Slaves of Mimesis: Nine Years On 23rd Street

Mimesis [mi’mee’sis] noun

a. imitation of the real world, as by re-creating instances of human action and events or portraying objects found in nature: This movie is a mimesis of historical events.b. basic theoretical principle in the creation of art. The word is Greek and means ‘imitation’ (though in the sense of ‘re-presentation’ rather than of ‘copying’). According to Plato, all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that which really exists (in the ‘world of ideas’) is a type created by God; the concrete things man perceives in his existence are shadowy representations of this ideal type. Therefore, the painter, the tragedian, and the musician are imitators of an imitation, twice removed from the truth.

Slave [sleyv] noun
a. a person entirely under the domination of some influence: A slave to a drug.
b. a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device)

Steven Kasher Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition surveying the more than one hundred exhibitions we organized at 521 West 23rd Street during the last nine years. While looking back, this exhibition looks forward to our move to 515 West 26th Street. The exhibition will feature photographs as well as works in other media by over fifty artists. It will juxtapose a selection of the most powerful works we have exhibited over the last decade. These will illuminate themes central to the gallery’s agenda, representations of the realms of human endeavor, created under the force of powerful personal and social compulsions. Thus: Slaves of Mimesis.

The six themes:

New York Countercultures – Henry Chalfant, Hyers and Mebane, Gilles Larrain, Jim Marshall, Fred W. McDarrah, Punk Posters, Irving Penn, Anton Perich, Accra Shepp, Andy Warhol, and Weegee.

Liberation Struggles – Anonymous, Eddie Adams, Emory Douglas, David Fenton, Elaine Mayes,Fred W. McDarrah, Charles Moore, and Stephen Shames.

Glamour/Sex – Anonymous, Miles Aldridge, Danny Fitzgerald, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Josh Gosfield, Günter Grass, Roxanne Lowit, Jim Marshall, Monsieur X, Daido Moriyama, Tetsu Okukara, WingatePaine, Lawrence Schiller, Mark Seliger, and Carl van Vechten.

Street/The Public Sphere – A-Chan, Diane Arbus, Joel Grey, Josef Koudelka, Jerome Liebling, Vivian Maier, Fred W. McDarrah, Daido Moriyama, Ruth Orkin, Leo Rubinfien, Christopher Thomas, and Brett Weston.

Musicians – Richard Avedon, Danny Fields, Laura Levine, Cynthia MacAdams, Jim Marshall, Fred W.McDarrah, Punk Posters, Lou Reed, Ebet Roberts, and Carl Van Vechten.

Typological Portraits – Melissa Cacciola, Mike Disfarmer, Manuel Garcia Fernandez, Phyllis Galembo, Mugshots, and Tintypes.

Slaves of Mimesis: Nine Years on 23rd Street will be on view from April 24 – May 24, 2014. Steven Kasher Gallery is located at 521 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 AM to 6 PM. For more information about the exhibition and all other general inquiries, please contact Maya Piergies, 212 966 3978, maya@stevenkasher.com.