BONGI: That's a slick little maxim--while the hand's rocking the cradle it won't be rocking the boat.

GINGER: There're plenty of male hands around to do whatever boat-rocking's necessary.

BONGI: I've met quite a few hairy old male hands in my day, and it's not the boat they're grabbling for.

-Excerpt from From the Cradle to the Boat, by Valerie Solanas

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C24 Gallery is pleased to present From the Cradle to the Boat, a group exhibition curated by Tommy Hartung. The exhibition will feature the work of artists Tamy Ben-Tor, Miki Carmi, Justin Cloud, Clark Filio, Michael Guardiola, O.K. Fox, Reagan Holiday, Monilola Ilupeju, Bahareh Khoshooee, Jeremy Olson, Lynsey Peisinger, and Tommy White. From the Cradle to the Boat will be on view July 11 - August 24, 2018 with an Opening Reception on July 11th from 6-8pm that will feature impromptu performances by Michael Guardiola and Reagan Holiday. There will be additional performances by Lynsey Peisinger and Tamy Ben-Tor on July 18th (please see listed performance schedule).

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This exhibition title is taken from the alternate title of Valerie Solanas’ play, primarily titled Up Your Ass.  Solanas was an American radical feminist, and self described social propagandist. The only copy of Solanas’ play was allegedly misplaced for many decades by Andy Warhol after she tried to get his support, resulting in a very contentious disagreement, ultimately resulting in the attempted murder of Warhol by Solanas. Though the play was often interpreted as satire, it can alternatively be seen as a social realist masterwork through its themes and sense of political agency. Solanas showed reality directly, with all of its injustices and traumatic ambiguity.  Her work evokes a sense of unreality or even caricature. From the Cradle to the Boat has brought together artists using this full range of the human psyche in all of its possible iterations.

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Each artist featured in the exhibition approaches reality with a direct engagement and produces work that seems on the surface about something unreal or even surreal. When the viewer takes a closer look, the work makes direct correlation with the very strange world we currently inhabit.

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Valerie Solanas actively sought to disrupt the patriarchal system of art production wherein the male master artist enslaves others to produce work. The artists in this exhibition strive in different ways to make art that forgoes this power dynamic and system of outsourced cultural production.

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