Bubbles: Life, Death and Cleanliness

On Wednesday, October 28 celebrated artist Jennifer Coates will speak about her long held obsession soapy effervescence in: Bubbles: Life, Death and Cleanliness. In this lecture Coates follows the circuitous path of the bubble through history and across scale.

The lecture will be followed by performance Karlie Bruce and Chris Parrello - a guitar and vocalist duo called "swoonsome" by Time Out New York and a screening of Angela Dufresne's video art.

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Jennifer Coates' lecture, Bubbles: Life, Death and Cleanliness begins with World War II and the dropping of the atomic bomb, what philosopher Timothy Morton has referred to as the beginning of the Age of Acceleration within the context of the Anthropocene era. Coincident with this time of mass annihilation was an explosion of development in synthetic chemistry, which gave birth to weapons, pharmaceuticals and new materials of all kinds. Not the least of which was the synthetic surfactant, a molecule that greatly increased the number of bubbles in hygiene and cleaning products, causing their massive proliferation in industry, culture and bathrooms around the world. What are the metaphorical consequences of this phenomenon? Bubbles have been used as an object of inspiration for philosophers, artists, writers, architects, throughout history. Bubbles have been postulated as a precursor to the cell, possibly playing a role in the way life on this planet evolved. There are giant bubbles at the edge of our solar system. The universe conforms to a foam structure with galaxies clustering along interlocking edges. Bubbles of methane are being released as the arctic thaws due to global warming, with possibly disastrous consequences for the climate. All of these ideas are explored through images - a visual essay that shows morphological rhymes to make a larger point about our connection to bubbles. Bottles of bubbles will be handed out to the audience: people will be encouraged to blow bubbles as they please throughout the lecture.

Jennifer Coates is a painter, writer and musician living in NYC. She has shown her work most recently in a two person show called "Plush Onus" with David Humphrey at Arts & Leisure Gallery, for which there is an accompanying catalog. She has exhibited at Zurcher Gallery, Valentine Gallery, NARS Foundation, Anna Kustera Gallery and Jeff Bailey Gallery, among many other places. She currently teaches at the New York Academy of Art and holds the Stewart/MacMillan Endowed Chair in Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art for 2015/2016. She also writes reviews regularly of contemporary art exhibits for Time Out New York. She can be seen playing violin and singing with the band Heroes of Toolik, with whom she recorded an album that is forthcoming, that includes three of her original songs. She also plays Old Time fiddle with her band Jenny Get Around. www.jenniferlcoates.com

Karlie Bruce and Chris Parrello draw upon many loves in music. The result is often stark, sometimes complex, frequently understated, and perhaps unsettlingly vulnerable. They've collaborated with members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kneebody, Grizzly Bear, M83, Robert Glasper Experiment, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings and Polyphonic Spree. Songs for guitar and voice. https://vimeo.com/61982625

Angela Dufresne was born in Hartford CT to Polish, Irish, French and Italian Catholics in 1969. She was raised in Olathe, Kansas, the town where Dick and Perry stopped in before they went on the kill the Clutters. Dufresnewas the first of my family linage to get a college degree. Throughout her life, she's moved around prolifically, living in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland Maine, Philadelphia, Rome, NYC(1998-present), and Provincetown, MA. Dufresne has had numerous solo shows nationally and internationally: a project at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 2006 and spontaneous shows at CRG Gallery and Monya Rowe Gallery in New York City in 2009 and 2012. http://www.angeladufresne.com/