Gallows Humor
Curated by Maurice
Opening reception: Saturday, June 17th from 5-10 P.M.
Runs through Friday, June 30th
Gallery Hours: By appointment
Artists: Mary Alice, Peter Eide, Nicholas Gottlund, Kristen Landsman, Faith Ledford, Giulia Piera Livi, Jaylah Hamilton, Anton Merbaum, Evan Reily, David Van, Karen Warshal, and Mark Wehberg

2200 Eutaw St. Baltimore

At his public execution, the murderer William Palmer is said to have looked at the trapdoor on the gallows and asked the hangman, “Are you sure it’s safe?”

Lackadaisical as the sentiment may sound, objectively, as Palmer was about to meet his fate, one can’t avoid cracking a smirk at the brazenness of his facetious inquiry. To leap into the void headfirst, is total acceptance of this mortal coil; assiduous levity against the scorched backdrop of despair.

Gallows Humor is the inaugural exhibition for Maurice, a new, experimental art gallery in Baltimore.

The artists featured in this exhibition vary considerably in terms of background, approach, and aesthetic. Traditional, academically conscious genre subjects such as portraiture, landscape, and still life are subverted through their proximity to paintings and sculpture that explore humor, absurdity, and the uncanny through a myriad of different styles, subjects, and materials.

Although the individual works in this exhibition negate a cohesive narrative, or aesthetic thread, the installation of the works, as a whole, becomes a large, immersive sculpture celebrating it’s own preternatural spectacle in the gallows of 2200 Eutaw St.