of Photography. Her own photographic work is rooted in investigations of the American landscape and its vernacular, with her most recent project, A Spring that Love Remembered, debuting this summer; a project which explores the landscape of loss and the experience of ecstatic time.

    < < Alex Pigeon is a New York City based artist and photographer. His two most recent series, Crying to Confuse the Brave and Land of Many Uses, explore the role of place, spirituality, companionship, and desire. Through his role as an arts administrator, he has additionally helped leading artists within the field to mount critically-acclaimed gallery and museum exhibitions. About the work: The series Crying to Confuse the Brave explores the community of Fire Island Pines, a small section of the barrier island immediately south of Long Island, NY which has been an historic summer refuge for New York City’s LGBT community. Friends, partners, and lovers become a set of recurring characters throughout the series, exploring themes of fraternity, companionship, and desire.


    Bryan Prendeville > >
    is a Massachusetts native whose work predominantly examines people and the suburban landscape south of Boston. His largest body of ongoing work, Brookbend, explores ideas of youth, passage of time, faith and asylum. “Child-ish” was his first self-published monograph, an ode to the invaluable energy of the young through captivating black and white portraits. Prendville graduated from the New England school of Photography in 2018. About the work: The Brookbend series focuses on an exploration of the slow transition from youth into adulthood and the hidden world within a world of suburban dullness. Prendeville reflects the feeling of escaping from home into the landscape and driving to have a different view as time moves forward and the windows always change.

    < < Brian Christopher Sargent was born in Rochester NY, and earned his BFA in drawing and photography from School of Art+Design at Purchase. Upon graduating he pursued an internship at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography, volunteering in the library’s rare book department. After hours, Sargent played drums with the staff of the Visual Studies Workshop, trading rock steady beats for access to VSW’s darkrooms. His photographs and drawings have been selected for numerous national competitions. In 2016 he received an honorable mention from co-curators Helga Christoffersen ( New Museum) and Kelly Kivland ( Dia Art Foundation) for Dave Bown Projects Semi-annual Competition. His works are in numerous private collections, including noted collector and Whitney board member Raymond Learsy. Sargent manages film and video archives full time while pursuing a career in the arts. About the work: The series Meet Me in the Myrtle is inspired by the domestic vacuum of home, comprised of staged scenes portraying the limbo between teen-age and adult realms and the mythology of youth. Within this space Sargent addresses issues of gender and sexuality and ways in which women and children are traditionally depicted differently than men.