Guy Rusha<br/>Slow Grief
Organized by The Pioneers Co-Op
Opening October 11, 6 - 9 pm, 2025
Guy Rusha, Slow Grief, Installation view., 2025. Photography by Saul Appelbaum
Machimoodus, tattoo by by @clementineeyes, 2025
I’m more alive steeping in some form of grief or some form of intense experience. Grief is the motivator. Grief is the awareness of the self, and within that infrastructure of pain, you can manufacture a new narrative." –Jon Pylypchuk
1. The Risk of Perception
Is it a bad idea to show my own work at the gallery?
Only if you mistake authorship for authority. When the artist and dealer merge into a single entity, the gesture becomes meta-institutional — a rehearsal of power, vulnerability, and exposure.
“An exhibition of new work by Guy Rusha, curated by The Pioneers.”
That shift turns self-showing into a collaborative context — a test of the same frameworks offered to others, not an exception to them.
It’s an inquiry into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself, into the conditions of display itself.
2. The Integrity of Intent
You’ve been creating work that’s deeply personal and conceptual — grief, gesture, intimacy — and Rusha & Co.’s physical site has always been part of your creative vocabulary. In that sense, exhibiting there isn’t indulgent; it’s site-responsive. It’s like the building is both the stage and the subject — the show becomes about the intersection of life, labor, and space. If you treat it as that — an inquiry into what it means to “host yourself,” or to merge maker and institution — it reads as critical, not self-serving.
3. The Audience & Timing
It might actually ground the gallery right now. You’ve been restructuring, re-positioning, and shifting focus. Showing your own work could help communicate the transition — that this isn’t just a gallery, but a studio, a workshop, a hub.
Done right, it says:
“The experiment continues — and I’m in it too.”
4. The Curatorial Frame
Having The Pioneers curate it (as you’re planning) is exactly the move that legitimizes it — it signals peer oversight and distance. You could even let the checklist and wall texts carry their voice, not yours, reinforcing the sense of collaboration and perspective.
Guy Rusha, Slow Grief, Installation view., 2025. Photography by Saul Appelbaum
