NEST

Featuring Michael Mazurek and Jesse Morgan Barnett
at Bows and Arrows
February 19-March 23, 2011
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Bows and Arrows presents “Nest” featuring Michael Mazurek and Jesse Morgan Barnett, curated by Anne Lawrence, opening Saturday, February 19, 2011, 6-9 p.m. The exhibition will include site-specific installations by each artist.

“Nest” centers on the question how do artists respond to having a child? While feminist and conceptual artist Mary Kelly’s seminal “Post-Partum Documents” tracked the evidence of the child with forensic precision creating a subtle narrative of the mother’s relationship with the growing child, Mazurek and Barnett, both fathers, are each known for their elaborate constructions and installations; thus turning away from the processes of the body towards the process of making and building.

By changing the physical space of the room, they are reordering the spatial experience. New parents, like other animals, are hit with a powerful urge to create a safe place for the birth and infancy of their offspring. This need to “nest” goes beyond cleaning clutter and nursery decorating often giving way to a process of self-reflection and evaluation of the pre-child state. There is a need to put the house in order, literally and metaphorically.