Slanted Entry November 20^th – January 11^th Opening Reception: November 20^th 6-8 pm +81 Gallery: 167 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10012 Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 12-7pm www.plus81.us Plus 81 Gallery is pleased to present Slanted Entry, a group exhibition with Mina Hamada, Joe Hollier and Takeshi Miyakawa. The three artists will present a diverse series of works transgressing the edges of art. Not an outsider but not at the center either, each of the artists has an oblique relationship to contemporary art, circling around the borders and coming in and going out. Turning the demarcations of art inside out and crossing genres, these artists developed distinctive styles naturally, without filtering through agendas or being over-determined. Hamada comes from an urban muralist perspective into painting, Hollier is a multifaceted designer/videographer turned artist, and Miyakawa studied architecture and works in furniture design. A shared thread that runs through them is the instinctive gravitation towards glee and pure playfulness. In this expansive field of contemporary culture, they reflect the potential of art in its unbounded elasticity and possibilities for delectation. Mina Hamada was born in Louisiana, grew up in Tokyo, and currently works out of Barcelona. After being exposed to the street culture, she quickly became a maker herself. Drawing from the environment and topography, she creates vibrant paintings on walls and on canvas, expressing and playfully tempting to surfacing the unconscious. “I would love to redesign prison cell furniture,” Takeshi Miyakawa told an interviewer. This was after the incident where his guerrilla public art installation of I heart NY bags was mistaken for a potential terrorist bombing in hypersensitive and anxious ambiance of Post-9/11. Finding out that the prison beds are the most non-ergonomic furniture invented, the above quote was his response. Educated as an architect and trained as a designer, his hands become a sublime instrument in making objects that are mathematically complex and aesthetically immaculate. Miyakawa approaches creation with certain zeal for life that vibrates from within himself. Joe Hollier is a graphic designer and artist; he has worked with Paul Sahre, CNN, Nike Skateboarding, Sagmeister & Walsh, and the Lincoln Center. Hollier also founded and runs Five on That, a skateboard company which serves as a platform to initiate projects and collaborations. He likes to make stop animations, collages, music videos, documentaries, and books, among other thing, and likes to play with words, phrases, colors, images and scale, carefully assembling them into patterns. For additional information please contact: (646) 524-7171 or info@plus81.us