Reception: Thursday February 6th, 7-9pm

Exhibition: February 6th – February 16th, 2014

Artists Include: Isaac Arvold, Erik Benson, Julie Elizabeth Brady, Paul Brainard, Monica Cook, Melissa Cooke, Peter Drake, MaDora Frey, Jane LaFarge Hamill, Aaron Johnson, Christian Johnson, Michael Kagan, Karl LaRocca, Francesco Longenecker, Daniel Maidman, Lindsay Mound, Reuben Negron, Javier Piñon, Colette Robbins, Jean-Pierre Roy, Michael Schall, Kristen Schiele, Andrew Smenos, Melanie Vote, Frank Webster, Eric White, Barnaby Whitfield, Mike Womack . Curated by Amy Berger, PR and Arrangement/ Installation by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele

Inspired by the Designs of Jacqueline Popovic / Jankele

The Lodge Gallery presents an exhibition of new work exploring the relationship between fine art and fashion through a celebration of the accessory. Inspired by the organic and geological accessory designs of Jacqueline Popovic, A Human Extension features twenty-eight artists who have adapted the direct designs, production materials or visual spirit of Popovic’s celebrated Jankele collection into a body of work that investigates the challenging and curious marriage of fashion and art at the dawn of the 21st century.

A Human Extension is an attempt to re-conceptualize the fashion accessory as both sculptural and utilitarian. It is a chance to revisit ideas and philosophies that have long been explored by artists such as Vanessa Beecroft. Alexander McQueen, and Nick Cave who investigated the art/fashion relationship in unique and alternative contexts. Inspired by these ideas and in the context of Jankele’s designs, the artists of A Human Extension are pioneering influential new ideas about the role of fashion in contemporary visual culture.

Artist Julie Elizabeth Brady explains “Fashion is always on my mind when I am coming up with an idea for a painting, but first let me define what ‘fashion’ means to me. Fashion often implies something that is “of the moment” and stylish, but the fashion that captures my attention are pieces that are objects of beauty, new and old, that start a conversation.”

Effectively, all of the artists featured in A Human Extension are developing physical structures that are capable of extending the inner self beyond the confines of the material body. An inspired concept that has driven the philosophy of Jankele’s designs and the central theme around which she has become a muse to this group of artists.