NEW YORK, NY.- Piero Atchugarry Gallery presents Backseat Driver, a dual exhibition joining works by New York artist Yuken Teruya (b. 1973) and Kameelah Janan Rasheed (b. 1985) based in East Palo Alto, California. The exhibition unites two artists employing their personal narratives and U.S. history as a basis for analysis and reflection on systemic issues in Western culture. While Teruya addresses the status quo in Western culture through a coded visual language composed of commercial icons, Rasheed embeds her work with overt phrases and archival records that, when presented together, create an image of the history of conflict in the United States. Teruya, hailing from Okinawa, which has a long history of U.S. occupation, presents a biting commentary on the overreach of U.S. power and the cyclical greed that its capitalist virtues perpetuate. In his installations, he dissects and reassembles icons of Western culture such as Monopoly money and sneakers. Rasheed, a writer, educator and artist hailing from East Palo Alto, California, applies her research and lived experiences to create visual accounts and responses to systemic oppression in the United States. Unearthing repressed narratives and combining conflicting histories, the artist formulates her own visual language. Backseat Driver ’s presented works interlace two distinct voices examining the narratives of place and its sociological framework, while uncovering an underlying civil unrest in an effort to procure action.




Works by Teruya and Rasheed come together to form an installation that occupies the two stories of SAPAR Contemporary Gallery in the historic neighborhood of Tribeca, New York. A satellite exhibition, Backseat Driver is the latest PA Takeover presented by Piero Atchugarry Gallery. Working in collaboration with SAPAR Contemporary Gallery, the PA Takeover establishes an exchange of culture, concept, creativity, and perspective between the vibrant art communities of the participating galleries. As such, the Piero Atchugarry Gallery will be welcoming artists from SAPAR Contemporary to exhibit at their Miami location in October of 2020. While New York begins its transition back into public life, Backseat Driver is open with social distancing measures in place.