Missle-Toe

Peter Acheson

Joy Curtis

Rosabel Ferber

Michael Mahalchick

Jennifer Sullivan

Tiger Strikes Asteroid is proud to present Missle-Toe curated by Mike Olin.

In Virgil’s epic poem “The Aenid” the character Aeneus uses the golden bough (mistletoe) to gain safe passage into and out of Hades. There are many legends surrounding the ancient mystical and magical powers of mistletoe. Mistletoe is a parasite, typically using massive trees as hosts; because mistletoe stays green through winter and grows without touching the ground, ancients viewed it as a seat of the tree's soul and divine essence. The ancient Druids saw it as protection from evil and illness and, cutting it only with a gold knife, used it as part of ceremonies that announced the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Mistletoe retains this calendar aspect even today.

As a youth, one of the artists in the show only heard of mistletoe through pop-culture references and never actually saw the plant and eventually assumed it meant “Missle-Toe”, like the toe of a missile. To me this mirrors how myth is often seeded and grows into something larger, and is also funny.

It is of my opinion that each of the artists in Missle-Toe has a dedicated studio practice that focuses on creating work that, like mistletoe, mysteriously and ineffably bestows good favor on the viewer.

Peter Acheson was born in Washington, DC, in 1954 and received his BFA from Yale University in 1976. An early member of Williamsburg’s art scene in the 1980s, he relocated to upstate New York in the 1990s, where he continues to live and work in Columbia County.

Michael Mahalchick (b. 1972, Pottsville, PA) typically centers around sculpture, collage and performance in his works. Working primarily with found materials his work engages with themes of value, memory, temporality, identity and chance. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Joy Curtis was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, and has lived and worked in Brooklyn since 2002. She has had 6 solo shows at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, and has had projects at the Pelham Art Center, The Al Held Foundation, and the Aldrich Museum. Sharpe-Walentas, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Socrates Sculpture Park have awarded her residencies. Her work has been reviewed in the New Yorker, Time Out New York, Hyperallergic, and the Brooklyn Rail.

Jennifer Sullivan is a painter who also works in drawing, monotype, and hand-painted bleach T-shirts. Based in Ridgewood, Queens, she holds an MFA in Fine Art from Parsons School of Design and a BFA from Pratt Institute. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Art Papers, Time Out New York, and The Brooklyn Rail.

Rosabel Ferber (b. Detroit, 2000) is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited at The Watermill Center, East Hampton, NY; Umarell, New York, NY; Springs Projects, Brooklyn, NY; M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY; Tappeto Volante, Brooklyn, NY; and Ladybug Gallery, Providence, RI. Upcoming shows include a two-person exhibition at The Beach in Los Angeles, CA (April 2027).