Julie Peppito: Making Meaning out of Anything

Toxic Frock (This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein), 2016, canvas, trim, oil paint, gouache, thread, acrylic paint, found objects, fabric paint, fabric, grommets, variable dimensions (84″ x 156″ x 10″), photo courtesy Dan Gottesman

Julie Peppito‘s visceral and imaginative installations refer to our ecological, cultural, and political environments through explosive colors, textured surfaces, and interconnected loopy forms. Julie Peppito recalls how growing up in Oklahoma and later moving to NYC impacted her development as an artist. She shares some of her thought process, her work as an activist, and some of her projects.

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Yasmin Gur – Upcycling Waste

Yasmin Gur, My Old Room 2014, Urban Passages ,reclaimed wood

The Brooklyn based sculptor Yasmin Gur is fascinated with the process of upcycling materials such as reclaimed wood and transforming them into dimensional artforms which often respond to the site’s architecture. Gur is the producer for The Upcycle Junction Market, which gives her and ten other local artists a chance to take an active part in the urgent conversation about waste.

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Sarah Bednarek – ChiChi DooDad

In her sculptures Sarah Bednarek refers to minimalism with humor and love. She  turns minimalism’s aesthetics on its head – utilizing  minimalist language of precision to highlight the chaotic and unexpected . Her sculptures are on a human scale – witty and  visceral through playful material and form.  Bednarek shares with Art Spiel some insight on her life and her recent exhibition, ChiChi DooDad at Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York.

Sarah Bednarek, Hi There, 2018, mdf, velvet, paint, 33 x 68 x 10 in. , photo Courtesy of Yael Eban

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Jeanne Heifetz – Ordered Chance

Jeanne Heifetz‘s art has evolved from weaving and fiber early on to drawing and painting later on.  While her previous body of work has typically derived from a process of material  exploration, the impetus for her more recent work has been prompted by concept. As Heifetz puts it, “in spite of herself,” after the election it can  also be seen as politicized.  She was recently awarded a LABA fellowship for 2018-2019 at the 14th Street Y, where she will study ancient Jewish texts on a given theme with other artists of different disciplines. In this interview for Art Spiel Jeanne Heifetz talks about her art, ideas, and projects.

Jeanne Heifetz, Pre-Occupied 18, 2016, silver graphite on flax paper tinted with iron oxide, 21″ x 29″ Photo: Paul Takeuchi

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Katya Grokhovsky’s Rigorous Play

Katya Grokhovsky‘s performances and sculptural works embody raw energy fueled by her rigorous and uncompromising process. Grokhovsky’s work is  extreme, fearless, cohesive, and ambitious. With great agility she combines media like performance, video, drawing, and sculpture to create immersive environments that delve us deep into a chaotic unknown – the complexity of self, the duplicity of social norms, the twilight  zones of life and art. In this interview for Art Spiel Grokhovsky elaborates on her impetus, ideas, and projects as a prolific artist and curator.

Katya Grokhovsky,Bad Woman, 2017, video still

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Anne Gilman: Marking Beneath the Surface

Anne Gilman, Up close / in the distance / now, 2018, pencil, graphite, tape, ink, BIC ballpoint pen, matte medium on mulberry paper, 340 x 38 inches, photo courtesy of the artist

The surface of Anne Gilman’s scrolls and drawings is characterized by incisive and often repetitive graphic marks which altogether create portals to the artist’s fluid emotive states.  In her Interview for Art Spiel, Gilman reflects on the roots of her intricate process-oriented approach and also sheds light on some of her current projects. Continue reading “Anne Gilman: Marking Beneath the Surface”

Mie Yim – Her Gut Eye

For Mie Yim painting is like falling backward without a net. Her approach to painting is highly intuitive and her process seems to grow organically out of her life experience. In the interview with Art Spiel she shares some background on her art, process, and current show at Ground Floor Gallery.

Mie Yim, Pearly whites, 2018 ,,Oil on canvas, 16”x20”, photo credit Christian Nguyen

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Kelsey Shwetz – Other than Linear Reality

 

Kelsey Shwetz, Rec Room, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 62”x32”, 2018, photo credit Lloyd Mulvey

Kelsey Shwetz’s paintings  bring to mind fantastic landscapes and ornamented interior spaces at the same time. Her imagery depicts artificial environments saturated with unexpected color combinations, altogether conjuring intense psychological urgency- unsettling yet playful. In this interview with Art Spiel Shwetz shared some of her thoughts, specifically about color, narrative and style. Continue reading “Kelsey Shwetz – Other than Linear Reality”