No Land
Wheelhouse Art | October 2015
This autumn, Strangers Collective takes part in the final chapter of a beloved Santa Fe gallery. Wheelhouse Art, known for its trailblazing exhibitions of conceptual and experimental artwork, will host the group for a provocative show before closing its doors.
“Wheelhouse stood by artists who went against the grain in Santa Fe, and that’s a huge risk,” says Strangers co-founder and sculptor Kyle Farrell. “For the last show, we wanted to honor that ethos by asking some big questions about our community’s future.”
A group of friends started Strangers in 2014, mounting a series of private exhibitions in a Santa Fe living room. The collective threw its first public art and zine show this summer at Art.i.fact on Baca Street, creating a new platform for young creatives with powerful perspectives to share. No Land is the group’s largest exhibition yet, with thirteen visual artists — including painters, filmmakers, sculptors and collage artists — and more than a dozen writers represented.
“The show’s title is a reference to that feeling of isolation young artists can get in this very established scene,” says Strangers co-founder and writer Jordan Eddy. “How do we carve out our own niche and tell some new stories?”
Press
“We would like to see more places where self-determination and multiplicity and a deeper dialog are encouraged,” states (the Strangers manifesto). The document then expresses a desire to see more locals buying locally made art. The manifesto is a call to establish opportunities for creative individuals who don’t necessarily see themselves as artists and who wish to curb the commercially driven bottom line of the art market and promote affordable works of art. ‘There’s a whole end of this market that isn’t being recognized,’ Eddy said.”
-Michael Abatemarco, Pasatiempo
“‘Young artists often feel isolated in this community,’ Eddy said. ‘Young people want to push outside the boxes.’ Pushing outside those boxes, though, often means using new mediums and new approaches that might raise the eyebrows of gallery owners looking for what will sell. After all, not many people are in the market for a multi-media installation that fills a room, no matter how interesting and original the art might be.”
-Jackie Jadrnak, Albuquerque Journal North
My contributions: Curatorial with Kyle Farrell, press relations
Artwork: A Jason Coleman