Mirror Mirror at SPRING/BREAK Art Show
By Emma Hapner, September 18, 2024
Every Fall, the long awaited SPRING/BREAK Art Show returns to New York City. SPRING/BREAK Art Show is a globally recognized platform that utilizes underused, unconventional, and historic exhibition spaces in New York City to challenge and redefine the traditional art market. Typically held during Armory Arts Week in New York and Frieze Week in Los Angeles, the 12th Edition of SPRING/BREAK Art Show New York City was a show to remember from September 4th to the 9th, featuring work by over one hundred booths and artist spotlights.
The show has previously occupied diverse venues including St. Patrick’s Old School, the former James A. Farley Post Office, the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square, UN Plaza, and most recently, Ralph Lauren’s former offices at 625 Madison Avenue in New York City. In Los Angeles, it has been hosted in former fruit and vegetable stalls, as well as clothing and munitions factories. By choosing these historically significant and repurposed spaces, SPRING/BREAK Art Show serves as a cultural destination that reflects on the decline of 20th-century opulence while simultaneously fostering and supporting the work of 21st-century artists.
Each year, a different theme is explored and this year’s was INT./EXT. (interior/exterior). Artists were invited to explore the transformation from the inner to the outer, the architectural to the transcendent, and the domestic to the beyond. Concepts were welcomed that suggest the exchange between the outer and inner, the external and internal, or the spiritual and corporeal. They were also interested in contemporary interpretations of the ancient Roman notion of 'genius loci,' or the spirit of a place, and how this spirit might compel us to document and explore its various dimensions and angles.
There were so many incredible booths in the show, filled with amazing work by talented artists. My personal favorite this year was Mirror Mirror. Self-curated by artists Aliza Stone Howard and Nicole James, I believe their booth was an exceptional exploration of this years theme. They imaginatively designed the space to reflect the bedroom of a teenager, with a fur rug, moody dark purple walls and drapes, and artwork highlighting references to pop culture and modern photography to create a show that is inherently about growing up female and how pop culture and advertising media consumption shapes the interior landscapes of women.
Aliza Stone Howard, It's All Happening, oil on canvas (left) Nicole James, Protection Can Be A Prison, As Well, acrylic on linen (right)
The title itself "Mirror Mirror" carries profound significance. It evokes the classic fairytale of Snow White, where the wicked queen famously asks, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” This phrase conjures not only a sense of childhood nostalgia but also themes of vanity, obsession with beauty, and the self-consciousness that is often inescapable within the teenage experience. This immersive, iconic two-woman show offers a unique window into the female psyche and the practice of shaping an interior sense of self through the external media and objects we consume.
Nicole James is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York making work that challenges the conventional belief that chaos and beauty are mutually exclusive, instead striving to merge them. She proposes that the raw and unfiltered beauty inherent in disorder is captivating precisely due to its fleeting and unpredictable nature. Leveraging her storytelling expertise honed during her career as an advertising creative director, alongside a perspective shaped by growing up in an era where the ultra-personal is made public online, James creates intricate visual narratives that are both surprising and relatable. Her large, vibrant acrylic paintings appropriate aesthetic elements from modern photography, pop culture, and self-documentation to craft entirely new compositions. These works invite viewers to discover the beauty within the tumult of everyday life.
Aliza Stone Howard is a New York City based contemporary artist who draws inspiration from pop culture imagery, encompassing both people and objects that capture the mood of specific moments or evoke a sense of nostalgia. Her subject matter is diverse, but her work consistently explores the interplay between the fleeting nature of contemporary themes and the enduring qualities of her chosen medium, oil paint. Howard finds a distinct irony in using a medium renowned for its seriousness and permanence to portray images that are emblematic of current trends, infusing her work with a layer of inherent humor. Her naturalistic approach to oil painting is the perfect vehicle for her movie-still imagery, capturing iconic moments from early 2000s rom-coms–a media staple for the female experience.
Featured:
Nicole James
IG: @nicolejames.nyc
Website: https://www.nicolejames.nyc/landing
Aliza Stone Howard
Website: https://www.alizastonehoward.com/
@springbreakartshow
