OBJECTIVES
Objectives culls 64 new works by the artist that explore the polysemic meaning of the exhibition’s title: art as object, art as objectification, and the art objective. The exhibition is a survey of the artist’s experimentation with form, his manipulation of images, and his own struggle with artistic purpose.
Ubiera’s recent sculptures participate in a body of work that plays with form and function. Sculptures, clocks, busts - all are animated objects with visceral movements and look as if they can be manipulated, adjusted, or positioned to take on different meanings and functions.
Ubiera’s "Playboy" series includes re-purposed Playboy ads from the 1970's into a contemporary 90's neon aesthetic. Scavenged from antique stores in the Berkshires, the magazines act in some cases as inspiration and in others as medium, each piece drawing from the magazine’s familiar motifs - nudes, cigarettes, blues performances - while diluting any vulgarities with playful colors and cut paper.
The artist’s black and white monochrome prints play with iconic images, such as the 1960's fashion photographer Richard Avedon’s "Miss Shrimpton in NASA Space Suit." The series' sometimes nostalgic imagery from the artists’ youth - space, horror movies, skate boarding - is complimented by more recent references to the Netflix television era.
Edward Ubiera is a Brooklyn-based artist working in drawing, painting, sculpture, and print-making. His practice focuses on illustration and collage that teeters between the figurative, the literal, and the abstract. This is his first solo show in New York.