Sorcha Dallas

Scheduled to coincide with the USA presidential elections this exhibition explores the interweaving of the modes and methods of persuasion both culturally and socially that occur within art practices and the implications of the politicization of the role of the artist.

There are a myriad of methods of persuasion which are utilized across society; from flattery and seduction through to coercion and threats. With the looming presidential election and its blanket media coverage we are arguably not only exposed to a greater variety of these approaches daily but their strategic manipulations are uncovered and decoded almost instantaneously by commentators. The artists in this exhibition share an understanding of the vocabulary and methods at play in these media skirmishes and either synthesize its manner or utilize its structures. The resultant work often exposes its mechanisms of persuasion but also opens up a questioning of the political role which the artist occupies in society; what their power is to enact change, and their implied moral agency within culture.

A number of events will accompany the exhibition including a discussion group involving various elements of the university community (political science, philosophy, religion, etc.) into the applications and methods of persuasion that occur in various disciplines. There will be a questioning of the relationship between the style of persuasion and how that translates into its effectiveness.

Artists Biographies Yoshua Okón
b. 1970, Mexico City, Mexico. Okón lives & works in Los Angeles, USA and Mexico City, Mexico. His work has been included in exhibitions at, P.S.1, New York, USA; the New Museum, NYC; and the Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey. He is represented by Galeria Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico; Galleria Francesca Kaufmann, Milan, Italy; and by The Project, NYC. In 1994, he and Miguel Calderón co-founded La Panadería, an independent gallery space in Mexico City, Mexico.

R.H. Quaytman b. 1961, Boston, USA. R.H. Quaytman received a BA from Bard College in 1983 and attended the Post- Graduate program in painting at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, Ireland in 2001. She has forthcoming solo exhibitions at: Vilma Gold Gallery, London, 2008; Miguel Abreu Gallery, NYC, 2008; and forthcoming group exhibitions at Richard Telles Gallery, Los Angeles; and Greene Naftali Gallery, NYC. Selected previous solo exhibitions include: Spencer Brownstone Gallery, NYC; Galerie Edward Mitterrand, Geneva; and Momenta Art, Brooklyn. And she has been part of group exhibitions at: Greene Naftali Gallery; Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY; Sculpture Center, Queens; and Lodz Biennial, Poland. She was the recipient of a Rome Prize Fellowship in 1992 and is also a director of Orchard 47 gallery in NYC.

Gary Rough b. 1972, Glasgow, UK. Gary Rough studied for a BA and MFA at Glasgow School of Art between 1991 and 1998. A former member of Glasgow art group Filthy Swan, Rough now lives and works in New York. Rough has had recent solo exhibitions at, Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, ‘Nothing is Enough’ in 2008 and Fergus McCaffrey Fine Art, New York, ‘Karabekian’ in 2007. He has also been included in the Hayward Gallery, London touring exhibition ‘Size Matters,’ and other selected group exhibitions at: Inverleith House, Edinburgh; PS.1 MoMA, New York; Bloomberg Space, London; Gagosian Gallery, London; Gallery Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen; and Venice Biennale, Venice.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries
b. 1999, Seoul, South Korea. Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries was founded by Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge in Seoul, South Korea in 1999. Young-Hae Chang, a Korean artist and translator, studied at Universite de Paris I and obtained a Ph.D in aesthetics, and Marc Voge, is an American poet, who also lives in Seoul. There work is most often accessed via their website http://www.yhchang.com/ but it has also been displayed at: The New Museum, NYC, 2007; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2007; Tate Gallery, London, 2006; São Paulo biennial, São Paulo, 2006; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2005; Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, 2003; and Venice Biennale, Venice, 2003.

Carey Young b. 1970, Lusaka, Zambia. Carey Young’s work, through a variety of media such as video, photography, performative events and installation, investigates the increasing incorporation of the personal and public domains into the realm of the commercial. Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘If/Then,’ Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2007; ‘Speechcraft,’ Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, 2007; ‘Consideration,’ Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis; and ‘Image Transfer,’ Umea Art Academy, Umea, 2006. In 2007 she was in group exhibitions at: Bloomberg Space, London; Henie Onstad Art Centre, Oslo; Landesgalerie, Linz; Moscow Biennale, Moscow; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York.