Art Spiel – Page 83 – Contemporary Art and Culture

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020

Flat File 2020 at PeepSpace
by Etty Yaniv

In Dialogue with curators Monica Carrier and Jane Kang Lawrence

The exhibition Flat File 2020 at PeepSpace, features two-dimensional small works by over fifty artists who were selected through an extensive curatorial process based on both open call and invitation. After December 23^rd, when the show ends, the works of art will be stored in flat file drawers at the space and will be available for viewing along with other scheduled programming through September 2021. Curators Monica Carrier and Jane Kang Lawrence who are also artists and educators, share their vision for this new art venue and some insight on the current group exhibition.

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020

Women to the Fore at the Hudson River Museum
by Etty Yaniv

In Dialogue with co-curators Laura Vookles, Chair of the Curatorial Department, and Victoria Ratjen, Curatorial Assistant

Installation view. (Front) Ola Rondiak (American, b. 1966). Motanka Installation, 2019. Papier-mâché, plaster of Paris, and other mixed media. Courtesy of the artist. © Ola Rondiak. Photo: Steve Paneccasio

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women’s voting rights, Women to the Fore, the current group exhibition at the Hudson River Museum features more than forty female-identifying artists, spanning one hundred and fifty years. The two curators, Laura Vookles and Victoria Ratjen, selected diverse artworks across media —paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, collage and sculpture— from the Museum’s permanent collection, regional artists, galleries, and collectors. The exhibition includes works by renowned artists like Marisol, Judy Chicago, Louise Nevelson, and Mary Cassatt among many others, and less recognizable contemporary and 20^th century artists. For instance, one of the highlights in this show is Anna Walinska’s self-portrait which not only marks her first return to the walls of the Hudson River Museum in over 60 years, but also brings to light her significant role in the art world of her time, including her dedication to promoting the work of other artists, like Arshile Gorky, who got his first New York City solo show in the mid-30s at the Guild Art Gallery, an art venue she founded and ran.

December 10, 2020November 2, 2022

The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Nazanin Noroozi
by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

A picture containing water, sitting, holding, person

Description automatically generated — Nazanin Noroozi, The Rip Tide, 2020. Cyanotype, pastel and ink on paper, 20 x 28 inches, photo courtesy the artist

The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB) is a volunteer, female-led, artist-run project. TIAB 2020 launched in March in New York City at Brooklyn Museum, and continued in September through December at EFA Project Space, Greenwood Cemetery, and virtually, presenting 60+ artists. This interview series features 10 participating artists.

Nazanin Noroozi works predominantly in the medium of printmaking, but also incorporates moving images and alternative photography processes exploring new ways to represent the notions of collective memory, displacement and diaspora. Noroozi’s work has been widely exhibited in both Iran and the United States, including the Museum of Russian Art, Noyes Museum of Art, NY Live Arts, Prizm Art Fair, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of awards and fellowships from , Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NYFA IAP 2018, Mass MoCA Residency, North Adams, MA and Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts Residency, Ithaca, NY and the winner of “Selection of A New Generation” competition. She is an editor-at-large of Kaarnamaa, a Journal of Art History and Criticism. Noroozi completed her MFA in painting and drawing from Pratt Institute in 2015. Her works have been featured in various publications including Elephant Magazine, Financial Times, and Brooklyn Rail.

December 8, 2020November 2, 2022

The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Abena Motaboli
by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

Abena Motaboli, The Pieces that hang far up above – in you, in me, in I, in We, in Us, 2019 Plastic Tarp. Dimensions variable approximate 12ft x 12ft x 12ft. Photo courtesy the artist

Abena Motaboli is a Southern African born educator, visual artist, and writer based in Chicago. She grew up in Lesotho, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, before moving to the U.S where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Columbia College Chicago and at L’Institut Catholique de Paris in Paris, France. With a strong commitment to social justice work in the South and West sides of Chicago and being an immigrant, her artwork comments on displacement, immigration, the African diaspora, and the loss of the sense of home. In her intricate plastic installations and meditative line-work in her paintings, she uses ephemeral material such as plastic, tea, dirt, and coffee to comment on colonialism, past memories, and the culture of creating.

December 7, 2020November 2, 2022

Visions of an Alternate Universe
by Alicia Puig

In Dialogue with Mixed Media Collage Artist Jenny Brown

Photo of the artist. Photo credit: Brittany Taylor

Providence-based artist Jenny Brown’s mixed media collages and drawings visually present the viewer with her imagined visions of an alternate universe in which the sublime beauty of nature is heightened. She layers vintage photographs, sketchbook drawings, and other paper ephemera of plants and sea flowers, adding delicate linework and speckled marks with ink to create maximalist compositions that invite one to question if how we perceive our own natural world is indeed limited. The artist’s fascination with our current understanding of how time, space, energy, and matter intersect largely informs her art and the process of creating itself.

December 3, 2020November 2, 2022

The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Matilda Forsberg
by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

C:\Users\MForsberg\Desktop\Current\New folder\Immigrant Artist\Art Spiel\feeding rite.jpg — *Matilda Forsberg, Feeding rite, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 36”*

Matilda Forsberg’s paintings explore heritage, identity, and the duality between the past and present. Her practice is inspired by the complexities of family and cultural tradition, and its emotional and psychological influence on individuals as independent beings. Originally from Sweden, Matilda Forsberg is based in Newark, NJ where she is currently a resident artist at Gallery Aferro. Her work has been exhibited across the country in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Portland (OR). She received her BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.

December 2, 2020November 30, 2020

Edge of Light at Plaxall
by Etty Yaniv

Previewing with Jonathan Sims

A picture containing cake, indoor, show, photo

Description automatically generated — Jess Holz, *Borderlands*, 2020. Installation with laser cut Fresnel lenses and video of the artist’s skin being examined under the scanning electron microscope at the HoloCenter exhibition EDGE OF LIGHT

The Edge of Light began with the intent to create a group exhibition of artists who work in light. Jonathan Sims, a light artist himself and the curator of this group show at Plaxall, says that although there are a very large number of artists currently working with light as a medium and a material, but their chances to exhibit, particularly in a group setting, are limited.

December 1, 2020November 2, 2022

The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Sari Nordman
by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

Sari Nordman, Assembling on Ancient Towers, 2020, video, video still courtesy the artist

Sari Nordman, a native of Finland, is a NYC-based interdisciplinary artist working with dance, video and installation. She loves to travel to the isolated parts of the world to reflect on nature, history and female experience, the recurring themes in her works. She continues developing Torni-Tower, an installation work which has received support from the Catwalk Institute and NYU, The Immigrant Artist Biennial, The Amsterdam Collective and Tohmajärvi Residency, for Jamaica Flux: Workspaces and Windows 2021 exhibition and Performance Mix Festival. She worked as a performer with choreographer Dean Moss in 2009-2018, and holds a M.F.A. from NYU/Tisch School of The Arts.

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020

Amy Butowicz: Boudoir Theatre at Peninsula Art Space
by Etty Yaniv

In Dialogue with Eric Fallen, Founder and Executive Director

A room full of furniture

Description automatically generated — Duet, 2020 76.5”h x 84”w x 53”d Canvas, acrylic paint, wood, furniture parts, wheels, and hinges

Amy Butowicz solo show Boudoir Theatre at Peninsula Art Space features a collection of domestically scaled sculptures staged as a group of characters which are readily associated with notions of sensuality, ornamentation, and haute couture. Bulging cushion-like forms, meticulously hand-stitched over wooden structures, display intricate patterns and rich material suggestive of bedding, vanities, corsets and human anatomy. Bold and tender simultaneously, these anthropomorphic forms defy the disdain and fear that are frequently imposed upon feminine artforms, spaces, and bodies. Eric Fallen, founder and executive director of the Red Hook based Peninsula Art Space elaborates on Amy Butowicz’s exhibition and on his art venue.

November 28, 2020November 2, 2022

The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Bianca Abdi-Boragi
by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Barbary Fig, still, short film, 17 min

Bianca Abdi-Boragi is a French-Algerian/American interdisciplinary artist who received her MFA from Yale School of Art, Sculpture, in 2017 and obtained her BFA from ENSAPC. Her solo shows include “The Heel of the Loaf” at Border Project Space and a presentation at CADAF Art Fair, she has exhibited with the Immigrant Artist Biennial, NARS Foundation, Border Project Space, VCU Arts, NURTUREart Gallery, Chashama Gallery, Field Project Gallery, Galerie Protégé, and The Clemente Soto Velez Center NY, among others.