Josh Quigley, A SHAMELESS LONGING, Opening November 18

Eric (Myspace) ©Josh Quigley, 2010

Michael Mazzeo Gallery is pleased to present A Shameless Longing, an exhibition of large-scale color photographs by American photographer, Josh Quigley. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City.  The work will be on view from November 18 through December 23. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, November 18, from 6PM to 8PM.

Working within the confines of the contemporary domestic interior, Quigley carefully orchestrates curious scenarios involving lovers, friends, and families in which moments of intimacy and sexuality are presented with a provocative balance of truth and fiction.  Quigley’s subjects (family members, including himself, and strangers found on social networking sites) become characters on stage, reenacting seemingly commonplace moments resulting in suggestive and unexpected performances.

Trained as  filmmaker, Quigley’s directorial approach to photography and his adept use of light provides us with a  voyeuristic window onto typically private encounters. With a sense of wonder and amusement,  he invites us to enjoy these scenes through the filters of our own experiences and perceptions.

Josh Quigley studied cinema at Ohio State University and Northern Michigan University and received an MFA in Photography from The Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2008.

For more information, please contact the gallery.

Roberto De Luna, LOST WEEKEND, Opening November 18

Both images: Untitled, from Lost Weekend ©Roberto De Luna, 2010


Michael Mazzeo Gallery is pleased to present Lost Weekend, a selection of 100 unique Polaroid Instant Film images by American photographer, Roberto De Luna. The exhibition is the artist’s first at the gallery and will be presented in the project room from November 18 through December 23. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, November 18, from 6PM to 8PM.

Rejecting linear narrative for an elliptical stream of consciousness, De Luna presents 100 Polaroid prints in a deliberate confluence of photographic genres and styles. His diaristic images of landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and interiors, are documents of long-forgotten experiences, revisited and re-imagined as a questionable account of actual occurrences. Throughout the work, meaningful and meaningless relationships converge to create a fractured dialog of affirmations and contradictions with little possibility of reconciliation.

Typically accepted as an accurate and truthful photographic record, the Polaroid print functions here as mnemonic device, a vernacular tool with which lost memories are re-experienced, reshuffled, and reconstituted into new mythologies.  Always asking, “Who am I, who do I need to be?”, we pick and choose, presenting different facts to different people at different times in our lives , consciously or unconsciously, living and altering histories as necessary.

Roberto De Luna has shown internationally in group and solo exhibitions since graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1999, and is best known for his work with Polaroid and instant film images. De Luna has been featured in numerous print publications including The New Yorker, V Magazine, Eyemazing, Soma, The New York Blade, Zing!, The Village Voice, and American Photo.

For more information, please contact the gallery.