Magnan Metz Gallery is pleased to present Ariana Page Russell's fourth solo show with the gallery, a transformative dialog presented through photography, sculpture, installation and performance.  The exhibition will be on view from December 12, 2014 – January 17, 2015 with an artist reception on Thursday, December 11, 2014 from 6-8 PM. The gallery will also be hosting a performance by the artist on Thursday, January 8^th from 6-8 PM.

 

The title of the exhibition is an homage to the Broad Channel in Jamaica Bay, New York.  The channel acts as a connective intermediary between the wildlife reserves and the urban landscape whilst maintaining the buffer between the two worlds and preserving the unique natural areas.    A function not too far removed from the intrinsic behavior of our own sheath - like dermis navigating the binary relationship between the interior and exterior self.  The skin separates inside from outside, yet allows flow through. A system informed by fluids and touch providing a channel for love, connection, release, withdrawal, and renewal.

 

Broad Channels presents a body of work embracing Russell’s dermatographia, a skin condition in which welts appear when lightly scratched as well as an uncontrollable tendency to blush.  Rather than being frustrated by her condition, she has chosen to claim her skin’s transparency by dressing in the shades of red that expose her vulnerability.  Introducing the exhibition is Medusa, a powerful floor to ceiling translucent print of Russell dressed in nebula temporary skin tattoos adhered to the gallery’s window forming a channel of communication between the artwork in the gallery and the outside world.

 

The skin is an organ rich in knowledge and the body has a language that speaks through it.  In Trace the artist has created trace images of various parts of her body pressing mirrors against her body leaving behind imprints made up of skin cells.  Similarly, Stamp, a mirrored chair is left with only the suggestion of her body and an intangible record of her physical presence.  

 

The walls are lined with Russell’s rose-toned likeness, many focusing on the distortion of the source image.  No longer using the transparencies to adorn her body Pucker, Routes and Buoy are unique photographic transfers onto a paper surface, the work’s viscous surface creating a warped tension within the composition. 

 

Russell has exhibited internationally and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Recent shows include the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin; Town Hall Gallery in Victoria, Australia; Adelphi University in New York; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Bolivia. Her work has appeared in Art in America, the Huffington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, VISION Magazine: China, and the monograph ‘Dressing’ published by Decode Books. She was featured on ABC News 20/20 and was a recent participant in the Sexto Encuentro Mundial de Arte Corporal in Caracas, Venezuela. She received her MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2005. Russell is also the author of SKINTOME, a website about skin and creativity.