After the Goldrush

106 Green will open its inaugural exhibition, After the Gold Rush, on May 16^th. The opening reception will be from 5-8 pm.

Originally inspired by an apocalyptic screenplay by artist and actor Dean Stockwell, After the Gold Rush, Neil Young’s third solo effort, is an epic record encompassing love, loss, social critique, and a tragic American landscape. Most of the album was recorded in Young’s make-shift basement studio during the spring of 1970, in the late days of the Vietnam war and the dawn of a decade of economic tumult. The songs shift in theme and musical genre, and depict visions from the medieval to the extraterrestrial in service of what appears to be an apocalyptic end, but with a hint of redemptive optimism. The album was met with lukewarm reviews. Rolling Stone then dismissed as ‘dull’ what it now calls a ‘masterpiece’.

While none of the work in this exhibition is based on Mr. Young’s music, perhaps it reflects something of its spirit. With varying strategies and media, the artists offer meditations ranging from the interpersonal to the epic; most capturing a north American angst that is both interwoven with the past and undeniably contemporary. Much of the work depicts a sort of cosmic spirituality where urban, rural, interior, and technological landscapes merge; and at its core offers a challenge and possible alternatives (however small) to the excesses of the Bush era boom.

Artists:

Nellie Bridge Jim Lee

Holly Coulis Gina Magid

Justin Craun Adrian Meraz

Mamie Holst Aaron Spangler

Brad Kahlhamer Anke Weyer

Alisha Kerlin

* with hand painted exhibition poster by Tom Sanford

Opening followed by after party at Coco66 with a performance by Brad Kahlhamer's Parlor Grand. Coco66 is located at 66 Greenpoint Avenue.