Foxy Production announces Civilization Is Overrated, ESTER PARTEGÀS’ fourth New York solo exhibition. Civilization Is Overrated presents a darkly comic turn to Partegas’ Pop-influenced handmade explorations of urban space and consumer lifestyles. Dramatically-scaled sculptures engulf the entire gallery: a trompe-l’oeil thirteen foot high throw-away plastic bag is squeezed between floor and ceiling; a regular-sized bench nestles at its base, appearing miniaturized; a glistening wintry tree sculpture towers alongside, furthering a sense of disorientation; other fabricated detritus are crammed into the remaining space.

Partegas invites us to enter a paradoxical, almost Beckettian world that suggests the possibility of both inevitable apocalypse and a continuous present – doomsday everyday. Her “endgame” embodies a cool aesthetic that transcends reassuring notions of the “handmade” and questions the packaged nature of urban design and culture. Partegas brings a “Biotech” currency into play: her angular tree sculpture is an actualization of virtual modeling; its wooden trunk and branches are geometrical, yet its irregular structure suggests mutation. Civilization Is Overrated offers no safe viewing positions; like an enormous viral life form, it physically overwhelms.