Matriarch show Press Release:
Inspired by Alfred Steiglitz whose legendary gallery 291 was located in a friend’s apartment, Erin Perrazzelli has curated an apartment show with an allstar line-up in a residential building in Maspeth Queens, set to open Saturday October 5th, 2024 at 3 pm.
Knowing the story of the humble apartment gallery that went on to launch European Modernism to the United States, Erin realized that while her residential building was sitting empty, she could help artists have an opportunity to show. In turn, the artists would be helping Erin and her family move through a period of grief by lending the healing energy of their artwork to adorn the storied walls of a multi-generationally owned and loved home.
The curatorial theme is devotional matriarchy, torch passing, and sacred domesticity. One of the show's centerpieces is an original 1954 cover of “Holy Cats by Andy Warhol’s Mother” by Julia Warhola.
The original cover is filled with facsimiles of the interior 18 lithographs by Julia Warhola comprising her book. This piece demonstrates the show’s concept that being nurtured by one's domestic environment engendures fertile ground for art making. Many do not realize that Andy Warhol had his mother living with him when he first came to New York City. While he was out making a name for himself as an illustrator and beginning to spend late nights with the celebrities that would help launch him to world-wide fame, she was home cooking his favorite meals, keeping his home environment comfortable and helping him with his commercial art commissions. Julia took a backseat role in his career, signing her collaborative works with him not in her own name, but instead modestly as “Andy Warhol’s Mother”. This tale of maternal and domestic devotion relates to stories that took place in the apartment that is the venue for Matriarch. The building lent inspiration to the artists, who are working in collaboration with the physical building itself.
MATRIARCH Show Advertisements. Pictured Left to Right; Jockey’s Jersey owned by Francesca Perrazelli, Paul Gagnier’s work w Matriarch cards, Alexander Nolan piece “Man Carrying a Stove, Oil on Plywood” being hung by Steven Mykietyn
Installation shot
Pictured above: Show advertisements with participating artist’s names.
“Chair”, Caterina Fake in collaboration with her children, Oil and Acrylic on a chair, dimensions variable. Pictured in front of “A Group of Moths Enjoying a Delicious Wool Blanket” Mixed Media, Dimensions variable, Erin Perrazzelli 2005.
“Chair” Caterina Fake pictured by “Sukkah”, Archival Pigment Print, Raissa Venables, 54” x 44”, 2020
Detail of “Chair” Caterina Fake in collaboration with her children
“Holy Cats by Andy Warhol’s Mother”, Julia Warhola, Original offset lithographed book cover, 1954 9 x 6”
Installation shot featuring May Yeung “Serving Platter” stonewear, 15” x 7”, Elizabeth Ferry “Salvador Dolly Clock” photo print, clock mechanism, 7 x 5 and Alexander Nolan “Family Dinner” and “Dinner with Lobster”, Acrylic on Canvas.
Alexander Nolan “Man in a Sardine Can” 2023, Acrylic on Canvas, 14 x 17”
Shura Skaya “My Friend Dressed as Death” Oil on Canvas, 2020. Installation shot
“My Friend Dressed as Death”, Oil on Canvas, Shura Skaya, 38 x 38
Installation shot featuring Taylor Morrison “Birth of Venus” and Charity Lynn Baker “Rain” 60 x 70”, Oil on canvas
Alexander Nolan, “Man Carrying Stove”, Oil on Plywood, 2024. Installation Shot
Installation Shot, Gerard Malanga “Emma Malanga, homemaker, 1905-1997”, Photograph of poem for installation by Erin Perrazzelli
Poem by Gerard Malanga “Emma Malanga, homemaker, 1905-1997” from “Odin Is Being Called Back & Other Poems” Bottle of Smoke Press
The Rathkopf’s “Helena” from “HER2: Diagnosed, the Caregiver, and Their Son”.