immigrant artists – Art Spiel

December 18, 2023December 24, 2023, by Xuezhu Jenny Wang

The Immigrant Artist Biennial, In Dialogue

Thread and Fiber: Jovencio de la Paz, Juna Skënderi, and Lilian Shtereva

Lilian Shtereva. *Samovila*, 2023. Yarn, thread, batting, cochineal, and indigo dye on canvas. 24 x 18 inches. Courtesy of the artist and The Immigrant Artist Biennial.

As noted by Julia Halperin in a September T Magazine article, “[l]ong caught in the liminal space between craft and something more prestigious, works of thread and fabric are reaching newfound institutional recognition.” With the advent of AI spurring a complicated mix of overwhelm, anxiety, and curiosity, an increasing interest in fiber art seems to stem from its tactility and materiality, generating a contrasting tension with what’s available in the virtual world. Fiber art is also welcomed by the art-loving public as a medium supporting marginalized communities and their traditions. As participating artists of The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2023, Jovencio de la Paz, Juna Skënderi, and Lilian Shtereva discuss how their fiber-based practice relates to heritage, empowerment, technology, and dimensionality.

December 8, 2023December 24, 2023, by Etty Yaniv

Zahra Nazari: Interiors

In Dialogue

Inside Out Oculus, 2022, acrylic on mylar, 36×45.5 in.

In her Interiors painting series, American Iranian-born painter Zahra Nazari draws on prominent features in classical Persian and Islamic architecture—decorative botanical motifs, arch, and particularly, iwan, the large, vaulted hall semi-enclosed and usually walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. Many scholars believe its origin can be traced back to the Parthian era. While looking at Nazari’s luminous surfaces, it may be interesting to keep in mind the dual role of the Persian arch—it serves both decorative and functional purposes—this richly decorated key aesthetic element in Persian architecture functions not only as an ornament but also as a structural support that provides stability. It is also designed to moderate the amount of sunlight that enters space, especially in iwans or other open spaces. Nazari’s frequent use of Mylar as a surface stirs a play on the notion of external and internal light, and simultaneously, her saturated color palette invokes a hot and arid climate with bright, sunlit days and crisp nights. Repetitive and rhythmical, these motifs coalesce into energetic, translucent, and luminous surfaces, evoking an interior space in flux. Zahra Nazari elaborates on her ideas and process in this interview with Art Spiel.

December 7, 2023December 24, 2023, by Xuezhu Jenny Wang

The Immigrant Artist Biennial, In Dialogue

Maya Hayuk and Kathie Halfin Discuss Ukrainian Heritage and Identity

Still from Kathie Halfin’s performance *Body, Land, and Water* at *Enmeshed, Dreams of Water* on October 6, 2023. Photographed by flaneurshan. studio. Courtesy of The Immigrant Artist Biennial.

Having forced nearly one-third of Ukrainians to flee their homes as of 2022, the Russo-Ukrainian War has been a potent reminder of the absolute necessity to uphold peace, justice, and international solidarity in times of humanitarian crisis. Both being part of The Immigrant Asrtist Biennial 2023, Maya Hayuk and Kathie Halfin are artists who are inspired and empowered by their shared Ukrainian identity and heritage. Hayuk’s processes involve “set and setting,” mapping, and traditional design techniques, which is echoed by Kathie Halfin’s performance and hand-woven tapestry shown at Enmeshed: Dreams of Water. Together with TIAB’s writer-in-residence Xuezhu Jenny Wang, they speak about how their art grows out of cultural and political convictions.

October 30, 2023September 28, 2023, by Art Spiel

Cross-Continental dialogue: Marie-Chloé Duval and Yulia Bas

In Conversation

Yulia Bas, Barcelona 2023 and Marie-Chloé Duval, NYC 2022, credit: Keith Selby

Art’s ability to transcend borders becomes evident as two distinct artists engage in a cross-continental dialogue. Yulia Bas, hailing from the sun-soaked landscapes of Spain, and Marie-Chloé Duval, an artistic force from Canada, come together to delve into the intricacies of their creative processes. This exchange goes beyond cultural distinctions, bridging the gap between mediums. Through their conversation, Bas and Duval explore inspirations, techniques, and the universal language that connects artists worldwide.

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023, by Xuezhu Jenny Wang

The Immigrant Artist Biennial – In Dialogue

Dreams and Rituals: Mia Enell, Chiarina Chen, and Jamie Martinez

When does rational agency relinquish its control over the human psyche? In poetic dreams? During nightmares? Or during meditative rituals? In their work, Mia Enell, Chiarina Chen, and Jamie Martinez explore how meaning is derived from out-of-the-ordinary experiences.

Enell, whose work will be exhibited in Excavated Selves: Becoming Magic Bodies, approaches image-making “with humor and a surrealist bent.” Bodies transformed into vibrant geometries as “a proxy for survival” seem simultaneously physical and non-physical in her work. Chen, an independent curator whose workshop Heal Me Through Your Nightmare will take place on October 22nd, grounds her practice on exploring posthumanism and proposes a collective reconsideration of relationships—with oneself, others, and society. Participating in the group show Enmeshed: Dreams of Water, Colombian-U.S. artist Martinez taps into his creative process through intuitive inquiries that are spiritual and ritualistic. He speaks about the encounter with transcendental artistic guidance by opening up to what’s beyond one’s faculties.

As part of The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Contact Zone, the three creatives come together with Xuezhu Jenny Wang, TIAB’s writer-in-residence, to discuss the intangible and the inexplicable: dreams, rituals, bodies, and metaphysical relations.

July 13, 2023July 10, 2023, by Art Spiel

The Immigrant Artist Biennial Names 48 Artists and Art Spiel as Media Partner for their 2nd Edition

Sanié Bokhari. *It’s 11.49 pm here*, 2022. 3 x 4 ft. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and The Immigrant Artist Biennial.

The second edition of The Immigrant Artist Biennial, titled “Contact Zone”, will showcase the work of 48 artists at seven locations across New York and New Jersey from September to December 2023. The curatorial trio adopted the biennial’s theme from a term coined in 1991 by linguist and critical theorist Mary Louise Pratt, which she used to describe “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations.” Katherine Adams, co-curator and an affiliate of EMPAC, explains in a statement how this concept guided their curatorial research: “It allowed us to work with a productively fractured relationship to place. It also encapsulates our attempt to find an organizational concept for artistic infrastructures that are diasporic in form and not only content—that can deal with effects of situations such as exile, alienation, or simply the elusive concept of home.”

April 1, 2023April 4, 2023, by Art Spiel

Finding My Folk at Old Stone House

Featured Project

A picture containing floor, indoor, wood

Description automatically generated — *L to R: Ai Campbell, Carl Hazlewood, Angelica Bergamini, Damali Abrams, Carl Hazlewood, Angelica Bergamini, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow and Blanka Amezkua (center).*

Finding My Folk, curated by independent curator Krista Scenna at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, features work by seven contemporary immigrant artists whose practices embrace the folkloric in their own traditions, rituals, and customs by blending elements of their past, memories of “home,” their present, and future. The notion of Folklore underscores the show, how it is often so seamlessly embedded in daily lives that people may tend to overlook it—myths, dances, rhymes, toasts, jokes, holidays, and festivals are all essential characteristics of a community—ranging from the family unit, to a nation, to the global population. The show is on view through April 9, 2023 with a closing event on Monday, April 10th from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

March 27, 2023July 1, 2023, by Elisabeth Condon

Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting – Tree of My Life

Joseph Stella, Tree of My Life,1919, Oil on canvas

Painter Elisabeth Condon’s reflections on a painting by Joseph Stella were initially presented in the second episode of Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting, a new series artist Amy Talluto has recently launched in her podcast Pep Talks for Artists. In each episode in this series Elisabeth Condon shares her way of looking at one painting, here, at the oil painting (1919) Tree of My Life, by Italian – American artist Joseph Stella (1877-1946)

December 27, 2021November 2, 2022, by Art Spiel

The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB) 2023

Featured Project: TIAB 2023 with Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Katherine Adams, Anna Mikaela Ekstrand, and Meghana Karnik

From left: Anna Mikaela Ekstrand, Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Katherine Adams, and Meghana Karnik. Photographed by Yann Chashanovski.

The Immigrant Artist Biennial is the first and only biennial to celebrate and amplify the diverse voices of immigrant artists and its second edition will take place in 2023 hosted by institutional partners. A venue for artist-curators, the biennial’s founding artistic director Katya Grokhovsky, who curated the first edition, has appointed artists Bianca Abdi-Boragi and Meghana Karnik alongside curators Katherine Adams and Anna Mikaela Ekstrand to form the core curatorial team. Further pushing the boundaries for curation, the team has chosen to collaboratively curate the biennial and have begun a year of communal research and studio visits aiming to announce their concept in 2022.

May 27, 2021November 2, 2022, by Art Spiel

Shifting Sands at ChaShaMa

Art Spiel Photo Story

From left to right: Spandita Malik ‘Salwar-Kameez on Clothesline’ 2021 Sun-printing, Phulkari silk thread embroidery on Khaddar fabric, 32 x 40 inches ; Geuryung Lee‘The movement’ 2019 Drypoint on paper 18 x 24 inches; Sofia Luisa Suazo Monsalve ‘Post-photographic landscape #1,2,3’ 2019 Digital chromogenic print on paper, 9 x 18 inches; j.p.mot ‘Stool + boogey’ 2017 Mixed media, 7ft x 5ft x 6ft; Hyun Jung Ahn ‘Blanket Windows’ 2021 Felt and linen, 72 x 62 inches

SHIFTING SANDS is a group exhibition showcasing the creative breadth of 20 artists from the 2020 New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Each of these artists has crossed physical borders, leaving one part of the world for another – in doing so, they hold space for various identities and shifting realities. From this common experience emerges unique perspectives on identity, belonging, home, memory, hope and resilience. Many of the pieces exhibited were created during the pandemic. They express the rollercoaster of emotions, the shifting states of being, and new possibility.

Exhibiting artists: Zeshan Ahmed, Katya Akuma, Ivana Brenner, Hedwig Brouckaert, Zorica Colic, Carin Kulb Dangot, Bel Falleiros, Nathier Fernandez, Vinay Hira, Jaejoon Jang, Hyun Jung Ahn, Ae Yun Kim, Geuryung Lee, Jiaoyang Li i, Spandita Malik, Levan Mindiashvili, j.p.mot, Ghislaine Sabiti, Leila Seyedzadeh, Sofia Suazo

Curated byYvette Molina, Ghislaine Sabiti and Hedwig Brouckaert