\nAfter the fire is gone<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\nSeptember 15 \u2013 October 22, 2017<\/span>
\nOpening Friday September 15, 6-9pm<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
I shoot films, make sculptures, and perform in various states of cross dress. My work conveys a grotesque Americana, one influenced by faded icons, soap-opera folklore, and daily banalities. <\/strong> Microscope is very pleased to present the first solo\u00a0exhibition at the gallery by Cate Giordano,\u00a0After the fire is gone<\/em>,\u00a0as the culmination of a three-year long project in moving image, sculpture and installation based on the life of Dolly Presley, a persona\u00a0created and\u00a0performed by the\u00a0artist. <\/span><\/p>\n The exhibition\u00a0is an installation\u00a0centering\u00a0around a just completed\u00a033-minute single-channel video\u00a0of the same title in which a New York City diner waitress – \u00a0in a Dolly Parton\u00a0wig and makeup and Elvis Presley mutton chops and jumpsuit who is prone to breaking into songs –\u00a0finds herself in a love triangle, forced\u00a0to choose between her insurance salesman husband Anton and her true love Clayton, a silent drifter who has suddenly resurfaced. The latter two\u00a0are also performed by Giordano.<\/span><\/p>\n The video plays across more than a\u00a0dozen vintage TV\u2019s\u00a0each featuring a separate and looping scene from\u00a0the work. Sets from the movie are reinstalled throughout the space,\u00a0dense\u00a0with detailed objects and sculptures – made from wood, plaster,\u00a0wax, papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9\u00a0and other materials – that appear in or expand upon the scenes and other elements of the piece. <\/span><\/p>\n Through the use of narrative filmmaking tropes and low-fi aesthetics – the video\u00a0was shot on VHS\u00a0and MiniDV –\u00a0Giordano\u00a0draws attention to the artifice and limitations of the representations of love\/desire offered by the media that inform our experiences and at times our\u00a0life-changing decisions.\u00a0The coarsely\u00a0constructed sculptures of people, objects, and places heightens the sense of isolation that surrounds\u00a0Dolly despite the familiar story line. <\/span><\/p>\n The artist says of the\u00a0protagonist:\u00a0“Like a true Southern Belle, she’s trained herself to hide her feelings, singing her heart out only in her dreamscapes to songs such as\u00a0Here You Come Again\u00a0and\u00a0Just Someone I Used to Know.\u00a0[\u2026] Dolly Presley is trapped in the self-contained hell of Americana, unable to escape the constructs of her fabricated reality, and ultimately is victim to a circular narrative that she isn’t aware she controls.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n _<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n After the fire is gone<\/em>\u00a0opens on Friday September 15th, 6-9pm, and runs through October 22nd, 2017. Gallery hours: Thursday to Monday, 1-6pm. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"After](\"http:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/After-the-fire-is-gone.jpg\")
\nStill from “After the fire is gone”, 2017, digital video, 33 minutes – Image courtesy of the artist
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\nArtist CV<\/u><\/a><\/strong>
\nInstallation Views<\/u><\/a><\/strong>
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\n– Cate Giordano<\/em> <\/span>
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\nCate Giordano\u00a0works primarily in moving image, often playing multiple roles in her videos, and sculpture in the form of sets or characters made in a way that highlights their otherness and materiality. Her work has previously exhibited at\u00a0Spring\/Break Art Show, New York;\u00a0James Farley Post Office, New York; Old School in collaboration with the New Museum, New York; and Parlour Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY among others. Solo screenings have been presented at\u00a0Film Society at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA and Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn, NY. Group screenings include\u00a0Flaherty Seminar at Anthology Film Archives, New York and Millennium Film Workshop, Brooklyn, NY among others.\u00a0Her work has been discussed in\u00a0Artforum<\/em>,\u00a0Artnet<\/em>,\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>,\u00a0ArtObserved<\/em>, Hyperallergic<\/em>,\u00a0San Francisco Art Quarterly<\/em>,\u00a0and others.\u00a0She received a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 2008 and was a Smack Mellon’s Artist Studio Program recipient in 2016-17.\u00a0Originally from Pensacola, FL, Cate Giordano lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. <\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Cate](\"http:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Cate-Giordano_Heavy-Food.jpg\")
![\"Cate](\"http:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Cate-Giordano_Man-in-a-chair.jpg\")