Second Street Gallery is pleased to present That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure, a group exhibition curated by New York City-based artist and curator Francisco Donoso, in the Main Gallery from December 6, 2024 - January 24, 2025. This exhibition features the work of Elvira Clayton (NYC), Max Colby (NYC), Craftwork (Nicole Yi Messier & Victoria Manganiello) (NYC), Fidencio Fifield-Perez (Davis, CA), John Fifield-Perez (Davis, CA), Kathleen Granados (NYC), Laura Josephine Snyder (Charlottesville VA), Sarah Boyts Yoder (Charlottesville, VA), and Richard Yu-Tang Lee (Portland, ME).

That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure explores the works of 10 artists from across the US whose obsessive engagement in labor-intensive practices, and material exploration becomes an experience of pleasure. For these artists, pleasure is both the fruit of their labor, and also the framework for engaging with the world. It transcends mere aesthetic appreciation, inviting viewers to contemplate the potential for joy, care and discovery that is derived from the act of repetition, continuous interaction with materials, and labor. 

Please join Second Street Gallery for December’s First Friday Exhibition Reception on Friday, December 6 from 5:30-7:30PM, where we will be joined by the curator and visiting exhibiting artists from the exhibition. Save the date and learn more HERE.

The essence of the exhibition is rooted in the artists' profound commitment to labor, echoing themes of the human experience, instinctual expression, intellectual curiosity, and self-care. It becomes a contemplative space where pleasure is not merely an indulgence but a profound way of understanding and navigating the complexities of our existence, and future. Writer and activist adrienne maree brown coined the concept of pleasure activism, a philosophy that transcends traditional activism by asserting that social justice efforts should not be solely defined by resistance and opposition but should actively incorporate joy, pleasure, and the holistic well-being of individuals and communities. She writes, “We need to create futures where the feeling of being in our bodies is one of excitement, joy, pleasure, healing, and connection¹.” These artists assert that pleasure is not a mere luxury but an essential and valid aspect of the human experience, and ultimately of art-making, playing a pivotal role in shaping culture that seeks to redefine and uplift society.

That Feels Good: Labor as Pleasure is an invitation to immerse oneself in the diverse narratives of these 10 artists, where labor, repetition, and detail become conduits for activism, pleasure, and profound artistic expression. These artists take the work of hand-stitching, weaving, repetitive mark-making, layering and arduous manipulation of materials often associated with domesticity, women’s work and immigrant labor into the terrain of pure satisfaction- reminding us that deep within the labor of their hands exists a fountain of delight, justice and the future itself. 

¹ brown, adrienne maree. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. AK Press, 2019, p. 37. 

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Rose Jean, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.