Events

The Opening

Friday, Sep 8, 2023, 4:30 p.m.

Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery

Please join us for a conversation and reception to mark the opening of Extra Medium | John Muse. The gallery is divided: in the front, clusters of framed collages, a vitrine of journals and smaller works, and a large video projection of cut and painted paper; in the back, a studio where Muse works for the duration of the exhibition on more video, more collages, and more journals. Employing everyday tools, a modest vocabulary of shapes and forms, and found and made materials, Muse makes images that invite sustained attention, blunt swift decoding, and probe the difference between abstraction and figuration. Curated by Homay King, the exhibition is accompanied by a broadsheet publication, a program of Muse’s short films, and interactive games featuring guest collaborators.

The Studio Hours

Daily, 3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery

This exhibition includes a strobe effect

Visit artist John Muse in his gallery studio where Muse will work for the duration of the exhibition on more video, more collages, and more journals as part of the exhibition Extra Medium | John Muse.

The Films

Thursday, Sep 21, 2023, 4:30 p.m.

VCAM Cinema

John Muse has made films and installations over several decades with fellow artists, including Jeanne C. Finley, Pamela Z, Carmen Papalia, Mason Rosenthal, Brendamaris Rodriguez, and Shaghayegh Cyrous.  This screening will showcase a program of experimental shorts by Muse and his collaborators as well as a few he has completed on his own. Diverse in their subject matter and formal approaches, the films are united in their exploration of relations among bodies, horizons, and gravitational forces, both physical and metaphysical. The event will conclude with a panel discussion featuring Muse, Finley, Rodriguez, and Rosenthal, moderated by Homay King.

The Shape Game

Wednesday, Oct 4, 2023, 4:30 p.m.

VCAM Lounge

During the pandemic, artist Maia Chao broadcast The Shape Show, a game that asked players to choose between shapes and explain their preferences.  John Muse has expanded Chao’s game, inventing new shapes and new rules.  When explaining our preferences, what do we reveal about ourselves and preference?  Do we agree with others more often than we disagree?  Do we prefer to agree with others or stand apart?  Are some shapes—whether invented or discovered—just better than others?  We’ll play together, talk about shapes, and talk generally about liking, loving, and hating things.  Come for the game, stay for the weirdness.

Everything Must Go!

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023, 4:30 p.m.

Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery

Join artist John Muse and curator Homay King as they give away ALL the works in the show to you, the members of the audience.  A raffle and exchange of soft obligations, this closing event promises to send everyone present home with one of the artist’s works. Everything Must Go! imagines an alternative, non-market-based economy for the circulation of art, and sends each work off to an indeterminate afterlife potentially modeled on care, stewardship, and a promise to document an image in its future habitat.