ARTISTS
Who Held Their Heart In Their Hands, and Ate Of It
Durden and Ray is thrilled to announce 鈥渨ho held their heart in their hands, and ate of it鈥�, an exhibition featuring a diverse group of artists exploring interstitial moments of paradox using a wide variety of media. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, January 11th, 2025. Additional programming includes a video screening and discussion January 18th, and a night of performances on January 25th.
鈥渨ho held their heart in their hands, and ate of it鈥� takes inspiration from philosopher and writer Georges Bataille, whose work mines the terrain between opposites 鈥� atheism and faith, terror and ecstasy, the sacred and the profane. He considers the realms of the erotic and death as sacred, because both have the power to erase the boundaries that exist in the realm of the profane. The exhibition curators believe the everyday is marked by self- interest and self-control, which turns people into separate beings with separate thoughts. In moments when we approach impossible states鈥攚hen everyday habits and ways of being are swallowed up by chaos, in instances of frenzy and ecstasy, eros and death-- life and consciousness temporarily fade away to create a meeting-place of terror and joy, where bliss, suffering, horror, and divine encounters can fuse into one. This is what Bataille calls the 鈥済reat paradox".
The artists in this exhibition exuberantly and courageously delve into that paradox, embracing inherent contradictions and eschewing predictability. In their works sensual beauty meets existential terror, matter meets energy, destruction meets creation.
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Durden and Ray is thrilled to announce 鈥渨ho held their heart in their hands, and ate of it鈥�, an exhibition featuring a diverse group of artists exploring interstitial moments of paradox using a wide variety of media. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, January 11th, 2025. Additional programming includes a video screening and discussion January 18th, and a night of performances on January 25th.
鈥渨ho held their heart in their hands, and ate of it鈥� takes inspiration from philosopher and writer Georges Bataille, whose work mines the terrain between opposites 鈥� atheism and faith, terror and ecstasy, the sacred and the profane. He considers the realms of the erotic and death as sacred, because both have the power to erase the boundaries that exist in the realm of the profane. The exhibition curators believe the everyday is marked by self- interest and self-control, which turns people into separate beings with separate thoughts. In moments when we approach impossible states鈥攚hen everyday habits and ways of being are swallowed up by chaos, in instances of frenzy and ecstasy, eros and death-- life and consciousness temporarily fade away to create a meeting-place of terror and joy, where bliss, suffering, horror, and divine encounters can fuse into one. This is what Bataille calls the 鈥済reat paradox".
The artists in this exhibition exuberantly and courageously delve into that paradox, embracing inherent contradictions and eschewing predictability. In their works sensual beauty meets existential terror, matter meets energy, destruction meets creation.
