Lucky Gallery invites you to our first fundraiser/art event called Pierogi Party on Saturday, May 12, 2012, from 2 – 6 pm, at 136 Lawrence Street in Brooklyn.

Pierogi Party will feature a feast of fresh pierogi made by Lucky Gallery staff and artists on site, live music, live art, and a silent auction. Guests will get to taste a variety of pierogi, both meat and vegetarian available at different filling stations.

Pierogi Party will raise funds to support Lucky Gallery’s first international exhibition and performances in Berlin this May 2012. Lucky Gallery formed an international art collective called “E.T.”, comprised of seven multidisciplinary artists from New York City, Berlin, London, and Antwerp. “E.T.” will exhibit at the Okazi Gallery and are participants in Month of Performance-Berlin. Three of the NYC-based artists from “E.T.” will be participating in this event, Øh1Øm1ke, Bittertang, and TJ Hospodar.

Music will be provided by Comadante Zero, Tim Shipman, Marshall Moran, and DJ Spacey Sissick.

Special performance “Color Cycle1″ provided by John Bonafede.

Artists participating in the silent auction:
John Bonafede
Kate Fauvell
Jonnie Flatbush
Diana Ho
Hannah Kasper
Kate Murray
Adam Sperling
Sam Strzelec
Heather Phelps-Lipton
Petros Pappalas
Liz Tomasetti
Elizabeth Turnock

Business sponsors:
Brooklyn Icehouse
Dry Dock Wines + Spirits
Kulushkat
Max Piersol’s Stoked Wear
Perelandra Natural Food Center
Raaka Chocolate
Red Hook Lobster Pound
Sixpoint Brewery

Please join us for this festive event, there will be a sliding scale of $10-20 donation at the door, which will allow guests access to food, drink, and entertainment. For more info email amy@luckygallery.com.

From September 12th to October 4th, Lucky Gallery will present “Peephole Mysteries” peephole installations by Hannah Kasper and a puppet-performance “ATTRACKTION” and art by STRINGS ATTACHED, a group of three artists, Suzan Choy, Diana Ho, and Jess Ruliffson.

Hannah Kasper

Kasper’s “Peephole Mysteries” is a series of small paintings within shoebox theaters. The viewer approaches the peephole on the gallery’s wall and finds a view into a miniature world. The scale of the paintings, which are on blocks of wood, recalls the miniature and childhood, but the scenes depicted are more sinister than nostalgic. One view will depict a scene from a murder mystery. Another will show a room devastated by a natural disaster. The limited access of the peephole encourages each viewer to become a voyeur who completes the picture and imagines the narrative.

“When looking at images of interiors, it is hard to avoid comparing them to real rooms we have known, or to project ourselves into them and imagine how we might feel in their environment,” says Kasper. “For me it is similar to the sense of escapism one encounters when absorbed in a film or novel. I find images of vacant rooms and objects that reflect on memory and absence intriguing because they create a stage for the viewer’s thoughts.”

ATTRACKTION

STRINGS ATTACHED, “ATTRACKTION” is rumination on the Missed Connections listing on Craiglist that follows three narratives of individuals through the New York City subway system, as they spot and track objects of their desire. Featuring the journeys of a wayfaring minstrel, an imaginative but shy woman, and a helpful purple monster, the show takes the audience with our puppets on a rainy day train ride.

Choy, Ho, and Ruliffson will also feature artwork in Lucky Gallery based on the narratives of their performance “ATTRACKTION”. Choy paints intimate portraits on small oval canvases that are simple and bold. Ho uses ink over coffee-stained doilies, because of its accidental nature, creates shapes that have potential to become meaningful imagery. The doilies serve as appropriate frames to these random occurrences of Missed Connections – decorative borders on cheap material, making something seemingly trivial appear to be more special. Ruliffson’s embroidered drawings are a natural fit for Missed Connections, in response to seeing a stranger and then taking note of them and how those details fit into an intimate picture. These details including personal objects are transformed into small appendages that become part of the person.

Exhibition Dates: September 12, 2009 – October 4, 2009
Peephole Mysteries, Hannah Kasper Opening Reception: September 12, 6-9 PM
“Build Your Own Shoebox Theater” Workshop, hosted by Hannah Kasper: September 20, 2-4 PM
Art Reception and ATTRACKTION, Strings Attached (Artists Suzan Choy, Diana Ho, and Jess Ruliffson): September 27, 3-6 PM

Suzan Choy

Suzan Choy (STRINGS ATTACHED)
Suzan Choy was born in the Midwest and raised on the East Coast. As a child she had an unconventional and nomadic life traveling from state to state. Now as an adult she is influenced by the exploration of whimsical figures traveling through surreal environments. She also draws inspiration with the art of pattern making, repetition, and story telling. Currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York where she is enjoying summer rains and crisp winters.

Diana Ho

Diana Ho (STRINGS ATTACHED)
While New York-based artist Diana Ho is perfectly harmless in person, her artwork has a much darker edge. She often blurs the line between seemingly dichotomous themes, producing a result that can be simultaneously disturbing and amusing. When she is not being a hermit in her studio, you may find her wandering to a puppet show while harmonizing with the song stuck in her head and reading the latest article on neuroscience.

Hannah Kasper
Hannah Kasper was born in New York in 1981. She received her MFA from Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and her BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Rome. Her dreamlike paintings of vacant interiors could be taken from the pages of a mystery novel or from scenes of a film after the actors have left the set.

Exhibitions include Artnews Projects in Berlin, Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, EmergeD in Glasgow, GaleriBOX in Iceland, the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, GE World Headquarters in Connecticut and Matter in Brooklyn. She was recently artist-in-residence at the Gil-Society in Akureyri, Iceland. Hannah’s studio is in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Jess Ruliffson

Jess Ruliffson (STRINGS ATTACHED)
Jess Ruliffson is a New York-based illustrator. Hailing from the deep south, she has a love for sweet tea and front porches. You can find her whistling on the sidewalks of Astoria, but most of the time she is drawing interesting things and making small messes in her studio, under the close supervision of her cat Pascal.

Lucky Gallery
Lucky Gallery is located at 176 Richards Street in the heart of Red Hook Brooklyn, New York. Lucky Gallery works with underrepresented and emerging artists looking for a venue to share creativity and ideas in a supportive environment. For information, please contact Laura Arena at laura@luckygallery.com.

Lucky Gallery Hours: Sat/Sun 1-6 and by appt. only
Lucky Gallery Address: Lucky Gallery, 176 Richards Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11231

Hannah Kasper will be hosting a Lucky Sunday workshop, “Build Your Own Shoebox Theater”, Sept 20, from 2-4 pm. Hannah will discuss her influences, including the history of traditional peep boxes, and of our fascination with the miniature. Hannah will demonstrate how to make a simple shoebox theater out of a cardboard box. Everyone is encouraged to make their own.

A shoe box theater is a box that has a hole cut in one side of it (to view into) and another one cut into the top of it (to allow light to come into the box). Inside of the box is usually a still scene or environment that depicts a picture.When viewed through a peephole, perspective is created and it’s as though you’re looking into a private little world.

Hannah will provide materials but supplies are limited so it’s first come first serve.

Office of the Infidel

Hannah Kasper is hosting an artist reception at Lucky Gallery Saturday, Sept 12, from 6-9 pm.

Hannah’s series of peephole installations containing small paintings within “shoebox” theaters will be on display. The viewer approaches the peephole on the gallery’s wall and finds a view into a miniature world. The scale of the paintings, which are on blocks of wood, recalls the miniature and childhood, but the scenes depicted are more sinister than nostalgic. One view will depict a scene from a murder mystery. Another will show a room devastated by a natural disaster. The limited access of the peephole encourages each viewer to become a voyeur who completes the picture and imagines the narrative.

Food and drink will be provided.