URBAN MONOPOLY

“In times of shrinking expectations… everyone feels a victim and pushes away outsiders to defend his own corner.”

—Oscar Handlin

WASHINGTON, DC — Gallery 102 is proud to present “Urban Monopoly,” a solo exhibition of painter Regina Miele’s recent work as part of the 2017 Summer Solo Series. Consisting of paintings on canvas, “Urban Monopoly” explores the spatial, physical, and architectural effects of DC’s real estate and development (i.e. gentrification) boom over the last decade.

Miele captures DC’s often unseen and overlooked urban landscape, one that is void of neoclassical architecture, marble, greek statues, and perfectly manicured lawns. She reveals a rich urban tapestry that is under constant threat from corporate greed, profit-driven developers, and persistent housing discrimination. As the re-development of DC quickens, the spaces and places that once stored the memories of a colorful past are disappearing, while entire communities and their history are being erased.

These are two themes that explore the idea of place and of displacement. In ever-changing and gentrifying urban environments the concept of home can be both one of security as well as instability. “Urban Monopoly” explores a contemporary DC real estate boom and provides the vistas for  “Through the Glass” a New York City tenement at the turn of the 20th Century. All of the work speaks to the inevitable invisibility of the original residents, those outside the ownership class.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This