Jennifer Elster's
"Take Heed" beckons & warns with shrilling foresight

The Development Gallery is pleased to present Jennifer Elster's "Take Heed." A magical, cinematic art experience, evoking urgent themes, eerie prescience, and strokes of mania takes over this 4,000 square foot space in TriBeCa. The artist probes our current times with critical analysis, offering new insight. Paintings that beckon and warn. Art pieces that one must puzzle together to figure. Portraits provoking surreal realizations and desperate fear.

“I like to cut down to the raw core of everything — of the truth, of love, of the struggle with love and all the pursuits in life that are meaningful.”

A journey through the apocalyptic predictions of an anxious artist with a sparkling creepiness. Evoking urgent themes, eerie prescience, and strokes of mania, the artist probes our current times with a critical analysis, offering new insight.

Artist Statement:
"A sinking despair. It is with the force of wisdom and a relentless, dissecting of what is, that I bring forth Take Heed. Mounted on experience and sharp and proven, reliable intuition, I beckon the patron to pay attention…but only if they could see! Yet I hope on, like the chances a child gives a parent who constantly disappoints. “They will”, I say to myself, but not aloud, and still unsure. A wicked lashing out to an asleep and/or deadened audience, or all love to those who know true concern. And now War and Climate Disaster and Pandemics do an interwoven dance in the intake of our global, daily lives. But will we respond? It is with no assistance to our world crisis that the global majority have a stubborn resistance to the truth. I think it’s good to not be callous during these times, which are only worsening. Instead we need to come together, with compassion for one another, to try and help resolve some of the pressing, critical issues of our time. The urgency of now. Take Heed." -Jennifer Elster

Each artwork is placed with methodical precision. Shrilling foresight offers reflection in this exhibition of apocalyptic warnings.

Do you feel fear in looking at our “harsh realities”? “I believe we must face things, use our foresight, and care enough about the wellbeing of the future, for all of us. We need to take care now to avoid people suffering, or ourselves suffering, in the future. I am not afraid to see even if I don’t like what I see. [...]And I get it. We’re living in weird times and it’s overwhelming, but it doesn’t go away and I personally don’t like living in accumulated denial of climate change or anything else. [...]We’re in it. It’s sad, but there’s no time to wallow. We need to go deep into the psychology of our existence, but if people don’t want to see what chance do we have to break these cycles?” --Jennifer Elster discusses her motivation in an interview

The exhibition presents an alternative universe, where awareness of our current world crisis is all around, and yet, perhaps from the relief of kin concerns, an odd serenity abounds.

About Artist Jennifer Elster:

Thinker, artist, writer, director, performer, musician and founder of The Development, a multi-faceted studio and gallery based in New York City. Elster's work offers a deep and direct awareness of the human condition and our current world crisis. She compulsively penetrates depth, while both antagonizing and playing with the boundaries in film and mixed mediums. Elster has collaborated with such artists as the late David Bowie and Yoko Ono, to name a few.

In The World, 2018

Tell me about “In The World” (The Extremism is Wearing Me Down)? “

The extremism of anything is just too much. [...] I understand compromise. As Americans we are sharing America. So, we all need to compromise a little to move forward. Many are so hard edged with their own theories and/or beliefs. We need to be more agile with the times. I think we can bring people together even more than we do through art, music, and humor. NYC is a culture hub and should be leading.”

War Head, 2022

"War Head" appears to reflect a cosmic scream. Her anguish is reflected in the vivid brushstrokes in military olive and black, painted at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 2022. “It feels really good outside,” says the multi-hyphenate Elster, a perennial New York spirit. "There’s so much bliss. At the same time, there are so many things going on in the world that we’re neglecting to pay attention to, it’s horrifying. This show, in very poignant and distilled ways, is articulating that.”

The David Bowie Installation

In a corner, there is an installation of a photograph that Elster styled of David Bowie in 1995 for his 1. Outside album. In 2020, she painted on the original photograph, taken by John Scarisbrick, and is now presenting it in a hand-cut web, interwoven with artifacts from the original shoot: her cut up piece he was wearing, the bullet belt, the knife—all making their public debuts.

"Psychologically, we went to many places together in our discussions about the characters and life."

"David and I immediately got along and got high from a good conversation. As if we found common ground in one another for this iteration of work. The artistic boundaries between us were limitless. I then went to London for the artwork shoot for 1. Outside, which was the title of this conceptual album. This was back in 1995. I spent a week transforming Bowie into five characters. (He was a real gentleman to work with). "

“We spent a lot of time on the phone talking about the characters,” she recalled. “We got along so well because he was such an imaginative person and so was I. We could go anywhere together.” -Excerpt of The Village Sun's "Bowie, art and pandemic/Trump anxiety mingle in Tribeca exhibit"

I'm Not Scared, 2009

" I think most people can’t fathom awful things happening because it’s out of their wheelhouse, or it’s too scary. But I’m a survivor of many things so I feel comfort in awareness."

Even the Fighters Won't Want to Fight, 2016

"Most of the work in the exhibition is from the last seven years. Since pre-election 2016. [...] . I seem to naturally involve certain works from my past. I like being grounded with the past in the present. Reminders. "

Looking Back, 2016

"I hope that this show a mirror that is inspiring so each one of us can become more of ourselves and contribute more because we need each other..I’m inspiring moving forward, being strong, and being positive.”

Charge, 2015

“It’s an abandoned ‘pay attention’.. I’m telling you what’s going on, let’s go!”