I Would Prefer Not To

October 13 – November 19, 2023
Gallery 14C
157A 1st Street, 2nd floor

Exhibition curated by Kele McComsey, Director of Mana Contemporary

The phrase “I would prefer not to” may be one of the most indelible spoken lines in American literature. The declaration derives its power from giving the slightest impression of hope that Herman Melville’s Bartleby may still fall in line with his fellow employees and do as he is told—thereby softening the true defiance of the statement.

The simple addition of “would” and “prefer” creates a complex scenario where the appropriate answer is not readily available. How does one reply to someone “who would prefer not to” participate in society, follow the perceived “social norms,” and do as they are told or expected? The phrase creates more confusion, frustration, and inner dialogue than outright anger, and forces the person on its receiving end to think rather than merely respond. Had Bartleby instead chosen to use the phrase “F___ you, I won’t do as you tell me”, a repeated lyric in Rage against the Machine’s 1992 song “Killing in the Name,” it would have elicited an immediate response without the same introspection, while also granting a form of justification due to a sense of provocation.

“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance,” Melville wrote in Bartleby the Scrivener (1853). This exhibition seeks to show the importance that artists have in these times by connecting their work to the same spirit of Bartleby’s repeated line of passive resistance. Like Bartleby, we need artists who “would prefer not to” live by the rules if it means overlooking the injustices, inequities, and failures of our systems and exploring the complexities of the human condition. In these days of media overload and global connectivity, where considered language seems nearly obliterated, there seems to be only reaction and immediate response, then hit send. We need to be made to feel uncomfortable if the end result is that it makes us all think, reconsider, and have true dialogue that results in meaningful action.

I Would Prefer Not To will be on view at in the main gallery at Art150 through November 19, 2023
157A 1st Street, 2nd floor

for more information, or to make an appointment, contact [email protected]