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NEW YORK, NY – Monica King is pleased to announce the inauguration of her eponymous Tribeca gallery, Monica King Contemporary. A veteran of Pace and Paul Kasmin Galleries, King will present a broad interdisciplinary program of 17 international emerging and established artists with an unwavering artist-centric approach. Her program will debut with the first solo New York exhibition by contemporary multimedia and performance artist April Marten, Frances Wasn’t a Saint, September 6 – October 12, 2019. The gallery will host a public opening reception with the artist on Friday, September 6th from 6 – 8 PM.
Frances Wasn’t a Saint features a wide range of artworks including dynamic still images, multimedia sculptural installations, and a video work deriving from extensive isolated performances enacted by the artist. An ongoing inquiry into identity and the societal and power structures that we allow to shape it – Frances is real, although we cannot touch her. “I call her a ghost because she is not an invented persona, Frances references the real: an ambiguous female figure who lived, a grandmother I couldn’t really know, but who is talking to me and through me now,” states April Marten. “In conversation with this “ghost,” I allow her to take form in my body through performance. My performances extend from the referent while quoting from our culture’s hyperrealities including fairy-tales, grand narrative ideologies, biblical myths, social constructions, and manufactured desires.”
Monica King Contemporary presents a culturally and creatively diverse inaugural program that includes artists Luis Arturo Aguirre, Gregory Coates, Jason Craighead, Joy Episalla, Maya Goded, André Gregory, Judithe Hernández, Cindy Kleine, Juan Logan, April Marten, Nelson Morales, Mallory Page, Oswaldo Ruiz, Chris Watts, Charles Edward Williams, Taylor Anton White, and Carrie Yamaoka.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST April Marten (b.1969) works across media including sculpture, installation, performance art, video, and book arts. Marten’s artistic practice developed out of her personal experiences with—and, ultimately, her escape from—a fundamentalist religious cult; common themes in her work include the feminine dilemma, religious identity, and patriarchal systems of power and social violence. Marten’s work has been exhibited nationally at institutions including Foley Gallery in New York, NY; The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; the Bechtler Museum, Charlotte, NC; the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA; Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, GA; Anne Rudd Galyon and Irene Cullis Galleries at Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC, and Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College, Davidson, NC, among others. She recently completed a residency at The McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, NC, and is the recipient of the 2017 Seaton Fellowship at the University of Tennessee. Her work is in the collections of the Women's Impact Fund, Kennesaw State University, University of North Carolina Charlotte, and in the Ewing Gallery Collection, University of Tennessee. Marten currently lives and works in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Founded and owned by Monica King, Monica King Contemporary is dedicated to an unwavering philosophy of equally supporting emerging, mid-career, and established artists in a manner that both builds and continues to nourish individual artist careers. Committed to an inclusive outlook, the 1,200 square foot storefront gallery encourages collectors at every stage to experience art and engage with a broad roster of artists. King has more than 20 years of exacting experience in the contemporary art world supporting artists, collectors and museums. As Director of Exhibitions for both Pace and Paul Kasmin Galleries, she organized exhibitions with artists including Chuck Close, Walton Ford, David Hockney, Nir Hod, Maya Lin, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith and Fred Wilson, among many others. King has also worked with numerous estates such as Sol Lewitt, Adolph Gottlieb and Bridget Riley. Most recently, King served as the inaugural Director of the groundbreaking SOCO Gallery in her home state of North Carolina. King returned to New York in 2018 to realize her vision of a new gallery.
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MEDIA CONTACTS Sarah Brown McLeod | sarah@sarahbrownmcleod.com |
