WHAT’S THE SECRET? is a group exhibition curated by Boston-based Maya Rubio. This show is part of Gallery 263’s Exhibition Proposal Series, a program in which shows are selected by a competitive jurying process. In WHAT’S THE SECRET?, the five featured artists present work that explores the unique nature of desire.

Madeline Norton paints memories only she recognizes; characters appear blurred, whispering humid air. Textile works by River Minju Kim gather fragments of history—a childhood blanket, a bra—stitched, burrowed, hidden. M’Kenzy Cannon’s website/object installation and Kelly Chen’s early motion image toy require interactivity and curiosity. They present quests and thump with nostalgia. Paulina MacNeil’s multimedia presentation is soft and itchy and reverberates some chimeric force. Flirt with ambiguous objects and their possibilities; slip between noise and touch and visual memoria. 

This exhibition is a love letter to divine darkness, the bottom of the ocean. Utilizing painting, video, sculptural objects, early motion image toys, and an interactive website, the featured artists share their own routes, windows, and pearls of wonder. Imbued with ambiguity and intrigue, the work on view in WHAT’S THE SECRET? provides novel contemplations of what it means to be alive.

Featured Artists

M’Kenzy Cannon, Kelly Chen, River Minju Kim, Paulina MacNeil, Madeline Norton

About the Curator

Maya Rubio is an independent curator and editor at Boston Art Review. Her debut curatorial project M’Kenzy Cannon: Please Let Me In just finished its run at Boston Center for the Arts. Rubio has also worked on several exhibitions at Emerson College, where she studied the business of creative enterprises and art history.