September 5 through October 6, 2008

Momenta Art is pleased to present a collaborative performance series by Shaun Leonardo and Clifford Owens entitled Some Things We Do Together.

These artists share an interest in conflict as a means to self-discovery. In his past work, Leonardo, or El C., a masked wrestler thrills the crowd with his dramatic and seemingly painful leaps and stunts set within elaborate cages and rings. But there is no visible, corporeal opponent, leaving the viewer to wonder whom this invisible foe may be. Is it the unseen forces of political power or his own inner struggles made manifest? Clifford Owens's past work presents the artist as a means to other's ends. In videotaped studio visits with Carolee Schneemann, Patty Chang, and Joan Jonas, Owens cast himself as a naked tool for the women to utilize to make their own work, allowing them to manipulate his body in any ways they choose. He became a subordinate, non-presence in his studio. His identity as an African American male complicates readings of the performance further.

For the exhibition at Momenta, the artists have built a private performance room within the gallery. The series of performances will explore notions of exclusivity, privilege, privacy, and personal boundaries. Some events will be by invitation only, others will require the viewer to sign non-disclosure contracts with the performers that will guarantee secrecy. The artists have chosen to maintain secrecy about the actual content of each performance in keeping with the intentions of the event. Following performances, ephemera and detritus will be left to be viewed during regular gallery hours.


performance calendar:

September 5, 7- 9pm - During a series of intimate performances individuals will be asked to enter a private enclosed setting within the gallery to experience a personal, customized action with the artists.

September 13, 3- 6pm - 3 groups of pre-invited guests will be asked to enter a private enclosed setting within the gallery to witness an action that reflects the artists' relationship to each other and their chosen company.

September 20, 7- 9pm - a specific group of performers along with some members of the audience will be asked to enter a private enclosed setting within the gallery to execute a mosh-pit with the artists

During all three weekend performances the general public, if not invited into the interior space, will experience the action from the exterior gallery.

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El C. received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the painting department at the San Francisco Art Institute and currently lives/works in Queens, New York City – the borough in which he was born and raised. He has received residencies/grants from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The New York Studio School, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Art Matters, and has recently been awarded a 2008 New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in the category of painting. El C.’s work has been shown nationally and internationally and is represented by Rhys Mendes Gallery, Los Angeles/Brazil with recent solo exhibitions in New York City, Hartford and Boston.

Clifford Owens’ art has appeared in numerous group exhibitions including Performa05, New York, NY; “Freestyle” and “Quid Pro Quo” both at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; “Greater New York 2005” P.S.1, Queens, New York; “Influence, Anxiety, Gratitude” List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, MA. Clifford studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Mason Gross School of Visual Art Rutgers University, and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He was an artist in residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem in 2005-06 and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2004. He has received many grants and fellowships including Art Matters, Louis Tiffany Comfort Award, NewYork Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, , Lambent Foundation, and the Rutgers University Ralph Bunche Graduate Fellowship. Clifford was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1971, and he lives and works in Queens, New York.

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Momenta Art is located at 359 Bedford Avenue, ground floor, between S4th and S5th Sts. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. By subway, take the L train to Bedford stop (the first stop in Brooklyn). Exit on the Bedford side. Walk south 12 blocks. By car, take the outside lane of the Williamsburg Bridge to the first exit. Make a sharp right onto Broadway. Drive 2 blocks to Bedford Avenue and make a right. We are located a half block on the right after you pass under the bridge. Momenta Art is supported by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, The Greenwall Foundation, Greenwich Collection, Ltd., The Jerome Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and individual contributors.