Form or Function at ArtPort Kingston

Art Spiel Photo Story

A picture containing building, way, sidewalk, dirty

Description automatically generated

Exhibition view

The group exhibition Form or Function at ArtPort Kingston features works of various media, exploring the relationship of objects in between contemporary art, design and craft with an attempt to blur the lines and create dialogue. The exhibition overall prompts a question – “Looking at everyday images, objects, tools and materials, we have very diverse emotional bonds with them. An artist creates a dialogue with their materials, providing intentions. Is it an object’s form, their history, or the story we create that attracts us?”

The show is curated by Laurie De Chiara, featuring works by Chuck von Schmidt, Karen Jaimes, Staveley Kuzmanov, Traci Johnson, Barbara Marks, Ellie Murphy, Courtney Puckett, Jim Osman, Rachel Urkowitz and Gabriele Hamill, Inna Babaeva, Clemens Kois, Sophi Kravitz, Christina Kruse, Jeanne Atkin, Kathleen Vance, Erika DeVries, and Rodger Stevens. The show runs through June 6th.

Continue reading “Form or Function at ArtPort Kingston”

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 Lii, Spandita Malik, Levan Mindiashvili, j.p.mot, Ghislaine Sabiti, Leila Seyedzadeh, Sofia Suazo

Curated byYvette Molina, Ghislaine Sabiti and Hedwig Brouckaert

Continue reading “Shifting Sands at ChaShaMa”

Leslie Kerby: Happy Place Project

Art Spiel Photo Story

In early February, the bleakness of winter got to the New York City based artist Leslie Kerby. She decided to reach out to friends near and far, as she had done during lockdown, this time asking them to send photos of the places around their house where they were able to find some solitude. She contacted everyone individually which opened up possibilities for longed for exchange. To her delight she received many beautiful photos. It took her a couple of days to figure out how she would paint from them. Ultimately, she decided on watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media collage on vellum, which enabled painting on both sides, while letting the light in. “It was a gift to visit with everyone in their home. A testament to the value of human connection,” she says.

 NEW LINK to whole project

Continue reading “Leslie Kerby: Happy Place Project”

Farideh Sakhaeifar: You Are in the War Zone

Macintosh HD:Users:annamikaela:Downloads:You are in the war zone - 05.jpeg

Farideh Sakhaeifar, You are in the war zone., 2016-17. Gelatine Silver Print, 8 x 10 inches

In her latest solo exhibition at New York’s Trotter&Sholer gallery, Iranian artist Farideh Sakhaeifar invites the viewer to reflect on the human experiences that connect us all. You are in the war zone confronts conflict, war, and social injustice head-on. Presented in partnership with the non-profit arts organization KODA, and curated by Klaudia Ofwona-Draber, the exhibition covers Sakhaeifar’s rich artistic practice, from her performance pieces to her sculptures to her hand and digitally manipulated photographs made over a seven year period. The works in the show underscore the artist’s strong critique of US foreign policy and Western portrayal of war in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as her impactful representations of shared experiences, the subjectivity of the media, and the inevitable distortion of memories and information over time.

Continue reading “Farideh Sakhaeifar: You Are in the War Zone”

Mira Dayal: In that Empire at Spencer Brownstone Gallery

In Dialogue with Mira Dayal


Mira Dayal, installation view (wall text), “…In That Empire…” at Spencer Brownstone Gallery, 2021, photo courtesy of the artist.

In her inaugural solo exhibition with Spencer Brownstone Gallery, Brooklyn-based artist Mira Dayal has rubbed by hand the entire gallery floor in graphite, resulting in a map of the space’s topography – all lines and no borders. Drawing on Borges’s “On Exactitude in Science”, the show explores notions of scale, control, ethics, materiality, and simulation. The show runs through April 4th, 2021.

Continue reading “Mira Dayal: In that Empire at Spencer Brownstone Gallery”

KODA – A Focus on Artists

In Dialogue with Klaudia Ofwona Draber

A person standing in a forest

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

Klaudia Ofwona Draber at The Strange Foundation (https://thestrange.foundation). Photo by Willa Köerner

The idea for KODA has already germinated in Klaudia Ofwona Draber’s mind during her graduate degree at Sotheby’s Institute of Art New York. While researching extensively for her business plan, it has occurred to her that mid-career artists are not getting enough support and something needs to be done about it. She founded KODA in 2019 guided by her initial observation regarding the needs of mid-career artists. KODA focuses on artists who explore social related topics through rigorous research, providing them with exposure and enhancing their opportunities for scholarship through residencies, survey exhibitions, and community-based activities. Klaudia Ofwona Draber, KODA Founder and Board President, shares with Art Spiel the vision behind the organization and sheds some light on some of the affiliated artists.

Continue reading “KODA – A Focus on Artists”

Krista Svalbonas: Recent Works at Klompching

In Dialogue with Krista Svalbonas


Krista Svalbonas

Krista Svalbonas has been capturing images since her first darkroom photography course in high school. The camera in some form — as an integral part of the work or as a reference — keeps playing a central role in her artwork, which takes shape in diverse forms such as painting, ceramics, and sculpture. Her first solo exhibition at Klompching Gallery in Dumbo, Brooklyn, features work spanning a six-year period.

Continue reading “Krista Svalbonas: Recent Works at Klompching”

Flat File 2020 at PeepSpace

In Dialogue with curators Monica Carrier and Jane Kang Lawrence


In Dialogue with curators Monica Carrier and Jane Kang Lawrence Photo of Jane Kang Lawrence & Monica Carrier. Photo credit: Jeff Dietz

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 23rd, 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.

Continue reading “Flat File 2020 at PeepSpace”

Women to the Fore at the Hudson River Museum

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 100th 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 20th 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.

Continue reading “Women to the Fore at the Hudson River Museum”

Americans Looking In at The Center for Book Arts

In Dialogue with Emilie Ahern and Sherri Littlefield


The curators, Emilie Ahern (left) and Sherri Littlefield (right), stand in the exhibition space among the works from Americans Looking In. Photo credit: Andrew Littlefield

In the thought-provoking group show Americans Looking In at the Center for Book Arts the curators Emilie Ahern and Sherri Littlefield explore what it means to be “American” mostly through media such as photography, book art, sculpture and prints. Their personal experience of coming from multicultural backgrounds and growing up in the States has prompted them to ask the question – What is American culture today, and what does an American look like?

Continue reading “Americans Looking In at The Center for Book Arts”