56 HENRY is pleased to present Extended Play, an exhibition of new work by Nikita Gale. The show, composed of three wall-mounted sculptures, will be on view from February 17th through March 25th, 2018. Extended Play marks Gale's first solo exhibition in New York, and the first since the announcement of her participation in Made in L.A. 2018, the fourth iteration of the Hammer Museum's Biennial, curated by Erin Christovale and Anne Ellegood.

On view in the gallery is a new set of sculptures. Mounted on the back wall, a maroon jacket hangs from its epaulets on metal peg board. The front of the jacket faces the wall, and the back of the jacket holds a set of plastic emblems that designate the make or model of a group of cars. To the right of this work, a miniature barricade that Gale fabricated hangs vertically. A long black XLR cable, which is used to connect a microphone to an amplifier, twists through the barricade and hangs down to the floor. One end of the cable runs to a large square of yellowing upholstery foam; the other end is affixed to a small structure made of glass and Mylar that recalls the shape of the barricade. Pressed between the Mylar and one of the panes of glass is a small black and white image that depicts a crowd - fans of the Rolling Stones -being held back by a group of police officers. Directly opposite this work, a U-shaped metal bracket is attached to the wall. Pink foam, which Gale printed with an inverted image of the Rolling Stones fans, is wrapped around the bracket, bound on both ends by a set of metal zip-ties.

Nikita Gale's practice is often structured by long-term obsessions with specific objects, or classes of objects, and the three works on view trace their roots to the artist's interest in cars and electric guitars. Gale is interested in the ways these objects gesture towards very specific social and political histories - and on a more physical register, the way in which both cars and electric guitars can be understood as instruments that extend or amplify the body, through a relationship to touch. In this way, through a series of precise formal decisions, the works on view gesture towards the relationship between Rock 'n' Roll music and subcultures of protest; an understanding of the image of the automobile in the American Dream; and a commodification of visual and cultural strategies that trace their origins to moments of protest.

Nikita Gale (b. 1983, Anchorage) lives and works in Los Angeles. Gale received her B.A. from Yale University in 2006, and her M.F.A in the New Genres program from The University of California, Los Angeles, in 2016. Her work has been the subject of recent solo presentations at Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles; the UCLA New Wight Gallery, Los Angeles; PARMER, Brooklyn; The Front; New Orleans, and {Poem 88}, Atlanta. She has been featured in numerous group exhibitions both stateside and abroad, including recent shows at Reyes Projects, Detroit; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Rodeo, London; LAXART, Los Angeles; Samuel Dorksy Museum, New Paltz and The Center for Photography at Woodstock. Gale is also the recipient of recent awards, fellowships, and residencies, including the Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant, 2017; the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship Award, UCLA, 2016; the National Endowment for the Arts Southern Constellations Fellowship, 2013; and residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. In June of 2018, Gale's work will be featured in Made in L.A. 2018, the fourth iteration of the Hammer Museum's biennial, curated by Erin Christovale and Anne Ellegood.

Extended Play is Gale's first exhibition with 56 HENRY. Nikita Gale is represented by 56 HENRY, New York.

Exhibitions at 56 HENRY are visible 24 Hours a day. Gallery doors are open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12:00 - 6:00 pm. For more information or images related to the exhibition, please contact Ellie Rines at (518) 966-2622 or info@56henry.nyc.