Domestic Amuse

Shweta Bist, Annę Buckwalter, Paul Gabrielli, Mikę Harwood, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Cary Leibowitz

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

—Blaise Pascal

New Discretions is proud to present Domestic Amuse, a diminutive group show about wanting to stay home. Not really. It’s probably more about clever puns and world-building. About angels and televisions and paddles and rugs and the perfection of the drying rack. Such brilliant design the drying rack! Let’s put it on a shelf of adulation! But also, don’t forget, your home is a trap. And full of secrets.

Shweta Bist (b. 1980) is a South Asian American photographer. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, her professional career began in the financial sector but assumed a creative direction after she became a mother. Both her daughters were born in Dubai, UAE, where she lived for six years before relocating to the U.S. in early 2013. Her series, Shit I Do is a complex celebration and condemnation of maternal domesticity. (Notice her unamused countenance.)

Anne Buckwalter (b. 1987) explores the intersection of sexuality and domestic life. Inspired by the folk art traditions of her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, her paintings arrange disparate objects in interior spaces, integrating the erotic with the mundane. She offers us kink clues and doilies.

Paul Gabrielli (b. 1982) is a New York based artist who has made a career of deconstructionist sculptures, each composed of “everyday objects” that are themselves in fact a characteristic combination of altered, manipulated, and meticulous hand-made elements. This body of work consists of seemingly “found” shelves (all meticulously manufactured) paired with furniture avatars. These are the only works Gabrielli has ever titled!

Mike Harwood (b. 1946) was born and currently lives and works in New York City. In the 1970s, he created a series of porno-satirical collages which exploited covert homoeroticism in mass market magazine ads, and which were exhibited in the seminal "It's a Gender Show" at Group Material in 1981. He turned to photography in the 80s, and one of his continuing series involves inviting male models into his humble Chelsea apartment, and photographing them nude, especially in his kitchen. Oh, the things that stovetop has seen. There is an honesty and joy here that transcends The Great British Bake Off.

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt (b. 1948) is in every museum ever, plus he has upcoming institutional shows next year. His work is a celebration of humble materials living their gaudiest life. Inspired by Corbet’s line, “Show me an Angel and I will paint you one,” and shaped by his new life in a nursing home, the dioramas return Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt to the decorated domestic worlds that have long occupied his work, filled with televisions, rats, cables, and… angels. God bless the tenement apartment of the late 1960s.

Cary Leibowitz (b. 1963), of course, is the most clever of men. He has made a career of self-effacing, universally applicable aphorisms. We hope you didn’t miss his summer extravaganza at Time & Space Limited. One way or the other, here are some of his Drawings on Ceramics, an ongoing series that has appeared in his museum shows and exhibitions around the country. Witty text and crappy handwriting leading one into smile-y revelations.