DJ Chappel & Ryan Cardoso
9 June – 2 July 2023
The New York based artists DJ Chappel and Ryan Cardoso invite us to a different type of church. Their religion is aesthetics, where style and fashion are the source of spirituality, and rituals originate in everyday activities. It is a modern Black spirituality.
Creativity is the spirit of Chappel and Cardoso’s newly released documentary “A Different Type of Church”, where they have collected material from the digital archives of the internet and put it into a new context. The exchanged creativity is expressed in the body that moves, rhythms of music, couture clothes and garments that follow the movements of the body and are captured by camera.
The documentary shows creativity as an expression of the domestic Black life that embraces elegance in the mundane and the mundane in elegance. It is all about self-indulgence and gratification of personal pleasure, as when peacocking*. But for the artists it is also about creating a future archive and resources for following generations of gay Black men.
* When a person, typically a Black person, is dressed to perfection and standing out of their normal setting.
SAVE THE DATE 30 June: Screening of the documentary “A Different Type of Church”, followed up by a short film on modern spirituality, accompanied by life size aluminum sculptures, redecorated vases & live performance.
DJ Chappel (*1998, US) is a textile artist and dancer living and working in New York. His artistic practice ranges from interactive performances and installation, to designing handmade garments and artifacts. His ready-to-wear brand DualityJunkie (est. 2018) is balancing the relationship between clothing and movement, reflecting his background of studying at Point Park University’s dance conservatory and working at the campus’ costume shop. He debuted with his first solo exhibition at World Fair Gallery, and most recently at Larrie NYC.
Ryan Cardoso (*1994, US) is a camera based visual artist . Through experimental films and analogue photography he gives a romantic idea of what could be, by exploring the potential of portraiture in Black life - archiving elegance, domesticity, and relationships. Cardoso holds a bachelor in film studies, and his photographic career started in the music industry, whereas recently he has produced work for, among others, The New Yorker, Billboard, and Off-White, as well as exhibiting at The Gelman Gallery, Aborn Gallery and Dirt Palace.