Press Release
Artists: Abdolreza Aminlari, Felix Beaudry, Andres Bedoya, Alika Cooper, Raynes Birkbeck, Mariah Dekkenga, Delia Gonzalez, Whitney Hubbs, Corinne Jones, Estefania Puerta, and Jerry the Marble Faun Air Mattress Gallery is a salon-style gallery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It's a place to crash, look at some art & have a cocktail with friends.
Our current sleepover guest is SITUATIONS, a Chinatown gallery directed by Jackie Klempay. She is hosting a curation of artists Abdolreza Aminlari, Felix Beaudry, Andres Bedoya, Alika Cooper, Raynes Birkbeck, Mariah Dekkenga, Delia Gonzalez, Whitney Hubbs, Corinne Jones, Estefania Puerta, and Jerry the Marble Faun on Artsy and through our website.
Both SITUATIONS and Air Mattress Gallery are currently only open virtually due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, so until social engagement commences, pull up a computer and pour yourself a drink. We will see you all online!
ABDOLREZA AMINLARI (b. 1979, Tehran) is a Brooklyn based artist. Aminlari received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit and his work has been nationally and Internationally exhibited, including SITUATIONS, New York; Quadro Gallery, Dubai; KVKM Kunstverein Cologne; Taymour Grahne, New York; the Derfner Judaica Museum, New York; New York; Long House, New York; Jackie Klempay, Brooklyn; and Andrew Rafacz, Chicago. His set for “Gesang an das noch namenlose Land” was shown in collaboration with musician Katharina Rosenberger in Basel, Switzerland; Hanover, Germany; Sélestat, France; Schlosskirche, Germany; and New York City. His work is in The Jalanbo Collection, New York; Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY; Fidelity Corporate Art Collection; Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA; TD Bank, Toronto, Canada; and College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan.
FELIX BEAUDRY (b. 1996 Berkeley, CA) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) graduated with a BFA from RISD in 2018. Congenital Knot at SITUATIONS is his first solo show in New York City. Recent exhibitions include Fresh Fruit at Situations, 2018 (New York, NY) Rocking Rookies at Tatjana Pieters 2019 (Gent, Belgium); ecdysis II at ltd Los Angeles 2019 (LA, CA), and Designing Traditions at the RISD Museum 2018.
ANDRES BEDOYA (b. 1978, La Paz, Bolivia) lives and works in La Paz, Bolivia, graduating with a BFA from the University of Texas, Austin (2001). He has exhibited extensively in both North and South America. Solo exhibitions include SITUATIONS (New York City); Museo Nacional de Arte, (La Paz, Bolivia), Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art (Savannah, GA), Gonzalez y Gonzalez (Lima, Perú), Centro Cultural de España (La Paz, Bolivia), Galería Temporal (Santiago, Chile), Ginsberg Galería (Lima, Perú), and Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY). He’s held group shows at Videobrasil (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Dixit (Buenos Aires), and Momenta (Brooklyn, New York). Between 2008 and 2010, Bedoya received critical attention as co-curator of Brooklyn is Burning at MoMA PS1, Queens, NY.
ALIKA COOPER (b. 1979, Guam) lives and works in Los Angeles. She received both her MFA and BFA from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA. Solo and two-person exhibitions include Madeleine Cake SITUATIONS, New York; Wet Suits, Good Weather Gallery, Little Rock; Have A Sex fort gondo, Saint Louis; The Disguised Edge MULHERIN, Toronto; UPBRAID Night Gallery, Los Angeles; and GLASS Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco. She was the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant, the Magic Trillium Press Yesland Prize, and the Jack and Gertrude Murphy Fellowship. She has participated in The Viewing Program at The Drawing Center, New York; MOTION PICTURE at The Saint Louis Art Museum; and was Artist in Residence at Galleria Studio Legale in Marzano Appio, Italy.
RAYNES BIRKBECK (Bronx, 1956) lives and works in Manhattan, NY. His practice includes painting, sculpture, drawing, and poetry. He has exhibited work at SITUATIONS, New York; the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division, New York; Apex Art, New York; The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York; and Safe Gallery, Brooklyn. Forthcoming solo exhibitions include Nino Mier Gallery, LA and Golestani Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany and a collaborative exhibition with Michael Bauer at Norma Mangione, Turin, Italy. Additionally, Willow Glen Films is producing a documentary about Raynes set to be released later this year.
MARIAH DEKKENGA (b. 1978, Marathon, WI) lives between Doha, Qatar & Randolph, VT. Dekkenga has held solo and two-person exhibitions at SITUATIONS, New York; Aetopolous Gallery, Athens Greece; Eli Ping Frances Perkins, New York; and Jackie Klempay Gallery, Brooklyn. Selected group exhibitions include Clifton Benevento, New York; Suzanne Geiss, New York; The Hole, New York; Denny Gallery, New York; and The Fire Station, Doha, Qatar. She graduated from The University of Iowa with a MFA in 2008 and has since participated in residencies at the Babayan Culture House in Cappadocia, Turkey; Takt Kunstraum Tapir in Berlin; and Officina Stamperia del Notaio in Tusa, Spain. Her work is held in the collections of QMA Qatar Museums, Doha Qatar, Aïshti Foundation Collection, Beirut, Lebanon, JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY and the Collection of the U.S Embassy, Nogales, Mexico.
DELIA GONZALEZ (b. 1970, Miami, FL) lives in Athens, Greece. Gonzalez's work has been featured in exhibitions at the Benaki Museum, Athens; Deste Foundation, Athens; MoMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Migros Museum, Zurich; Bakalar Gallery at MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, MA; Galleria Fonti, Naples; Schmidt & Handrup, Cologne; Kunsthaus Graz, Austria; Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna; Situations Gallery, New York; Aetopolous, Athens, The Breeder, Athens; and others. Exhibitions in collaboration with Gavin Russom include Sculpture Center, Queens, NY. Gonzalez’ film produced by Kabinett, Horse Follows Darkness, debuted in 2018 in New York and Athens, GR. Her work is currently on view in "The Same River Twice," a group show of Athens-based artists at The Benaki Museum, Athens in collaboration with The DESTE Foundation and New Museum, New York. As a musician, she has released several records, including Horse Follows Darkness (DFA, 2017), a collection of electronically inclined songs of ambient and rhythmic persuasions.
WHITNEY HUBBS (b. 1977 Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Alfred, NY. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts in 2005 and an MFA at UCLA in 2009. Hubbs was recently included in a four-person exhibition at The J. Paul Getty Museum. Solo exhibitions include Animal Hole Selfie at SITUATIONS, New York; Body Doubles at M+B Gallery, Stutter Shutter at David B. Smith, Denver, CO and Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco, CA, and at the California Museum of Photography, Riverside. Group exhibitions include Madeleine Cake (with Alika Cooper) at SITUATIONS, New York; Screenscapes at Galeria Nara Roesler in São Paulo, Brazil, Ami Omi at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, and les vases communicants at Shulamit Nazaria Gallery. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside; and The Riot Grrrl Collection, Fales Library Special Collections, New York University, New York. Hesse Press published the artist’s first monograph, Woman In Motion. She is an Assistant Professor Photography at Alfred University. Hubbs is currently represented by M+B Gallery in Los Angeles and Situations Gallery in New York City. Hubbs has an upcoming two-person exhibition at the Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA next December, as well as a book forthcoming with SPBH Editions in the Spring of 2021.
CORINNE JONES (b. 1973, Memphis TN) currently lives and works in New York City. She received her MFA from Columbia University in 2007 and a BFA from The School of Visual Arts in 1996. Jones has realized public art projects at the Elizabeth Street Garden, New York; at Madison Park, Memphis, TN; and on Huling Street, Memphis, TN. She has exhibited solo and two-person shows at SITUATIONS, NYC; Jackie Klempay, Brooklyn, NY; Museum of America books, Brooklyn, NY; Tops Gallery, Memphis, TN, and has participated in various group shows including galleries and museums in Miami, FL; London, UK; and Warsaw, Poland. Her work is held in many private and public institutions including the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Jones published several editions, "Liam Gillick & Corinne Jones," (Brigade Commerz/Liam Gillick, Limited edition of 50 copies with music by Liam Gillick & Corinne Jones) in 2010, "Plain English," (Letterpress, Limited Edition of 50) in 2014, and "Trends in Repurposed Abstraction" which debuted at the MoMA PS1 Art Book Fair in 2015. She has been an adjunct painting professor at Columbia University and teaches color theory at The Cooper Union in New York.
ESTEFANIA PUERTA (born 1988 in Manizales, Colombia) lives and works in Vermont and New York City. She received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT (2018), where she was awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and a BS from the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT (2010). She has held exhibitions at Yale University Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT; Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; 263 Bowery, New York, NY; New City Galerie, Burlington, VT, and Burlington City Arts, Burlington, VT. Puerta’s first solo exhibition in New York City is upcoming at SITUATIONS in September 2020.
JERRY THE MARBLE FAUN (born 1955, Brooklyn, NY) lives and works in Queens, NY. He began handcarving stone in 1987 and in 2015 began working in ceramic. Jerry has held exhibitions at SITUATIONS, New York; Canada, New York; Halsey McKay, East Hampton; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; Governor’s Island, New York; 2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco; The Elaine de Kooning House, South Hampton; Geary Contemporary, New York; and The Bureau of General Services/Queer Division, New York; amongst others. Jerry has received widespread recognition and critical praise for his artwork from major outlets, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art Forum, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Observer, Forbes, Vogue, Interview, and Architectural Digest. Jerry has participated in the Shandaken Project's residency program at Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, NY. He is in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, NY. Additionally, Jerry is well known as the BouvierBeales’ handyman from the Maysles brothers’ 1975 documentary Grey Gardens. While living at Grey Gardens, “Little Edie” gave Jerry the nickname “the Marble Faun,” which Jerry accepted as a fated path to artmaking. In addition to sculpting stone, Jerry worked as a gardener for the royal family of Saudi Arabia, with Wayland Flowers and his puppet, Madame, during their cabaret acts in the ’70s, and for twenty years as a taxi cab driver in New York City.