As the title suggests, Arms Pae Avid Aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody / Joy Episalla / Zoe Leonard / Carrie Yamaoka: Fierce Pussy Amplified: Chapter eight is two things at the same time: a group exhibition with old employees and an exploration of the art collective bright pussy.
Structurally the lake is the first. With one exception, the works represent the individual practices of the core collective members. The Outlier is a fierce Pussy poster, who welcomed visitors, printed with the line “I have all my sisters with me” by Sister Sledge’s disco anthem “We are family”. The only didactic work in a different dense conceptual show, it is a nod to the history and activism of the group: they formed in 1991 to bring lesbian identity to the streets with interventions such as wheat -resistant posters in New York City, Streets of Streets after lesbian icons and Stickers.
The exhibition was conceived by curator Jo-Ey Tang to bring the solo practices of the artists into dialogue. A hand -out identifies the artworks, but there are no wall labels, so that viewers can wander the show without always knowing who made what (as I did, intentionally). As a result, something curious is happening: fierce pussy is Strengthens, not as an activist group but as friends, partners and creative employees.
The Show is compossed of pieces that resonate with one another visuble and texturally: The Mostly Beige Textiles That Form Joy Episalla’s “Removed: 5 Skins” (2001/2018/2024/2025) Might Once Like Sculpte Like SCOLTELTS SHUTTLEVE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKELSULS, FIRSTELS LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKELSUSLS, FIRSTELS SCRAPSLEVTS, FIRSTLEVLS LIKELSUSV LIKELSULSV, FIRSTELSULST LIKELSUSV LIKELSULSV SCRAPLEVLSULSV, Clear, Yellowing Resin in Carrie Yamaoka’s Nearby “Overlay” (2024) Brings out Their folds and color variations and vice versa. Similarly, Yamaoka’s abstract mixed media “14 by 11 (Flake.well)” (2024) draws attention to the formal qualities of the photo of Zoe Leonard’s photo “Tree + Fence, Out My Back Window” (1998), while the last potential figurative lectures in the first. A similar dynamic unfolds between Yamaoka’s “Stump 3” (2024), a digital print of a tree stump on fabric draped over a wooden panel and episallas “Foldtogram (Chromo White/Blue, Winter 40 ‘x 50”) “(2025), reminded me of a gigantic, stumbling fault.
Hypnotic optical paintings of a cheese cloth -like pattern by the late Brody (to whom the show is dedicated) refer to the mutability of perception in the show. The shared title – “Glory Hole, (Vibgyor)” – Articulates QueNness as a presence in the two pieces: “Vibgyor” is a Mnemonic device for remembering the optical spectrum or the colors of the Regenboog. The presence reflects the entire show in the way in which some works can denaturalize or queer superficial measurements of others.
This does not mean that the works act as keys for each other. Arms Ache Avid Aeon was reminiscent of a recent show that Yamaoka has put together, Exposure In the outpatient gallery. In her Hyperallergic Review, Alexis Clements noted that “artists are not obliged to create the public, but it is a choice to present work that changes in itself.” This show spoon absolutely not his audience, but it creates a coherent sensitivity that is all the more meaningful because of the human relationships that underlie the formal relationships. Bound by the poster of the collective, the show fierce pussy does not present on the street, but in a more private empire that communicates with each other, such as family.
Arms Pae Avid Aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody / Joy Episalla / Zoe Leonard / Carrie Yamaoka: Fierce Pussy Amplified: Chapter eight continues at Participant Inc (116 Elizabeth Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan) until 11 May. The exhibition was compiled by Jo-Ey Tang.
