Previous Exhibit

Tirtzah Bassel Don’t Shoot

Nassau Community College and the Firehouse Plaza Art Gallery are proud to present PERFORM, a solo exhibition by artist Tirtzah Bassel. The exhibition features large-scale oil paintings alongside a site-specific installation ‘painted’ in duct tape directly on the gallery walls. The images explore a world in which people are increasingly absorbed in virtual communication, and subsumed in the urge to project on social media. The images examine the pressure to constantly record and display the most obscure moments of the day, or to announce the self as a witness to significant moments. This constant pressure to ‘perform’ inspires the artist to investigate the elusive border between performer and audience. “These tensions between anonymity and individuality, between authenticity and performance, are at the center of the exhibition. The immersive nature of the installation is an invitation to slow down, and spend a contemplative moment in this space. In a reality where we are increasingly watching and being watched, ‘PERFORM’ speaks to the necessity of observing anew the audiences and performances that shape our every day.”  -Tirtzah Bassel, 2014

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