Smile! It’s the first New York solo exhibition by Miami duo FriendsWithYou entitled “ :) ”. This summer, FriendsWithYou will fill The Hole gallery NYC with a crowd of smiling faces and an interactive, experiential wonderland of pop-straction and participation. :) is presented in collaboration with Native Shoes.
Past the spinning neon candies on the storefront windows, you will find a garden of colorful beings raise up around you. Skip over smiling puddles on the gallery floor to see giggle sticks, smirking smoke flumes, splat-h... Read more
Smile! It’s the first New York solo exhibition by Miami duo FriendsWithYou entitled “ :) ”. This summer, FriendsWithYou will fill The Hole gallery NYC with a crowd of smiling faces and an interactive, experiential wonderland of pop-straction and participation. :) is presented in collaboration with Native Shoes.
Past the spinning neon candies on the storefront windows, you will find a garden of colorful beings raise up around you. Skip over smiling puddles on the gallery floor to see giggle sticks, smirking smoke flumes, splat-happy wall works and a grinning ghost or two. In the left rear gallery, kinetic painting blink at you from the walls as their heads roll around each other. On the right, a massive chandelier of an inflatable sculpture fills the room with energy and light.
FWY take a spiritual and serene approach to form and figure. Their reductive and simplified use of geometric abstraction always contains a special injection of amusement: for example, some art historical winks are literally winking at you. Taking Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics to heart and hand, FWY make art that activates the social interaction of people as exploded and refracted by the internet and elaborate new modes of interpersonal relationships. By reinterpreting religious traditions, symbols and spiritual practices, FWY invert these solemn and serious ideas through play to open up a connection to the divine. Many FriendsWithYou works look like toys because they are meant for play, a tool for unstructured free association and interaction. Their sculptures and paintings, inflatables and objects are meant to trigger the buried, neglected urges and yearnings that a seasoned art viewer may not expect to have activated; playfulness, laughter and inquisitiveness.
This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Native Shoes and is just part of FriendsWithYou New York City cultural ambassadorship tour: 30th St and 10th Avenue is the site of another friendship taking place, as the group’s enormous and ebullient bouncing inflatable sculptures, Rainbow City, presented by AOL, breathe a puff of fun air into the West Side. The site will also feature an exclusive pop-up shop featuring FriendsWithYou and AOL collaborative gear: AOL’s presentation of Rainbow City in NYC this summer is the latest affirmation of AOL’s commitment to supporting creativity. Also: catch FriendsWithYou exploding on the Bowery Mural wall in conjunction with Tony Goldman and with support from WeSC. Spot them strap hanging on the subway in their bouncy huggable outfits or visiting the Statue of Liberty in their colorful inflatable suits.
The :) gallery exhibition is presented in collaboration with Native Shoes, whose exuberant footwear will have a specially Friend-ed display in The Hole’s shop, Holey Books: FriendsWithYou will be creating a Native Pop-Up Shop which will be open to the public daily through August 6th, 2011. Native is a Canadian brand based in Vancouver, B.C. with strong ties to an international creative community. Inspired by classic, casual silhouettes, the Native aesthetic captures a look that is familiar yet totally new. Easy on the eyes and on the feet, Native shoes are for anybody, anywhere, anytime. Native Shoes’ collaboration in bringing you “:)” is the second major collaboration with the artists FriendsWithYou.
