黑料不打烊

The will present 鈥淐onstrain/Contain,鈥� a spatial experiment and first solo exhibit by New York environmental artist Sam Horowitz, opening on Jan. 27, with an artist鈥檚 reception at 6 p.m. The exhibition runs through March 15.

In today鈥檚 virtual era, when we can communicate at light speed, inhabit cyber realities and continually discard the 鈥渙ld鈥� in search for 鈥渦pgrades,” one might expect that technology innovation makes us less burdened, less constrained by time and space. By the same token, so many of us are living rushed unthinking lives, desensitized and isolated from anything real. Are we constrained by our own innovations? We work, live and play inside frames, according to Horowitz, and those frames are mobile or immobile, physical, mental or metaphorical.

In this exhibition, the intrusion of familiar objects with uncharacteristic contents invites the viewer to reconsider the forms, functions and limitations of recognizable, repurposed relics, and pokes fun at our decreasing flexibility, our increasing demands and the collective loss of craft, localized innovation and repair.

鈥淭he trunks, once utilitarian objects used to carry clothing and other personal items, are now filled for the sake of filling. The cardboard, created initially to contain other entities, functions as contents. Though each framing device no longer holds the contents they were created to contain, they contain nonetheless; it is the humor and irony of this relationship that I strive to illustrate thorough my work,鈥� Horowitz says.

To create this installation, Horowitz began by collecting trunks, cases and boxes. Though most bore a patina of age, use and neglect, he cleaned, fixed and saved each piece. Horowitz is able to manipulate cardboard to create the designs and patterns he finds within the lines and corrugation so readily offered. 鈥淚 have drawn each piece through the gauntlet intentionally, irrationally or purely by necessity,鈥� says Horowitz. 鈥淭hinking over my work, and planning new directions strays into theory, but in practice, I work, live and act in this moment.鈥�

The Point of Contact Gallery is a member of the Coalition of Museum & Art Centers at 黑料不打烊. It is free and open to the public.聽Regular gallery hours are聽Monday, Wednesday and Friday聽 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 3 p.m. To schedule visits at any other time please call 315-443-2169.