FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For this exhibition we have sought artists whose work deals primarily with clothing or utilize clothing as a major component. In some cases his "cloth" component is real and actual. In other cases it may be a depiction, a concept, or a metaphor.

An exhibition about clothing may first seem to have little to do with SICA's locale. However, it is not a remote association to connect SICA in Long Branch with the clothing industry. Long Branch, NJ has been involved since the early 20th century with the garment industry and was the location of Local 9 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Many of the rooms above the shops in the commercial district were once where workers toiled away at sewing machines day and night. In fact, until recently, the entire second floor of SICA was such a place.

But this exhibition is not about connecting current artistic media choices with the history of the Jersey Shore. The intent of this exhibition is to explore and illustrate the use of clothing as a principal art media. It also will attempt to investigate why so many artists today are using clothing as a principal artistic material. Is it the domestic reference? Maybe it's a reference to basic human needs? Or perhaps, it investigates the social status or other hierarchical associations that many clothing convey. We hope this show and the artists participating might illuminate this and provide answers to these questions

Artist: Doreen Brown, Michael Mahalchick, Nick Cave, Derick Melander, Guerra de la Paz, Suzanne Rader, Carmen Hay Kolodzey, Jennifer Watson, Michelle Loughlin, Sarah Wayland-Smith
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about the artist: Guerra de la Paz is the composite name that represents the creative team efforts of Cuban-born artists, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz. What began as an idea for two individual artists to share a working studio in Miami's Little Haiti, has become an ongoing collaboration that has evolved into constant experimentation. The recipient of the 2008 SCOPE Foundation Grant for artist project “Under the Banyan Tree,” they are are represented in the Saatchi Collection (London), 21C Museum Foundation (Louisville, KY), Frost Art Museum (Miami, FL), Miami Art Museum (Miami, FL), and The Cintas Fellows Collection.

about the gallery: The Shore Institute of The Contemporary Arts (SICA) Our focus is those arts, that are contemporary in emphasis. Contemporaneous events and influences are continually in flux. Therefore, the arts we choose to emphasize and present will respond to these changing conditions. Our goal is to continually pursue new ways to facilitate contemporary artistic endeavors while we explore expansion on the curricular and experiential levels. Developing new and exciting ways to further the contemporary art experience is the vision of the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts.