The Bruce High Quality Foundation is a Brooklyn-based collective of visual artists. Their 2007 Emergency Grant allowed them to purchase 7,000 lemons and limes to power their multimedia installation, Beyond Pastoral, which was exhibited at Exit Art in New York. Beyond Pastoral was a scale replica of the BP gas station directly across the street from Exit Art. After powering the installation for a few days, the fruit rotted and filled the gallery with toxic mold, which the artists felt was “an accurate reflection of BP’s hypocritical advertising scheme.” Beyond Pastoral traveled to Italy and Mexico and its success directly led to BHQF’s first Chelsea gallery show at Susan Inglett and a solo show with an influential Berlin gallery, both in 2008.
In 2010, the collective’s work was exhibited in the influential Greater New York show at MoMA’s PS1 as well as the Whitney Biennial. The same year, they were included in a group exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris and were featured in solo exhibitions in London and Zurich. In 2011, Bruce High Quality was part of group exhibitions in Dublin, London and Venice, where they also had a solo show as part of the Venice Biennale. Recently, this highly sought-after collective organized their fourth “Brucennial,” a populist, inclusive survey show featuring more than 400 established and emerging artists and timed to coincide with the Whitney Biennial and the New Museum Triennial.
