Don’t Mistake Youth for Modesty

PARTICIPATING ARTIST BEJAMIN HOLLINGSWORTH WITH 2 UNTITLED WORKS.
PHOTO BY MARGOT FODOR

 

 

This Saturday, Anne Huntington and Diana Campbell host P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing). No, it’s not a mixer for hot-to-trot twenty-somethings; it’s Huntington and Campbell’s inaugural curatorial effort. Named for MJ’s 1982 hit, the show’s title refers to the youth of its 23 emerging artists, the budding collectors it aims to attract and of course, its curators who at 24 and 26, respectively, are indeed pretty young things themselves.

But don’t mistake youth for modesty. “The artists of our generation need a platform. And we’ve provided that,” said Huntington over tea at the Soho House yesterday afternoon. But the curators’ intent is not only to champion up-and-coming talents, but to pool their combined skills in collection advising, art management and event organizing. The curatorial duo, who admittedly brainstormed the show on a set of doilies during a coffee rendezvous, selected a residential 500 square foot downtown loft as their temporary gallery space. Campbell explained the zoning and scale for the apartment gallery format, “We were thinking about how our peers are at a stage where they’re starting to buy apartments and figured, why not do the show as if we had our own apartment… how would we curate our collection.”

Huntington added that it might make selection easier for collectors with a lot of both art and space to choose from, “It’s like going into a Crate & Barrel: you can see your room already done. We’re doing that for you. It’s showing you a scenario. It’s a vignette.”

In their attempt to merge “the gallery and the back room,” the curators have enlisted a D.J. to play a performance art-themed set as guests view the works. Oh yeah, the work: Alexandra Richards shows a Duchamp- and Warhol-styled whipped cream can sculpture; Jacob Abramson and Suzette Guy have installed graffiti; former Prada model Amit Greenberg makes collages of 80’s mix-tape collages—even youth has some time for nostalgia.

PYT IS LOCATED AT 833 BROADWAY, #2, AND IS OPEN MAY 22 (12-8 PM) AND MAY 23 (10-6 PM).