Employees Only is Colossal Media’s first ever employee art exhibition and has been curated by Sotheby's Institute of Art-New York faculty member, Tim Goossens.
As industry leaders in Out-Of-House advertising, Colossal Media turns the spotlight inwards and is proud to present Employees Only, the first exhibition highlighting art created by Colossal artists. The art on view is not commissioned from one of the high-profile clients the company regularly collaborates with, but rather created during the personal time of the staff, at home or in the studio. Seen together for the first time in the same space, the art celebrates the diversity of artistic practices they collectively represent. Curated by Tim Goossens, an independent curator, faculty member and academic director at Sotheby's Institute of Art-New York, the show takes place in the Williamsburg offices of Colossal for the month of November.
The exhibition concept emerged from a desire to celebrate the artists working for Colossal, and offer them a place to put on view what drives them artistically. The result is a group show, curated into a generous display representing each artist with multiple works, giving the audience the chance to learn in-depth about the artist’s practice.
A play on the area in a restaurant or shop not allowed to the public but only to those that work there, Employees Only is presented in the privacy of the IRL offices of Colossal, allowing visitors a glimpse into the intimacy and camaraderie of a collaborative work space. Viewers interact with staff when they visit and get a peek behind the scenes of this successful art-centered media company.
Because of the domestic adjacent intimacy, the works are presented in clusters and hung thematically in a salon style along the walls. Working in a diverse range of materials such as oil on canvas, wood block prints, acrylic and found materials, the artists tackle various themes that we see emerge including the many portraits on view, but also fantastical and mythological settings and the presence of animals is notable. The portrait is a classical art historic genre that recently has come to the foreground again both in the New York as well as international art world in the works of painters such as Nicole Eisenman, Devan Shimoyama, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, and Salman Toor.
As a survey exhibition, this show displays image making and painting in the extended field while celebrating the artistic practices at play in New York City today.
