Castellain Gallery is pleased to announce Holy poker, by masha bychkova. The exhibition presents an installation that is comprised of four works. These pieces utilize a wide range of media, and showcase bychkova’s new experimentations with distorted representations of self, others, and the world that surrounds us. The works act as portals into a hyperreality intensified through a combination of video, sculpture, and audio. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition.
Gooseneck is an audio-sculptural work that confronts audiences with a close up view of their own faces. The work is contained within a box into which viewers can insert their heads. Through magnifying the onlookers face and using trance inducing audio, bychkova encourages introspection and for audiences to examine their external self in new ways. The title refers to a common type of vanity mirror where the reflective glass is placed on an elongated bendable pipe.
Dang is a two-channel video work that similarly is housed within a box that audiences are invited to enter. bychkova approaches this video in a manner that is a tune to collaging. With the imposition of different footage on top of one another and two audio channels competing for the viewers attention, bychkova presents an unstable interpretation of a documented reality.
Thank you for coming and Welcome are a series of mirrors that are surrounded by light and rhinestones. The mirrors are manipulated to be both concave and convex at different points, creating a distorted reflection of onlookers and the space that they occupy. Emphasized by window panels and a door frame, these works act as passageways to a warped reality and also exist as objects that enforce this warped reality.
masha bychkova (born 1996, Syktyvkar, Russia) is a Brooklyn based artist, curator, and Classics scholar. Graduating with distinction from Fordham University in 2018, she has exhibited work at Lipani Gallery, Greenpoint Gallery, and Trestle Gallery. This is the artist’s third exhibition focusing on video installation.
Opening Reception: 7-9pm Friday, December 14, 2018