Since ancient times, the labyrinth has represented an intricate maze, or a winding passage that is difficult to follow without getting lost. In fact, the idea of a circular, disorienting space and a place of entrapment was of crucial importance to the Ancient Greek understanding of a labyrinth. King Minos of Crete hired the legendary inventor and artisan Daedalus to design a labyrinth as a space of confinement for the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull.

From then onward, the cultural interpretation of the labyrinth has changed from being an imprisonment in ancient time to being a path to God in Medieval time, and a path to the center of the self in the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. Today, the term is also related to hypertext, a maze-like database system with endless linkages of text, image, and sound. In a broader sense, a labyrinth can also signify circular or spiral patterns or meandering designs, as well as a complicated course of events. It symbolizes both the situations of confusion and puzzlement, as well as the sacred places for meditation or prayer. As a metaphor, the labyrinth relates to a life's journey and one's search for meanings, beliefs and values.

In the exhibition Labyrinths, the three artists-Jan Mancuska, Dominic McGill, and Alyson Shotz-engage those manifold aspects of labyrinth in their own respective way. McGill's work, The Project for a New American Century, is a large graphite drawing, measuring 7.5 feet in height and 65 feet in length. Hung from the ceiling in a way that curls into a labyrinthine form, the drawing is a composite of numerous small drawings and written words or phrases recording historical and political events from 20th-century-American history, starting with the Hiroshima bombing till the present.

Alyson Shotz's piece, The Shape of Space, is narrative-free; the primary subject is space, timeless, non-linear, and ever-changing. Made of Fresnel lenses (magnifying, plastic lenses) stapled together to create a transparent circular enclosure, the piece offers a dazzling play of perceptual shifts and optical distortions. "I use lenses to give the viewer the experience of extra dimensions, to disorient the viewer and make her question her sense of location and position," says Shotz.

By contrast to McGill's and Shotz's works, which take on the physical characteristics of a labyrinth as a circular pathway and meandering space, Jan Mancuska's installation, True Story, draws on the conceptual or metaphorical aspects of a labyrinth as a linguistic maze and intellectual puzzle. Comprised of three intersecting lines of words (each representing a full sentence and describing a specific action in time and space), which are cut out of aluminum and displayed at eyelevel across the gallery space, True Story establishes an ambiguous space. It reminds us that there is never one side to a story or truth, and that both language and meaning are ever-changing, depending on an individual's perspective.

While McGill focuses on the construction of a social and political chronicle, Shotz focuses on structuring the perceptual environments, and Mancuska on the notion of duration and temporal experience. Despite their different approaches and aesthetic, all three artists incorporate in their works the labyrinthine structure. The winding, unfolding shape of a labyrinth not only illuminates the feeling of puzzlement, but also the means of escape by searching for new meanings and experiences.

Dominic McGill was born and educated in England. He received his BA from Middlesex Polytechnic and his MFA from Chelsea School of Art, both in London, England. Since 1991 he has been living in Brooklyn, NY. McGill has exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and Europe, including at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA; Aeroplastics Contemporary in Brussels, Belgium; Derek Eller Gallery, Debs & Co., and White Box in New York, NY; PS1 in Queens, NY; the Renaissance Society in Chicago, IL; Fusebox in Washington, D.C.; and ARCO '03 in Madrid, Spain. He is a recipient of Franklin Furnace Award for Performance in 1998 and 1999, and a Gunk Foundation Award in 1998.

Alyson Shotz lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  She holds a BA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, and an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Her solo shows were held at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Lock Gallery in Philidelphia, PA; Rice University Art Gallery, in Houston, TX; Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY; and Derek Eller Gallery in New York, NY. Additionally, her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Armory Center for the Arts n Pasadena, CA; Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY; MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA; and PS1 in Queens, NY. Shotz is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Grant, and most recently of a Bob and Happy Doran Artist-in-Residence Grant at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT.

Jan Mancuska was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and grew up in Prague, Czech Republic, where he received his degree from the Academy of Fine Arts. Presently, he lives and works in Prague and Berlin. His work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions including the Bonner Kunstverein in Bonn, Germany; Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Holland; Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York, NY; Palais des Arts in Dresden, Germany; Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt, Germany; d.u.m.b.o. art center in Brooklyn, NY; Arcadia University Art Gallery in Glenside, PA; and Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic. Most recently his installation A Cup was presented in the Czech-Slovakian Pavillion at the 51st Venice Biennale 2005.