Pure ‘Joy’

INVISIBLE-EXPORTS is pleased to present Pure ‘Joy’ at Western Exhibitions in Chicago, a group show that tries to see the underbelly of joy — to peek below the hood of it, to play around in its aftermath and explore its not-immediately-apparent contradictions and paradoxes. The exhibition features work by Miles Aldridge (London, UK), Mike Bouchet (Frankfurt, Germany), Jane Corrigan (New York, NY), Joey Frank (Brooklyn, NY), Andrew Guenther (Brooklyn, NY), Cary Leibowitz (New York, NY), Nate Lowman (New York, NY), Dan McCarthy (Palenville, NY), Rebecca Morgan (Bloomsburg, PA), Tabboo! (New York, NY), Todd Pavlisko (Brooklyn, NY), Orkideh Torabi (Chicago, IL), John Waters(Baltimore, MD), and Jade Yumang (Chicago, IL). Please join us for the opening reception, free and open to the public, on Friday, January 11 from 5 to 8pm.

The idea of joy is a slippery one. Joy is immediate, but fleeting. It’s not as deep as happiness, or as rich as hate. And it can leave you empty and even self-loathing, like an unfulfilled craving or hangover. But is it just the absence of joy that makes us sad? Or are we worried about who we truly are without it?

The paradox of joy is nothing new—it shows up throughout art history in unexpected ways; Yves Klein’s Leap Into the Void, The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, or even Vito Acconci’s Following Piece. But it has become even more conspicuous in a time of private despair and relentless public pressure towards optimism. The artworks presented here are meant to show the entire narrative of joy, from the immediate surface pleasure, to the tail end when it slips away. Or maybe all the elements were there at once, from the start.