U:L:O: Part II 2016 | U: Nichole Caruso

Something Bright, Then Holes

July 14 – July 31, 2016
Opening Reception June 14, 6-9pm

Kristen Jensen, Alina Tenser

Interstate Projects is pleased to present Something Bright, Then Holes, an exhibition of new work by artists Kristen Jensen and Alina Tenser, curated by Nichole Caruso.

Something bright, then holes
is how a newly-sighted girl
once described a hand.

-Maggie Nelson

The practices of Jensen and Tenser bring together elements of sculpture and performance, yielding distinct results, but a similar tenor. Each artist uses sight and insight to examine how the body’s engagement with situations and surroundings plays a key role in determining a self-contained logic.

For this exhibition Jensen’s stately soft sculptures are positioned at roughly the scale of the human body and compressed by great, fractured vessels made of fired-clay. Tenser, by contrast, transposes the body into parts and gesticulations, taking the viewer past the threshold of the body’s exterior with illusionistic videos projected onto translucent sheets of Plexiglas.

Tenser’s videos often show the artist’s hand or other body parts, cut off from the whole, engaging with malleable objects that emphasize a singular lucidity. Jensen’s anthropomorphic creations seem likewise in their capacity to shape-shift in spite of their materiality, with a gravity and quietude that elude exclusionary interpretations. Ultimately the works of both artists concedes a humoristic nature but with an uncanny bend.

Kristen Jensen has an interdisciplinary art practice, involving sculpture, painting, performance, and installation. She received her MFA in combined media from Hunter College and her BFA in printmaking from Syracuse University. Recent exhibits in New York City include those at Regina Rex, Postmasters, Wallspace, and Outlet. Her work has also been shown at Bortolami Gallery, NIcelle Beachene, Sculpture Center, Bureau, Galerist (Istabul), and Sundaram Tagore Gallery (as part of the Singapore Biennial). Upcoming residencies include the Shandaken Project and the Abrons Airspace Residency.

Alina Tenser (b. Kiev, Ukraine) is an artist working in sculpture, video, and performance. She received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and her BFA from School of the Visual Arts. Tenser has held solo exhibitions at A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY (2015), NURTUREart, Brooklyn, NY (2013); and Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2013). Her work has been exhibited at venues including Queens Museum, Queens NY (2016), The Kitchen, New York, NY (2015), Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY (2015)Gallery Diet, Miami, FL (2015), The Suburban, Chicago, IL (2013), Jancar Jones, Los Angeles, CA (2013); and Laurel Gitlen Gallery, New York, NY (2013). Most recently, Tenser's work was shown at Susan Inglett Gallery in New York, NY. Tenser received the Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship and was a resident of Recess Sessions in 2012.

Nichole Caruso is a curator and gallerist living in New York City.