Motel at NADA NY 2017
Skylight Clarkson North
572 Washington Street
New York, NY
3/2/17–3/5/17




For the 2017 edition of NADA New York, Motel is pleased to announce a presentation by Michael Assiff.

Through an array of media, Assiff addresses a palpable inflation of injustices - committed against humans, animals and ecologies – in the wake of a both personally and collectively traumatic 2016.

Assiff’s works transfigure physical objects and representational motifs into detailed examinations of social, political and personal responsibilities. His presentation historicizes the occurrences of a single year in a series of objects and interventions; physicalizing their complex and amorphous character.

Alongside these sculptures and reliefs, Assiff will present a selection of works by fellow artists Frankie Friday, Joe Girandola, Harry Gould Harvey and Romolo Simonetti. This selection will rotate over the course of the fair in hopes of presenting a breadth of perspectives and access points amidst this caustic historical moment.

Frankie Friday

I am an 18 year old high school senior from Colorado. I am a feminist and an activist. The pieces were all self portraits inspired by global issues that I felt needed to be represented in a different way that people could connect with. I used watercolor and acrylic, most are just watercolor. The Dakota access pipeline painting attempts to "revive" Georgia O'Keefe's style from the 1930's and relate it to current events. 

Harry Gould Harvey IV
My name is Harry Gould Harvey IV, I am a self taught artist born 1991 in Fallriver MA. I currently live and work in Rhode Island. This summer I drove across what is now known as the United States of America. I drove from present day Rhode Island to present day Los Angeles. Previous to the trip I had felt somewhat immersed and politically activated around current environmental and social issues that were adversely impacting indigenous communities around the world and within the United States. The catalyst for the political activation came hand in hand with my personal search into my own family's indigeneity and place within the American landscape. An American landscape that was vast, overwhelming, beautiful and spiritual ; while also being simultaneously difficult and heartbreaking. Upon arriving in Los Angeles I tried to take some time to decompress, establish my place to live and incite my previously active art practice. I was looking, seeing and experiencing the different landscapes of America. It wasn't until my attempt to incite my previously active art practice, I began to realize I had begun to lose sight of how to effectively materialize my ideas. I no longer had the comfort of my permanent studio back in Fallriver MA, in addition to no longer having the familiarity of my previous home. The road trip along with political and personal stresses left me feeling stranded ... but I also felt free, like a drifting plastic bag caught on rusting razor wire. My stresses began to compound, becoming greater and greater until reaching a final breaking point, it was at this point where I entered a mental relapse and break from reality as I knew it. My established mental paradigm had fractured and it forced me to confront intense underlying conflicts that I had only subtlety dealt with previously. I had to reemerge and establish new means of production, materializing my ideas, and basic communication. It was at this point that I began drawing regularly. The practice has now become something I attempt to address as often as possible. Drawing and materializing my ideas and feelings on a current set of political, personal and emotional experiences of my daily existence. The immediate fluidity of thought and conveying of emotion made possible from drawing became more important to me than the parameters and physical organization materials I had been dealing with previously in creating large image based structures and sculptures. The drawings I am now sharing are a direct result and evidence of all my recent experiences. Now with the drawings completed as an index or record of my every day experience I felt the need to organize material to preserve them. The preservation was just as important to me as the presentation. I began to make wooden frames to present and preserve my previously discovered thoughts. The frames are constructed from foraged wood, my good friends cut down a black walnut tree in their backyard. With time passing both fast and slow, I carved, cut and whittled the wood away, organizing the material into a sculpture, a box and ultimately ending as frames for my drawings

Joseph Girandola
Evoking a strategy used by artist Renato Bertelli in his "continuous profile" work depicting Mussolini, the "Trump Stump" references a leader in constant state of movement. Turned on a lathe from a single trunk of red oak and polished with pomade hair gel, this artwork depicts a current thread time in which history is being replayed before our eyes. Originally trained a stone carver in Italy, my practice as an artist has evolved from medium driven work to conceptually driven contextual work. One of my current mediums of choice is duct tape, recreating three dimensional reliefs on canvas and panel of historic buildings in jeopardy of collapse. As one of the founding members in the 1990's of the GALA Committee with artist Mel Chin, the collaborative group devised and created "Agit Prop" artworks to be inserted onto the primetime television series, Melrose Place. The collaborative group atmosphere has driven my practice to include large scale public art projects and community based creative events. 

Romolo Simonetti
1953-2016
An Italian immigrant, Romolo was self-taught, never graduating high school or becoming fully literate. His artwork permeated every facet of his life, and included sculpture, drawing, landscaping, and music. Other works of his include marble sculptures, large scale earth-works, works in stained glass, elaborate gardens, and intricate drawings made from life. His drawings including motifs of his cowboy boots, and portrayals of objects he collected in his home, including instruments, rugs, and chairs. He was known for his vivid story-telling, wild imagination, and relentless work-ethic. Both his work and spirit were punctuated by an ethos of aggressive autonomy and anti-authoritarianism. The great loves of his life were his artwork, music, and his daughter. 

Romolo Simonetti is the late father of Michael Assiff’s partner Rebecca Fin Simonetti. Romolo passed away last year due to complications with his liver. The later-half of his life was marred by addiction, mental illness, and chronic pain. He continued to make work in the late stages of his life, even when all he could do was arrange ginkgo leaves on the floor of his apartment.

This is the first presentation of Romolo’s work.