Opening Party: Friday, August 2nd, 5-8pm
Coffee Hour reception: Sunday, August 11, Noon to 1pm
Closing Party: Friday, September 6th, 5-8pm
Curated by Q-Pon
Multimedia group show by the Church of LOL, themed around the universal phenomena of humor, surrealism, and clowning.
What are the spiritual and biological functions of humor and clowns? What do they have in common, and how do they serve the communities from which they emerge?
- Live sets by DJ Slenderflex and K.E.P.
- Slideshow presentation by Q-Pon.
- More live acts to be announced.
Church of LOL
Church of LOL is a fictional, theoretical church for clowns and tricksters, where Gxdness is the primordial laugh, and every joke is a prayer. Click here to visit the Church of LOL website.
Video: The Genesis of LOL
The Artists
NOME POEM
Not much is known about Nome Poem. He was born in Harlem and lived for a while in Atlanta and other places and stuff. Now in Brooklyn, he works as bag boy at the Pathmarks or something.
Afrodelirious for sale: https://curioroom.org/shop/p/afrodelirious-by-nome-poem
ZEJIAN SHEN
b. 1987, RISD 2010, is an artist working out of upstate New York. Her work utilizes traditional subjects of painting to examine the anxieties of consumerism, climate change, and explores the meaning of cultural artifacts.
IG: @kingsansan
ERWIN ONG aka A DUCK AMUCK
Among the many animals I like to draw are these headless chickens having human experiences like getting in trouble at school, working for a circus, spending the day at the salon, and marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The series is called “Ruffled.”
www.aduckamuck.com
SAL AYALA
“I am a PhD Student at Rutgers, New Brunswick who studies twentieth-century U.S. and Latin American literature. My biggest challenge has been trying to nurture my creativity more consistently. Finding the time and passion to do both can be difficult, but I have found that producing both scholarly writing and fiction or creative non-fiction enriches both kinds of texts.”
IG: @jetpack_man_at_lax
FROG WING / Q-PON
Frog Wing is an artist and performer from Monterey Park, California (Tongva Land). Q-Pon is Frog’s clown alter-ego; She was born from Cosmiknots collective’s performance series, and is the founder of Church of LOL. They are currently based in Mount Kisco, where Frog runs the Curio Room with Ray Mak/ Equanimous. They also work at Target and Party City as a retail associate, and have experience as a cake decorator too.
IG: @bb_yaki_tph
www.theparhelia.com
RAY MAK / EQUANIMOUS
G. J. “Ray” Mak b. 1979 grew up in Westchester County, NY, and has lived in New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, and Beijing, working as an artist, cultural critic, and cook. From his many years as a cake decorator and his time as an editor for an English-language magazine in China, to his time touring in a doom metal band and performing in experimental theater groups, the many disciplines he has tackled and the various idioms in which he has worked hint at a disordered and impulsive psyche. He currently co-owns Curio Room with Frog Wing.
www.mazuvision.com
enormousface
I am more interested in talking about philosophy than biography.
https://enormousface.com/
MUGEN CHIANG
無限 // 夢幻
infinite : limitless : phantasy : vision
tattoo + asian medicine + tattoo acupuncture + earth serpent + writer
IG: @mugen___________
https://mugenlove.substack.com/
COSMIKNOTS / KK DE LA VIDA
Khokhoi (mary alinney villacastin / kk de la vida) is a plant, body & cultural heartworker (founder of Kalami Spirit Arts) based between Bantayan Island, Philippines & Manahatta (NYC), cultivating re-enchantment with our sensual techno-ecologies (rootsenroute.net). As a body of migrant diasporic lineage, KK consists of many spirits, including a clown alter ego, Kritty Kouture.
COSMIKNOTS: https://cosmiknots.tumblr.com
KK DE LA VIDA: https://www.rootsenroute.net/
ORI ALON & RACHEL RAY
@RachelRayAlonArt is a visual artist from Beacon NY, who is proficient in a variety of mediums. Her work has been featured in museums and galleries around the world. She is also a humanitarian Clown who performs with the Patch Adams MD and the Gesundheit Institute with her husband Ori.
www.bit.ly/SqueakyandCutiePie
Ori Alon-Ray (ECN) advocates for courts to accept legal documents written in comics format. The Cartoonist Lawyer (Empowering Clerks Network) has submitted over 1,500 pages of lawsuits, contracts, tax statements and permit applications drafted with speech bubbles dialogs to dozens of Government officials around the world.
IG: @Supportive_Bureaucracy
www.JoyPermit.org
MOON MANSION
Shaina Yang, also known as Moon Mansion, is a multidisciplinary visual artist rooted in sculpture and drawing. Their work explores themes of queer identity, collective consciousness, and the shared human experience. Based in Brooklyn, New York, they draw inspiration from the diaspora map of her Taiwanese-American heritage and the vibrant cultural milieu of the city.
http://moonmansion.club
JIN KWAK
Jin Kwak is a multidisciplinary visual artist and creative writer. They have an interest in how art can play an integral role in mobilizing social change and activism. Common subjects and themes of their work include pain as pleasure, the body and subspace, kink and fetishes, Asian American diaspora, and topics related to anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism.
Contact: jkwak.art@gmail.com
LIZN’ BOW
BIO: Liz Ferrer and Bow Ty’s work spans film making, music, video, and performance art. Through a queer and comedic lens, their work together has been building a reputation for critiquing American and Latin pop. Their most recent projects together are fem reggaeton band Niña and new media collaborative LIZN’BOW.
IG: @liznbow @lizferrari_ouch_official @ninaymas
BOUWE TY
Bouwe Ty is the founder of the Congregation of the Animate Commoditus and a prominent figure in the Corporate Animism movement as a whole. Ty first gained attention by authoring the influential, though now-lost, religious text “Pro Bono Jingles for Corporations,” and is renowned for introducing and popularizing the concept of ‘Trickle-Down Spirituality.’ Ty was also an early proponent of Corporate Astrology, and has been a devout follower of the Church of LOL since the early days of its inception.
IG: @bowbowtyty @maripussssy_oficial
ANDY VIBLE
Andy Vible was born and raised in Wilmington Delaware. In 2012 he earned his BFA in General Fine Arts with a concentration in Printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. He makes works in sculpture, collage, painting, drawing, mural, and a variety of printmaking methods. He also enjoys collaborating with other visual artists and musicians. He has exhibited nationally on both the East and West Coasts. Andy currently lives and works in his studio in Wilmington, Delaware.
IG: @fatfingers
NADJA RACHEL JOHNSON
Johnson is a video artist & researcher with a focus on historical and cultural context of native/invasive plant ecology, former library worker and current union building high school teacher of video game design, and ideologically marxist woman. She resides in the foothills of red clay North Carolina. Seepage Slope is a vessel for necromantic urges and an offering to those who have replenished her waters in past and future.
IG: @cvs.faunal.associate
KEVIN EMILIO PEREZ
A multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn vía Puerto Rico who explores the subconscious landscape and interacts with its creatures.
