by Emily Waldorf

Just two months after opening in New York’s Lower East Side, at 45 Orchard Street, Michali Fine Art, opened its doors last Friday, June 5th, for the opening of their inaugural summer show, The Meaning of Life, featuring work by New York based artists Hedi Ferjani and Scot Thompson.  The artists’ respective works were very different but created an inspired dialogue about human capability for violence that raised myriad existential questions.

According to gallery owner Maud Michali,

The exhibition draws a parallel between two extreme, yet, complimentary visions of existence:  On the one hand, Hedi Ferjani extols the superficial and barbaric nature of the human condition.  On the other hand, Scot Thompson exults the cycle of molecular transformations fromt dust to shape and vice versa.  Both address the transient nature of existence and remind us of Apollo’s assertion in T.S. Eliot’s seminal The Waste Land, “I’ll show you fear in an handful of dust.”

Works included a grouping of three World War II masks spray painted with different shades of glitter, syringes, a tombstone labeled with the words “Barbie” in pink, a Damien Hirst inspired skull with butterflies, and a fascinating carved wood totem pole like sculpture that grounded the show at the center of the gallery.  Despite horizontal rain showers outside, a fashionable downtown crowd of artists, collectors, and enthusiasts packed into the gallery creating a vibrant evening that should be deemed a grand succès.

The opening was recorded live and is viewable on the ArtNew York channel. The show runs through July 31st.