Johannes Vogt Gallery is pleased to inaugurate the second exhibition space of its new venue at 958 Madison Avenue with a curated two-person show that will coincide with the solo show of Abby Leigh in the main gallery. The Miami-based artist A.G. is curating a show of paintings by Miami based artist Kristen Thiele alongside select pieces of lucite furniture by the legendary LA based designer Charles Hollis Jones under the exhibition title, "Applausible". We are excited for this exceptional opportunity to connect to the gallery's strong roots in collaborative curatorial work by inviting contemporaries to produce shows in Manhattan.

Put quite simply, Kristin Thiele’s oil paintings are impressionistically rendered depictions of stills captured from Old Hollywood movies. As Thiele hits the pause button, she encapsulates a produced moment into an object.

Charles Hollis Jones has pioneered the use of acrylic in design since the early sixties. At the start of his career, Jones’ designs singlehandedly influenced the interior aesthetics of Los Angeles, and beyond, by creating custom Lucite pieces for Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson and Tennessee Williams, among many many other notable figures.

The script excerpt above, delivered by Gena Rowlson as her slow-moving body is superimposed over black and white stills of a fixated audience, are the first in John Cassavetes’ 1977 film Opening Night, which allude to the forthcoming series of dramatic situations in which the performance and the lives of the characters are blurred as they prepare to open an anticipated stage-play. The screen, the stage, the audience, the character’s own domestic settings and those they inhabit on stage all move in parallel sequences, randomly interwoven on the screen – the ultimate frame for the real audience.

The hysterical irrationality that ensues for the cast and crew of the play within the film, on and off stage, could be critiqued for actually following a logical formula – one in which we know when the lines begin to blur, we know when we should feel captivated and confused, and we know when the final meltdown shuts it all down. This is the downfall of the medium. We know that the plot-arch must end at a fixed point.

As objects, the works of Kristen Thiele and Charles Hollis Jones present a complication that we cannot as easily gauge. As much as they stand for crystalizing the ephemerality of, not just an era, but a certain sensibility of grandeur and spectacle, as objects in themselves they transcend time in a sequential sense – as if the film, with all of its allusions to the conflations of performance and reality, had frozen on a single frame, in perpetuity.

It is for this reason why I find these works so interesting. It is very possible that their specific aesthetics will one day fall out of style. But this is not important, because they are not that simple. These works are not about time. They are about a timeless and dynamic sensibility that permeates into our own lives – and to the privileged few, these objects infiltrate the actual domestic environment to enforce a framework that serves their permeations into the (real) domestic theater.

Charles Hollis Jones is an American designer who is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution for his pioneering use of acrylic and lucite. Born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1945, Jones moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of 16 and founded CHJ Designs. At the time, acrylic and plastic were not commonly used as a material for upscale furniture and art, but Jones - seeing its potential - began creating unique pieces for some of the city’s most renowned showrooms, such as Hudson-Rissman. His work was well received by both art critics and Hollywood celebrities alike. Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Johnny Carson were among some of the first to commission Jones. Tennessee Williams commissioned Jones to design a comfortable, yet modern writing chair. The result was the Wisteriachair, where the writer spent much time writing. Jones resides in the Burbank area of Los Angeles and is still designing furniture and accessories.

Kristen Thiele was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She lives and works in Miami, FL and Savannah, GA. Thiele received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1995 and her MFA from Miami International University in 2012. After graduating from SAIC, Thiele apprenticed with Chicago screen printer Steve Walters of Screwball Press and learned the art of silkscreen printing, primarily printing posters for local and national bands. In Miami, Thiele currently co-runs Bridge Red Studios/Project Space, alongside her father Robert Thiele, exhibiting longstanding South Florida artists in an alternative environment. In Savannah, Thiele teaches foundation courses at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Thiele's posters were published in the definitive rock poster book, "The Art of Modern Rock" and her paintings in, "Miami Contemporary Artists" and "100+ Degrees in the Shade."

A.G. is an artist, writer and performer living and working in Miami, Florida. In 2009, he received his BFA in Sculpture and Art History from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and graduated from New World School of the Arts High School. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, with recent and upcoming shows in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include INTRO at Artist Curated Projects in LA (2017), Don’t tell someone that you like how they are doing something because they may stop to thank you at Regina Rex in New York (2016) and Nobody knows me better than you at Locust Projects in Miami (2014). He has also been included in several group exhibitions, including The Coffins of Paa Joe and The Pursuit of Happiness at Jack Shainman Gallery, NY and An Image at ArtCenter / South Florida in Miami Beach, Florida (2016). A.G. is a 2018 CINTAS Foundation Fellow Finalist (announcement of Fellow in October) and a 2017 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellow. His recent book, Reflections While Driving, was released by Line Script Diary in the Fall of 2017.