There is No Romance in Taking a Risk

Instant Coffee has always been interested in the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. For their bizarre iconographic beauty, but also as a representation of Simon Rodia’s solitary drive to build and his sentimental desire to do so as a gift to the community.
The Watts Towers are a success story. They are an historic landmark and are open to the public as a community center, but there is also something darkly gothic about their eminence in this otherwise modest area that captures the artist’s lone struggle with his suspicious neighbours. It is this disconnect between Rodia’s need to create and his desire to give over his labour, product and land to the community, and his receivers reluctant acceptance of his artistic contribution as well as their wavering understanding of Rodia as an artist or madman that is the focus of Instant Coffee’s There is No Romance in Taking a Risk.
The title of this exhibition reflects this duality. Its sentiment is counter to the general notion that risk and romance are tantamount, but it also reflects a poignant reality that they both often lead to failure. Good intentions aren’t enough.
For their second solo exhibition at MKG127, Instant Coffee uses Rodia’s towers as a starting point, building replicas of several of the tower tops. These sculptures will incorporate a variety of materials, integrating Instant Coffee’s own detritus and flash aesthetic. Like the actual Tower’s, the tops will glitter in the sun while also casting shadows.

Instant Coffee is a service oriented artist collective based in Toronto and Vancouver. Through formal installations and event-based activities, it builds a public place to practice, where ideas, materials and actions can be explored outside of the isolated studio and in a manner that renegotiates traditional exhibition structures, but is still supported by them. Recent Instant Coffee Public Projects include: Western Front-London Bureau as part of No Soul for Sale at the Tate Modern, London UK, 2010; IC Light Bar as part of Vancouver Winter Olympics Public Art Projects, 2010; Subvision Art Festival in collaboration with Sparwasser HQ, Berlin in association with HFBK in cooperation with Deichtorhallen and Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, 2009; Instant Coffee Disco Fallout Shelter @ Toronto Sculpture Garden, 2009; Nooks @ How Soon is Now, a group show at Vancouver Art Gallery, 2009; Instant Coffee Light Bar, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, as part of Assume Nothing, New Social Practice, Victoria, BC, 2009; Bright Future, Public Art Commission for the City of Vancouver and Translink, 88 Blocks Art on Main, Vancouver, BC, 2009 ; Say Nothing in Bright Colours, MKG 127, 2008; School of Non-Productive Learning, Rum 46, Aarhus, Denmark, 2008; Light Bar Research and Residency, Kuenstlerhaeuser Worpswede, Germany, 2008; Light Bar Research, Flaggfabrikken/Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway, 2008 ; Nook, Oakville Galleries, as part of a group show, What We Bring to the Table, Oakville, On., 2008; Instant Coffee Nooks + Everyone, Mercer Union Gallery, Toronto, ON., 2007; If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now, Henry Art Gallery, Satellite, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, WA., 2007; Wish You Were Here, Casa del Encuentro MDE07 encuentro internacional, Medellin, Colombia, 2007.

Instant Coffee’s most consistent members are Cecilia Berkovic, Jinhan Ko, Kelly Lycan, Jenifer Papararo, Kate Monro, and Khan Lee.