Matthew Lusk, the show's organizer, has completely rebuilt the gallery space. Visitors are greeted by a peg-board model of the crenellated facade of Williamsburg's McCarren Park Pool, an imposing structure in the original, now dilapidated, which is several hundred yards down the street.
A 1930s loading dock, rendered in cement, takes over a chunk of the gallery and must be climbed if one wishes to enter the rear gallery, which has been made over into the dark interior of a Depression era worker's shack, such as one might have seen documented in photographs.
Lusk's architectural elements are the scaffolding onto which the diverse creations of the other fifteen artists are arranged.
The exhibition title refers to A.J.Liebling's seminal essay of the 1930s, "Apology For Breathing." The inversion of it into "No Apology for Breathing" is a statement of individual resolve and dignity.
The spirit of nostalgia for that era of government in support of the people is tempered by ambivalence. Lusk, who organized the Some Exhaust exhibition last summer at Lehmann Maupin, here aims to provoke a dialogue about work and social justice, the role of government in the lives of its citizens, the timeline of Modernism and the role of corporations in American life.
Toward this end, he notes:
- Social Security (1935), one of the hallmarks of New Deal legislation, is under attack by the current administration.
- McCarren Park Pool (1936) sits in decrepitude under a new coat of paint while rumors of its resurrection as an Olympic venue are floated.
- The Empire State Building (1931) is unfortunately once again the tallest building in New York City.
- Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
- MoMA has re-engineered their home on 53rd Street, to where they first relocated in 1936.
- Walker Evans’ WPA photographs of the same year are hallmark Modern documents of the destitute poor.
- The federal minimum wage, established in 1938, was recently denied a long-needed increase in Congress.
- Microsoft is weathering court rulings on its dominance and control. Parker Brothers released Monopoly in 1935.
- And we are seemingly again on the brink of some kind of World War.
- These are the roots of a larger tree of possible connections.
