Isolations with Lilly McElroy, Dana Meilijson, Rodolfo Vanmarcke and Missy Nuzzo
The opening reception
December 1st, 2011 from 7:00pm to 10:00pm
The Lunch Box Gallery
310 NW. 24th St.
Miami, FL 33127.

December 1st, 2011 – February 25, 2012

The Lunch Box Gallery is pleased to announce its new show Isolations by acclaimed photographers Lilly McElroy, Dana Meilijson, Rodolfo Vanmarcke and Missy Nuzzo.
The exhibition gathers four different expressions of the notion of isolation, where human beings or things that belong to them are isolated to make a call for observation and raise a social commentary about the world today. Through the conceptual photographs of these four artists, themes emerge that can go from the exploration of alienation and passivity in our existing societies by experimenting with public reaction, to the examination of depersonalization as a consequence of the mass consumption, which has shaped this world of identical people even though fully convinced of being completely “free”.

The photographs reveal situations that are encapsulated in time by the use of photography as a medium, and at the same time, they awake in the viewer a sense of strangeness; a result of unnaturally isolating these situations within their own context, or decontextualizing them by removing elements from their expected frames of reference and placing them into new settings.

Lilly McElroy is a photographer based in Los Angeles who has successfully exhibited all around the US, and who is showing three photographs of her series “Locations”. This project began with the documentation of public reaction to unexpected behavior in privately owned public spaces, where conduct is regimented. This has become especially noticeable due to the current practice of reigning in public expression. According to Lilly, “fear of non-conformity has made uncommon behaviors virtually impermissible. Therefore I decided to experiment, by performing an action that was out of place, but clearly non-confrontational… There is little sense of personal space or comfort in any of the locations; people are meant to pass through them without much engagement or interaction.”
In the course of the project, other themes also began to emerge. Among these were the exploration of the alienation and claustrophobia felt within contemporary society as well as a demonstration of how people react to one another. When she posed in these spaces, empathetic responses were rare. “I was only asked whether or not I was o.k. Three times.”, Lilly explains.
The exploration of societal passivity therefore became an element of the project. The ease in which people where able to dismiss her state also brought up the theme of vulnerability. “By lying down in a nightgown, I gave the appearance of completely helplessness in an attempt to illustrate the sense of estrangement that has become pervasive. When not dismissed as absurd, my actions were responded to with anger; re-emphasizing the fact that public behavior has become highly restricted”,
Lilly concludes.

Dana Meilijson is a Venezuelan photographer currently living in New York City. She was thrown into the eye of the public after her remarkable series “Everyday Interruptions” was published in The New York Times newspaper in 2009. For this show at The Lunch Box Gallery, Dana is exhibiting a selection of images from that series, all of them taken in New York and representing the most frequent and recognizable everyday activities that happen in this dizzying and fast-paced metropolis. According to the artist, “the quotidian is understood as ordinary, but has the potential of becoming extra-ordinary”.
Her reflective process is based on understanding the public spaces, actions and daily events that become invisible due to the speed of the urban experience. Her body – subject and object at the same time – intervenes in scenarios like the street, the supermarket, the cafeteria, the laundry, the park and the landscape, producing images of disturbing familiarity.
These interruptions generate a pause in the timing of perceiving quotidian situations. Her photographic proposal derives from a more concrete apprehension of reality, building up an isolated and fragmented moment by means of a halted time and a contextual reality that adds historic resonance.

Rodolfo Vanmarcke is a renowned Venezuelan conceptual photographer currently residing in Miami, who is showcasing five images from his fascinating series “Modern Solitudes”. According to the artist, the contemporary human being has buried himself in a devastating solitude due to the triumph of industrialization. “We have systematically celebrated the mass manufacture of products that are elaborated under the slogan ‘Our greatest product is the human capital’. Ironically, that same resource is already a prefabricated product, properly packed with the in vogue clothing, the technology of the moment and under the media diet of the day. We have transformed ourselves into isolated self-idols within a temple devoid of believers; crammed full of needs that are in fact invented by a society of identical people”, Vanmarcke says.
To this photographer, we are convinced of being completely free. Universally, there hasn’t been a time with greater liberty than the actual one: a tremendous range to be chosen is presented as a fold-out menu; nevertheless he affirms that “there has not been a better moment than today to celebrate our sameness. But is not an equality based on ethical values, but an equality based on the depersonalization and the absolute self-exile”. “Modern Solitudes” begins and ends with this condition.

Missy Nuzzo is an emerging artist based in Pennsylvania, who is exhibiting a selection of photographs from her allegoric series “Where she left it”. Nuzzo bases her series on the premise that it is hard for a child to hold a doll dressed in luxurious clothing without getting the doll dirty, but not so hard when the doll is in a box, left inside to appreciate in collector’s value. Over time, the child stops playing with dolls, stops dressing up to mimic the dolls she once adored, and becomes an adult. The doll, still in the box, no longer looks as luxurious as it once appeared to be. “Time allows dust to collect on the box, making the contents difficult to see. The doll is no longer admired and was never even touched by a child’s hands”, Nuzzo adds.
In this series, delicate garments are juxtaposed with crumbled industrial surroundings and organic scenery. The garments are bright against the faded remnants of the buildings, streets and overgrowth. According to Nuzzo, this juxtaposition frees the garments from their
customary occupation as fashionable elements in a woman’s wardrobe, since they are
allowed to experience the array of surfaces of the world. Each image is cropped in a
square frame, encouraging the viewer to perceive the garments as if they are too in a box like forgotten dolls. The texture in the images give life to the garments, “showing that there is much to see outside of one’s assigned sphere—and reminding us that a little dirt never hurt anything”, Nuzzo concludes.

In parallel, the gallery is having the sixth student show of its “One Night Stand Exhibition Series” with talented Miami International University of Art & Design student of Visual Arts (concentration in Photography), Claire Nelson; a new project that aims to give photography students the opportunity to participate in the popular Wynwood Gallery Walks, facilitating them the exposure of their work during this major art event.
Claire is exhibiting a conceptual series titled “Visual Narratives”, which explores and illustrates the reality she discovers by experiencing the world we live in. She conceptualizes her idea in a manner that is surreal but relatable, showing her point of view from living life, the happenings inside of it and the outside world’s influence; tapping into parts of herself that were dormant waiting to get out.

Isolations and Visual Narratives are open to the public from December 1st, 2011 to February 25th, 2012. Business Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 6pm and open during the Gallery Walks every second Saturday of the month.