Thief of Joy

Harsh Collective is pleased to present Thief of Joy, a trio exhibition featuring Lucy Luckovich, Andy Marlowe, and Nicolina Morra. The presentation ties together works by emerging artists from a generation whose experience is inextricable from the rise of social media. Employing archival and digital imagery, the three Gen-Z artists explore the need to develop and protect personal identity under the scrutiny of constant comparison and the polarity of an unprecedentedly surveilled aestheticized existence. 

Together, the artists explore the ramifications of limitless access and the saturation of imagery in the Information Age. Luckovich’s oil paintings juxtapose photorealistically rendered pearls and chains against blurred reference images, suggesting the sexualization of innocence. Marlowe’s compositions, featuring carefully collected imagery spanning centuries, explore dichotomies of ambivalence and conviction. Morra’s depictions of precise yet ethereal moments occupy ambiguous realms of agony and ecstasy. Ultimately, the artists construct a cautionary tale about how the obsessive pursuit of pleasure and beauty can precipitate their own destruction.

Gallery founder Etta Harshaw reflects that the exhibition’s title, referencing the saying “comparison is the thief of joy,” meditates not on jealousy, but on the inherent self-consciousness that plagues a generation whose experience has taught them that visibility equates to value. “When a relentless barrage of imagery amalgamates into a Platonian ideal of modern life, how one appears and which images one reveres become essential to understanding oneself and others. The insatiable consumption of media robs us not only of joy, but also of peace.”