Please join us September 16th for a HUGE show by the amazing Rachel Rampleman. This will be our final exhibition of the season, SAD!
The 42 Social Club is pleased to present TORRENT - a solo exhibition by NYC-based multimedia artist Rachel Rampleman. In this exhibition Rampleman examines the notion of a torrent: defined as both a rushing, violent, unceasing flow and the modern method of pirating digital information. Rampleman will premiere a new multi-channel video installation continuing her explorations into the fascinating world of Youtube makeup tutorials. This time the lens is focused on a strange, politically satirical, trend that has come to be known as "Trumping".
Rampleman’s new work unveils a unique subculture of female/femme-identifying makeup artists imitating, and often mocking, Donald Trump. In TORRENT, Rampleman will contrast these Trumping videos with a series of landscape photographs and additional single / multi-channel video works. The result of this juxtaposition is a reflection on the tumultuous state of the nation highlighting the natural and digital effects of a torrent.
Born and raised in the suburbs of the Midwest, Rampleman creates bodies of work that explore subjects like gender, spectacle, and the excesses of popular culture. Part directorial, part curatorial, and part anthropological, she probes into overlooked elements of our culture to reveal an expanded landscape of American life.
Rampleman’s work frequently showcases exuberantly bold and irrepressible female/femme personalities who revel in challenging common clichés associated with masculinity and femininity, and who often assume roles stereotypically associated with men. This is a world where sexual braggadocio, heavy-metal rock stardom, or hyper-muscularity have become characteristic of feminine prowess. Working primarily with lens-based media, Rampleman has made work ranging from documentary style videos and photos (such as Girls Girls Girls, the world’s first and only all female Mötley Crüe tribute band), to experimental video series (such as Busby Berkeley 2.0 - in which nostalgic 1930s routines choreographed by Berkeley are transformed into something more hypnotic, industrial and menacing).
Rampleman's work has been shown in at The Warhol Museum, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, S.M.A.K. (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst), Kunstmuseum Bonn, Cleopatra’s, VOLTA NY, Petzel Gallery, Socrates Sculpture Park, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Flux Factory, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NP Contemporary Art Center, Envoy Enterprises, among many other venues.