BAD BEHAVIOUR IN NEW YORK

New York-based artist Lynda Abraham combines video, installation, and performance to create scenarios for the contemplation of complicated relationships. Many of these works engage the viewer’s body to intensely dramatize these connections.

Much like a late night ad pitching an exercise tool or positive thinking program, Abraham’s sculptures are “correctional devices” accompanied by videos that appeal to our self-help culture. Abraham’s contraptions invert the status quo and embolden the indefensible. In Compassion (2006), two people with a contentious relationship are strapped into a device that will alternately shove each partner’s face into a trough of water until they learn to work together, in balance.

Bad Behavior Until March 17 Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, 38 MARCY AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY 11211 www.damstuhltrager.com/