Nice’n Easy
Enhance Your Drive performs as a “bait and switch” billboard advertisement occupying two physical locations (Florida City and Hialeah Gardens). The imagery consists of a sexually charged, suggestive profile of the artists accompanied by the text “To enhance your drive call (833) IMEASY-2”. The vanity number directs the caller to a recording of the artists leading a six minute long guided meditation targeting stress, anxiety, and rage while driving. This work arises from We Are Nice’n Easy LLC’s interests in the role of artist as purveyor of lifestyle, from playing the part of idealized power-couple to self-help advocates. Nice’n Easy examines the negotiation between the assets and liabilities associated with sexually suggestive/manipulative advertising methods as they parallel responsibilities associated with promoting self-help exercises or spiritual belief systems and philosophies. The work employs a campy humor that mitigates a frustrated reality, reinforces the artists’ brand, and invites the viewers/callers to laugh along with the joke or join in conscientious meditation.
Nice’n Easy is a collaborative endeavor by artists Allison Matherly (b. 1990, lives in Miami, FL) and Jeffrey Noble (b. 1987, lives Miami, FL). Focused on creating immersive mixed media installations, Nice’n Easy develops a visually cohesive subtropical vernacular with their material choices and use of repeated motifs. Often referencing themes of self-help, recovery and interpersonal dependency, their fabricated environments utilize romantic tropes to enhance the collective emotive truisms between participants and create a platform for intimate exchange.