CURRENT SHOWS – 2024:
Gallery and connected events are free and open to the public
Gallery Hours by Appointment (Please email at least two days in advance- [email protected])
SPOKE Gallery presents:
From the Monastery
July 12 – August 15, 2024
ITALY RETREAT, 2025 – Last two nights in Venice!
Jay Critchley’s solo exhibition, Democracy of the Land: Patriotism
May 13 through June 28, 2024
Reception: Thursday, May 23rd 6-8pm
Hybrid Panel Discussion (Zoom & in-person): May 23rd 6:30pm
SPOKE’s Gallery is proud to present Jay Critchley’s first solo exhibition in Boston. Jay is a longtime Provincetown multidisciplinary and performance artist, writer and activist. His show at SPOKE entitled, Democracy of the Land: Patriotism, takes a deep dive into his singular, penetrating work with his historic exploration of the roots of American identity and the occupied landscape and its mythology.
SPOKE, in-conjunction with the exhibition, is hosting a hybrid panel discussion (Zoom & in-person), Democracy of the Land, on May 23rd at 6:30pm. The panelists are artists Jay Critchley (Bio & info below), L’Merchie Frazier (Bio) James Ari Montford (Bio), and Robert Peters (Bio). The panel will be moderated by curator Kathleen Bitetti (Bio).
Critchley’s exhibition critiques poet Robert Frost’s unabashedly Colonialist poem, The Gift Outright: “The land was ours before we were the land’s.” The centerpiece of his solo show is a 10’h x 15’w wall-size American flag, tarred and feathered, lit with white light “stars,” referencing patriotism to embrace and nurture the Land for our mutual survival. Tarring and feathering is a form of public humiliation used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and on the American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance. It is meant to humiliate and severely criticize a person.
“We ask, Who is being tarred and feathered – We the American people? The ecology of the planet?” states the internationally recognized artist. “We need to listen to the Land and let the Land speak, all its disparate elements, the cacophony of our relative’s voices from the microbes to the insects to the four-legged and two legged creatures,” he adds.
With Democracy of the Land: Patriotism the artist returns to his use of an American Flag, first employed in 1989 with Old Glory Condom Corporation, a patriotic safer sex enterprise, and then in 2010 linking globalism, pandemics and environmental disasters with a flag constructed with tie-string surgical masks. The Blessed Virgin Rubber Goddess – Immaculate Protection in 1989 linked HIV with the health of the rainforest’s rubber trees that produce condoms. The artist initially used down feathers to create a walk-in version of the White House, called The Whiteness House – tarred and feathered at the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico in 2017. It was exhibited in Provincetown in 2019.
Drawing on his research and work about American symbolism, mythology, history, settler occupation, Native Nations and ecological concerns, Critchley’s work confronts our torrid and complicated history of what it means to be an American and how we commune together to move forward. It moves beyond farm to table to Land to Land – challenging the corporate supply chain to return to the Land, uncontaminated, what’s taken from the Land.
More About Jay: jaycritchley.com
Jay Critchley’s work has traversed the globe, showing across the US and in Argentina, Japan, England, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Columbia. His artist residencies include: the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico; Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Andalucia, Spain; CAMAC, Marnay-sur-Seine, France; Havestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NYC; Milepost 5, Portland, OR; Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry, Ireland; and Harvard University where he also lectured.
His movie, Toilet Treatments, won an HBO Award and he gave a TEDx Talk: Portrait of the Artist as a Corporation. His 2015 survey show at the Provincetown Art Association & Museum traveled to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He has received awards from the Boston Society of Architects and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC for his environmental projects.
Jay recently was the keynote speaker at the UK Conference on Menstruation and Sustainability at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and spoke at the Nuffield Ireland Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The Massachusetts State Legislature honored Jay as an artist and founder and director of the Provincetown Community Compact, producer of the Swim for Life, which has raised $6M for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988.
About SPOKE Gallery:
The medicine wheel, originating from a Native American tradition, is also referred to as Sacred Hoop. The medicine wheel represents the sacred circle of life, its basic four directions, and the elements. It is a symbol of balance, symmetry, healing, and oneness. “It teaches us that all lessons are equal, as are all talents and abilities. Every living creature will one day see and experience each spoke of the wheel and know those truths. The Medicine Wheel is a pathway to truth and peace and harmony. The circle is never ending, life without end.”
MWP’s philosophy and values are deeply entwined with that of the medicine wheel. We too believe that every person has talents and abilities to share with the world and that, through art, they can unlock them. By participating in the art—whether that’s creating the art, experiencing the art, or taking a cultural action in response to the art—we believe that community members are taken on a transformative journey that helps them gain a deeper understanding of themselves, of others, and the overall human condition. This is the phenomenon of art. It engages all people (the creator and observors) in dialogue and takes them to a place of endless possibilities.
Artists of all disciplines are interested in starting a new dialogue about the role of art in culture. Over the years, art has come to be seen as a commodity, not an essential part of everyday life. Art is so much more than that though—it helps individuals access the hidden world of thought, feeling, and meditation. It is a tool that draws humanity together, guiding people towards a greater understanding of self and the overall human condition.
MWP’s Spoke Gallery is an innovative new program that seeks to act as a hub for artists of all disciplines who want to join the conversation. We realize that many artists lack the networks, support, tools, and/or resources to progress the dialogue forward on their own. By creating a network and space dedicated to redefining the role of art in culture, we hope to provide a support system and home for artists, so that they can grow, learn, and put into practice this exciting and significant concept.
PREVIOUS SPOKE GALLERY EXHIBITS and ARTISTS
Ecology begins with…
A group show of small works that call attention to the ecosystems we live in.
Exhibiting artists:
Kathleen Bitetti, L’Merchie Frazier,
Kate Gilbert,
Eric Grau, Henrietta “Queen” Hodge,
Susan Krause, and Esther Premkumar.
SPOKE Gallery hours are Wednesday – Friday
12:00pm – 5:00 pm
Saturdays by appointment
* For Saturday appointment, Please email at least two days in advance: [email protected]
or call 617.315.7318
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events. It is also supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.