Perfect Babies, Free Cereal and #InstantGratification

It’s no news that we are obsessed with technology. We literally have access to nearly everything we want at our fingertips.  And with the nonstop abundance of goods and information comes the insatiable desire for the next best thing — the next “perfect” thing.  We download, we inject, we remove, we contour, we update, we masterfully curate our lives on and off-line (all within seconds). In an innovative project depicting today’s “instant” world, artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian pokes fun at the digi-era in the most adorable and delicious way.  This month, Hovnanian presents two creative installations: Plastic Perfect and Instant Gratification.

Plastic Perfect

The first of the installations, Plastic Perfect focuses on the current self-obsessive and narcissistic values. If society were high school, Kim and Kanye would be prom king and queen. Whether you are doing it for the ‘Gram or tweeting about which big name celebrity you are sitting 10 ft away from, the point is to promote your awesomeness. Not only are our techie devices used to update our followers on how fabulous our life really isn’t is (with the right filter of course), Hovnanian illustrates how our devices are also used for comfort. The exhibit featured a video of several different couples in bed and instead of getting intimate with each other the couples got cozy with their devices. I am guilty of laying in bed late at night with the bright glare of my smartphone emitting through the sheets. My laptop is another favorite bedfellow.

Perhaps the most striking part of the exhibit was the “Perfect Baby” nursery. In a small white room decorated with electrical outlet printed wallpaper,  several adorable lifelike baby dolls lay in hospital bassinets waiting to be chosen and admired for their perfectness. Guests are advised to put on lab coats and use hand sanitizer before touching the impeccable infants. Each baby had a name prefixed with “The,” as if it were a model of a product. I chose to play with The Morgan, who “will be the Leonardo di Vinci World Award of Arts recipient in 2028,” according to the baby’s description. Each perfect baby had a fact sheet of who they would become and all the amazing things they will accomplish. Because perfect babies grow into perfect adults, of course.

Throughout the rest of exhibit were teddy bears and cereal boxes , a nod to part two of this Hovnanian experience.  I’ll tell you about Instant Gratification in a bit, but first let’s take a selfie.

Plastic Perfect runs through October 18, 2014 at the Leila Heller Gallery, 568 West 25th Street.

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The more yummy of the installations, Hovnanian invites New Yorkers to dine on free sugary cereal — the good stuff too! Nostalgic Saturday morning favorites like Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, and Frosted Flakes were among the selections.  I happily had myself two bowls of Trix. The pop-up cereal bar, located in Soho, also includes giant sized teddy bears, free WiFi and a charging station for your smartphone or tablet.  I spoke Hovnanian to understand the connection between the bear, the cereal and technology. The correlation between the digital world and the cereal is the “instant gratification.” The artist explained that like cereal, which is convenient, easy to make and easy to get seconds (or thirds) of, so is the use of our smartphones.  As much as we’d like to, we can’t put the phone down or turn off that app.  Most of us even sleep with our devices beside us. Smartphones really have become our new teddy bears.

This bear ain’t ready!

Instant Gratification is open this weekend only! Be sure to grab yourself a bowl of Wheaties while you charge up your phone then take a selfie with a teddy. Visit by September 21, 2014 at 452 West Broadway. Hours are from 10am to 6pm.

“Rachel Lee Hovnanian is a New York City-based artist originally from Texas. Her work has been exhibited across the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East, in institutions such as the Parasol Unit London and the C21 museum. Hovnanian’s work has been featured in prominent publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Europe, andVogue. Her recent work explores the role of technology in our intimate lives. Her upcoming show on this subject, Plastic Perfect, will be shown at the Leila Heller Gallery in New York and the Pechersky Gallery in Moscow.” – (Press Release)