EAST VILLAGE — The humble gobstopper is used as a symbol to challenge our perceptions of nature, in a new exhibition that transforms a gallery into an abstract archaeological site.
The hard candy, created with layers of liquid sugar that look like the result of natural sedimentation, has becomes the focus of artist Ajay Kurian's first solo exhibition, Petrichor, at the Audio Visual Arts gallery on East First Street.
In his works, Kurian breaks open the childhood candy like a geologist might, and places it with rocks and fossils as a comment on nature.
"I think we need to get rid of the category of nature. We either say everything is natural or that nothing is natural," said the 27-year-old Brooklyn resident and Columbia University graduate.
"When I broke open the gobstopper it has its own form of sedimentation," Kurian added. "It is no less natural [than ancient rocks]. It has the same process, but just doesn't take the time."
Kurian questions why green shrubs would be boxed as natural and concrete as artificial, and why New Yorkers "quarantine" nature into city parks.
"This is where we get into trouble. We start making judgments about morality," he said.
Kurian gave the example of homosexuality, which some judge to be "unnatural and monstrous," just like they would a concrete conglomerate.
"It seems very archaeological, the show," he said. "You have all this rubble that feels like fossils."
To move around the space, visitors crunch on the rubble as though they are walking around an archaeological dig site.
For Kurian, the rubble really is something from the past — previous works that he cast in plaster before breaking into pieces. This act was symbolic of moving on from a time when he was confused about the direction of his art.
"After school, I had a hard time thinking about why I was painting," said the artist, who is also the founder of Gresham's Ghost, where he regularly curates art shows around the city.
"It is a sense that most people associate with a freshness and renewal of some kind," Kurian said. "For me this was a new beginning and a fresh start, and it is just a beautiful word."
The exhibition runs through Jan. 15, 2012, at Audio Visual Arts, 34 E. First St.
