One Nation Under God

The performance for the opening was in two sets. Set 1 featured video by Marita Contreras, and Set 2 featured action painting by Naoki Iwakawa and dance by Christine Coleman. Additional works featured were “Untitled” paintings by Kaname Moriya in Studio S, “Total Eclipse 2005,” paintings and installation by Naoki Iwakawa in Studio N, “Appropriated Dream,” a spatial painting installation by Vanya Polunin in the Studio, “One Dollar Sculpture” by Ted Stanke in the Corridor, and “Tsubomi,” a mixed-media installation by Shiho.

Tsubomi is a bud. It has beauty inside whether it will emerge or not. The most beatiful things happens when is invisible, when its unknown. 

One Dollar is a United States one dollar bill made completely from plastic army toys. The entire framework is composed of a sprawling collage of tanks, airplanes and soldiers, fastened with plastic zip-ties passed through individually drilled holes. The connection between money and war is deliberate and the details of an actual dollar bill were painstakingly studied and rendered. Latent levels of meaning form multiple layers of interaction with the viewer.

Appropriated Dream 2005 is a Spatial Painting Installation. Appropriated Dream is Vanya’s first project, being greatly in love with works of Yayoi Kusama and Jean Dubuffet he was inspired to create a space that would let you let go of time , trouble and thoughts, that would put you in a place uncommon to your surroundings, a space u can enjoy being in, just like Vanya did in Jean Dubuffe’s installation in Centre Pompidou in Paris.

From 1996-2006, the gallery at CAVE showed the work of over 300 artists becoming a locus for experimentation in all mediums. CAVE Gallery began in the mid-90’s as a venture of Shige Moriya along with other artists including Grande, and Naoki Iwakawa, and furthered by LEIMAY’s Co Director, Ximena Garnica. Fostered from an industrial rental, they transformed the 3,000 sq. ft. garage into a live-work space, which was considered to be one of the first recognized galleries of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Away from heavy commercial pressure, in an environment that supported exploration, artists were able to present their work during month-long exhibitions. In addition to studio arts, openings often included music and other kinds of performance.