The Reality Principle

Curated by Deric Carner and Ysabel Pinyol Blasi   

March 8 – April 15, 2025

Opening March 8, 4–6 pm

 

EFA Studios and Monira Foundation proudly present The Reality Principle, featuring EFA Studios and Monira Residency artists. The exhibition focuses on unfinished, rejected, or otherwise unrealized work through models, mockups, and proposals. It is a show of dreams and disappointments that tells the hidden stories of artists aspiring to make work that has been blocked by time, resources, or the approval of others. We celebrate these artists who continue to offer ambitious ideas and images to the world.

The reality principle is a Freudian concept that describes the ability to assess reality and act accordingly instead of acting solely on the pleasure principle. Artists are tasked with dreaming of new, until-then-impossible realities and are often indulged in pursuing pleasure and grand ambitions. However, they must work within the constraints of funding bodies, publics, and material realities. Rejection and setbacks can feel arbitrary and prejudicial. And yet many artists face this pain over and over again to see their visions through.

 

Exhibiting artists:

Atif Akin

Fanny Allié

Keren Anavy

Allen Ball

Keren Benbenisty

Tyler Christopher Brown

m burgess

Mattia Casalegno

Annette Cords

Andreana Dobreva

Koray Duman, Ted Kerr, and Carlos Motta

Nazli Efe

Cui Fei

Jason File

Del Geist

Liselot van der Heijden

Erick Alejandro Hernádez

Tamiko Kawata

Sarah Leahy

Patricia Leighton

Cy Morgan

Cynthia Reynolds

Yali Romagoza

Susan Silas