Destinations/Departures: Nick Farhi, Sophie Kovel, Hyoju Cheon
Curated by Victoria Horrocks, Ho Won Kim and Carlota Ortiz Monasterio

April 28 – June 11, 2022

Nick Farhi April 28 to May 12
Sophie Kovel May 13 to May 26
Hyoju Cheon May 28 to June 11

Iron Velvet presents Destinations/Departures, a six-week rotating exhibition exploring the home as a dynamic space of movement, where the limits between the private and the public, the local and the global, the personal and the political, are constantly being negotiated. Through three two-week solo shows of artists Nick Farhi, Sophie Kovel, and Hyoju Cheon, Destinations/Departures probes the diverse ways in which the domestic interweaves the individual, the collective, the political, and the cultural. It will be on view from April 28th through June 11th, 2022.

In Destinations/Departures, each artist establishes an intimate dialogue with the domestic space of the gallery. Conceiving home not merely as a place of dwelling, but as one of mobility—of destination, transit, and departure—the three presentations suggest diverse
modes of inhabiting the world. Through an innovative use of oil and pastel on aluminum, Nick Farhi renders seemingly commonplace domestic objects as extraordinary presences: portals mediating between the personal and the social. Sophie Kovel’s bold doormat series charges the ubiquitous, quotidian object with cultural iconography and political phrases tocomment on the leakage of mass media culture into the private sphere. Lastly, through a site-specific installation, Hyoju Cheon sheds light on overlooked domestic spaces—corners, steps, window frames—and activates our often unnoticed relationship with the architecture of home.

Through their distinct projects, each artist conveys an experience of being at home that is marked by multiplicity, movement, and interconnection. In blurring the public and the private, Destinations/Departures hopes to be its own journey to reconceptualize one’s sense of “home” in the world.

About the Curators
Destinations/Departures is a collaboration between New York based curators Victoria Horrocks, Ho Won Kim, and Carlota Ortiz Monasterio, who are currently pursuing a critical and curatorial studies program at Columbia University.

About Iron Velvet
Iron Velvet is a project gallery space led by Young Jeon. The gallery takes its name from the phrase Iron hand in a velvet glove. Located in an apartment on the UES, Iron Velvet invites artists to create a site-specific installation responding to the residential space. Additional
programming will be made available, such as artist-led workshops and an accompanying parallel online exhibition highlighting research on the exhibiting artists in the metaverse space.

Connect: Instagram & Twitter @__ironvelvet__
Hours: Monday – Sunday: By appointment only