WWJD & GALLERY PEACE

Jack Early

7 September – 27 October, 2012

SOUTHFIRST is proud to present “WWJD,” a new installation by Jack Early. The show takes place in conjunction with “Gallery Peace,” a solo exhibition of new works by Early at McCaffrey Fine Art. An essay by Glenn O’Brien introduces both exhibitions. “WWJD” and “Gallery Peace” are on view from 7 September – 27 October, 2012 with opening receptions on Friday, September 7 from 5-7 at McCaffrey Fine Art and 6-8 at Southfirst.

“WWJD” features an 8.5’-tall illuminated Plexiglas cross, seven soft-sculpture clouds, a path of life-sized footprint floor sculptures and an original soundtrack composed and performed by the artist. While the gallery is painted entirely blue and features the image of Christ suffering on the cross, the blue is Benjamin Moore house paint’s ballroom blue, not Giotto’s ultramarine, and the body on the cross evokes Godspell, not Grünewald. This Jesus is more off-Broadway than Vatican. The title plays with the rhetorical question asked in response to an ethical dilemma; it is also an acronymic pun on the artist’s first name.

In the uptown exhibition “Gallery Peace,” “Tomorrow,” a new song written by Early and recorded by the musicians Dean and Britta, evokes Apple Records’ “hit factory” pop and the optimism of the period 1969-1973. Thirteen free-standing cut-out nude sculptures depicting Yoko Ono, an American flag painting with a tie-dye ground, and a sculptural installation which imagines John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s bed-in as a shroud of Turin-like imprint, conjure the hopeful feelings from an era when war was over (if you wanted it to be.)

Jack Early was born in Raleigh, NC in 1962. Recent exhibitions have included Pop Life: Art in the Material World (Tate Modern, London), Mapping the Studio (Palazzo Grassi, Venice), and a solo project at John McWhinnie at Glenn Horowitz, East Hampton. His video, "What to do with a Drunken Sailor" (2011) was funded through a commission from Forever & Today. This is his second solo show at Southfirst. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

Glenn O’Brien wrote a monthly column for Artforum magazine for over ten years and was the host of the iconic show “TV Party.” His recent book is How To Be a Man. His original essay for the exhibitions can be downloaded here: www.mccaffreyfineart.com/Press-Releases/JackEarly2012_PR.pdf.

McCaffrey Fine Art is located at 23 E. 67^th Street. The hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10-6. For more information, please contact Lisa Panzera at info@mccaffreyfineart.com.

SOUTHFIRST, founded in 2000, is located at 60 N6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn between Wythe and Kent Avenues. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 PM and by appointment. Subway: L train to Bedford Avenue. For more information, please contact Corrie Ferguson at 718 599 4884 or info@southfirst.org.