2019 Projects

Intention/Resolution

Intention/Resolution examines the disconnect between our thoughts about ourselves and our own habits and abilities. The exhibition uses several questions as a curatorial guide, including : How can artists steer their practice toward intentional mindfulness? How can artists use their work to turn an honest, self-reflexive lens on the business of making art? And how do we ultimately value our efforts as artists? A Cardinal project curated by Alexander Jarman. More info here.

A Strange Light Under My Bed

Strange Light under my Bed explores humor and strangeness in everyday life. The works celebrate chance encounters by presenting unexpected narratives that evoke empathy from outsiders. They complicate the relationship the viewer has to subjects, redefining the viewer as the other. In so doing, Liu and Greenberg create space for othered individuals and use humor to craft counternarratives around strangeness, discovery, and intimacy. More info here.

The PEACES Collective

Throughout the year, Cardinal is proud to partner with the PEACES Collective, who transform the gallery into a retail market for local artists in the front gallery, and a workshop and event space in the back gallery. More info on the Collective here.

Everybody

NYC-based Yeimi Salazar presents her installation Everybody, composed of life size plush figures that take the form of humans but do not display any of their common attributes such as faces, hair, or clothing. The figures display a range of skin tones but are otherwise uniform. This interactive work encourages visitors to share an embrace with the figures, while the artist photographs these seemingly intimate moments. Curated by Tracey Jen and Eva Sailley. More info here.

(dirty clean) cleaners

Artist Laure Drogoul creates an immersive installation and uncanny dry cleaner shop composed of low density polyethylene (the clear plastic used to package “clean” garments). The work reflects on the ubiquitous cleaners of our urban landscape and draws on the history of Cardinal, which once housed a dry-cleaning business. During the exhibition, on-going performances will guide gallery visitors through the cleaning process. More info here.

1,500 Red Crowned Cranes

Artist Bonnie Jones will present a sound installation and exhibition about bodies in migration, the consequences of borders and boundaries, and the imaginative potential of in-between spaces. The title is a reference to the endangered animals that live in the heavily guarded Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. More info here.

First of All, Farewell.

Cardinal presents a series of recent collaborative and solo works by John Ralston and Melissa Webb. Utilizing the durability and rigidity Ralston's gypsum and house paint constructions and the delicacy and detail of Webb's gridded textile wall pieces, the two explore both the permanence and the ephemerality of forms found within the natural world. More info here.

Hidden Paths

This exhibition highlights artists who create perambulatory works that are intentional, purposeful, and participatory. Their practices help reveal power structures hiding in plain sight, provide additional platforms for personal narratives about the city, or provide participants with tools to critically examine their everyday surroundings. A Cardinal project curated by Alexander Jarman More info here.

C-Magnetic Cultures

C – Magnetic Cultures: Four Chinese Artists presents four varied explorations of being a Chinese artist in the United States, each straddling the personal and the societal. Curated by Minwen Wang. More info here.

2018 Exhibitions

Cardinal residency: sean boylan and stephen booth

While the gallery underwent renovation, the artists created temporary installations in response to the space not only to a space, and its continued state of flux.  Objects, sets, vignettes, and ephemera came and wenet with the ebbs and flows of the building's construction projects. The artists created a catalogue to document the residency. More info here.

Muses past: new work by David Amos

Baltimore-based photographer David Amos’ suite Muses Past, was originally developed in the 1970s but was had never been printed or exhibited. The series features musicians David Bowie, Elton John, the Manhattan Transfer, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull at concerts held in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Each image was accompanied by a personal account of the photograph’s creation as well as the artist’s memories of an East Coast in a now bygone era. More info here.

landmarked by Ada Pinkston

This participatory exhibition of objects, prompts, and performances explored historical landmarks and monuments, and their relationship to contemporary community. Visitors were invited to draw and write their responses to questions about monuments posed by the artist, which became part of the overall exhibition. More info here.

a gentle synthesis by Suldano Abdiruhman

For Abdiruhman, this exhibition was “a culmination of slow and humble beginnings, material explorations, and linguistic discoveries. Through the gathering and repurposing of bed sheets, dictionaries, field recordings, crayons, and common building materials, a surprising and cartographic language emerged and evolved.” More info here.

The protest banner lending library

The Protest Banner Lending Library is a socially-engaged fiber art project comprised of protest banners the artists have sewn themselves and as part of sewing circles. During the run of the exhibition, Cardinal displayed the artists’ banners and facilitated their distribution to interested groups and individuals who could use them in protests and public actions. More info here.

The Peaces Collective

Throughout the year, the PEACES Collective creates unique pop-up shops in the gallery space to promote the work of local artists and provide empowering programming for the community. More info here.

2017 Exhibitions