March 6–May 3, 1997


Hans Bellmer, Janusz Maria Brzeski, Georges Hugnet, Man Ray, Andre Racz, Jindrich Styrsky

Ubu Gallery presented two concurrent exhibitions exploring the interrelated themes of eroticism and dreams in Surrealist photography and collage. The eminent Czech avant-garde artist, Jindrich Styrsky (1899–1942), who was closely allied with the Parisian Surrealists, and who was the subject of Ubu Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in 1994, masterfully investigated the themes of eroticism and dreams in a series of publications between 1930 and 1933. These included his periodical, Erotiká Revue, and the six volumes released by his private press, Edition 69. Styrsky believed that in pornography he had found a destabilizing medium that could be used to subvert established social and artistic norms. The culmination of Styrsky’s involvement with pornography was the release of his erotic masterpiece, Emilie Comes to Me in a Dream, in Prague in May 1933. It is now extremely rare (perhaps 20 surviving examples of the original book). Ubu Gallery exhibited three copies of the publication, as well as published a new edition of the book with full-color reproductions of the original collages and translations of the original Czech texts into English. The simultaneous exhibition Eroticism in Surrealist Photography & Collage, 1929 – 1948, presented additional works in a related vein by Styrsky and several other Surrealist artists.


PRESS: Infosurr / Oeuvres / No. 14 / June 1997 / R.W.

Review / "Jindrich Styrsky" / March 15, 1997 / Gianfranco Mantenga

The Art Newspaper / Dealer's Gazette / April 1997

The New York Observer / From Ecstacy of Serrano to Boring Barney / April 28, 1997 / A.D. Coleman

Time Out New York / Art / Tim Griffin / 1 reproduction

Photo Metro / "Letter From: New York" / A.D. Coleman