PARA-REAL
An exhibition curated by Magdalena Sawon for 601Artspace
November 13, 2013 - January 25, 2014 (EXTENDED to February 8)

Trevor Paglen, They Watch the Moon2010, 36 x 48 inches

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Para-Real puts together seven pairs of artists whose works—all in distinctly different ways—destabilize the notion of reality through models, illusions, fakes, virtual constructs, appropriation, dioramas, puppets, re-made objects and paranormal phenomena, staged or real.

Model environment
Thomas Demand — Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

Household items
Jim Hodges — Robert Therrien

Virtual reality
Eva and Franco Mattes — Shamus Clisset

Is this a real Richter?
Vik Muniz — Greg Allen

Smaller than life
Maurizio Cattelan — Sally Smart

Natural history
Hiroshi Sugimoto — Adam Cvijanovic

Smoke and mirrors
Trevor Paglen — Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson

"Because memory and sensations are so uncertain, so biased, we always rely on a certain reality—call it an alternate reality—to prove the reality of events. To what extent facts we recognize as such really are as they seem, and to what extent these are facts merely because we label them as such, is an impossible distinction to draw. Therefore, in order to pin down reality as reality, we need another reality to relativize the first. Yet that other reality requires a third reality to serve as its grounding. An endless chain is created within our consciousness, and it is the very maintenance of this chain that produces the sensation that we are actually here, that we ourselves exist."
– Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
– Albert Einstein

"Reality: What a concept!"
– Robin Williams

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."
– Philip K. Dick, VALIS

"Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you're just a reflection of him?"
– Calvin and Hobbes

	Jennifer and Kevin McCoy NEXT TO THE PARKING LOT 2012 7 x 6 x 20 inches
	Jennifer and Kevin McCoy ALONG THE ROAD SIDE 2012 7.5 x 12 x 16 inches
	Eva and Franco Mattes 13 Most Beautiful Avatars - Honeywells Lollipop 2006 36 x 48 inches
	Shamus Clisset Builder Destroy 2 2013 72 x 40 inches
	Vic Muniz After Gerhard Richter (from pictures of color) 2001 108 x 74.5 x 2 inches
	Greg Allen Destroyed Richter Painting No. 4 2012 43 x 43 inches
	Greg Allen Destroyed Richter Painting No. 2 2012 36 x 36.25 inches
	Sally Smart Pedagogical Puppet (Self Portrait) 2012 80 x 44 inches
	Hiroshi Sugimoto Golden Eagle Diorama 1994 71.75 x 60 inches
	Adam Cvijanovic Alaskan Brown Bear 2012 22 x 46 inches