ArChitecture of the elsewhere
NEW YORK_ online
May 15 - July 15 2021
Architecture of the Elsewhere is a survey of contemporary practices, ranging from painting, photo, dance, video and sculpture. This group of artists explore faceted realities, disjunctions, perspectives, and memories of a land, universe, space or alternate dimension that they have traversed, lived in, come from or contemplate.
Curated by Bianca Abdi-Boragi with works from: Sara Abbaspour, Adam Aslan, Sonia Ben Slama, Ernest A. Bryant III, Michael Eckblad , Mahsa R. Fard , Akshita Gandhi, Constantin Jones, Raza Kazmi, Showna Kim, Meriem Dahmani, Tammy Kiku Logan, Alysha Marko, Jamie Martinez, Luis Salas Porras, Hugo Santana, Anita Sto, Vincent Stracquadanio, Tanin Torabi, Masha Vlasova.
May 15 - July 15 2021
Architecture of the Elsewhere is a survey of contemporary practices, ranging from painting, photo, dance, video and sculpture. This group of artists explore faceted realities, disjunctions, perspectives, and memories of a land, universe, space or alternate dimension that they have traversed, lived in, come from or contemplate.
Curated by Bianca Abdi-Boragi with works from: Sara Abbaspour, Adam Aslan, Sonia Ben Slama, Ernest A. Bryant III, Michael Eckblad , Mahsa R. Fard , Akshita Gandhi, Constantin Jones, Raza Kazmi, Showna Kim, Meriem Dahmani, Tammy Kiku Logan, Alysha Marko, Jamie Martinez, Luis Salas Porras, Hugo Santana, Anita Sto, Vincent Stracquadanio, Tanin Torabi, Masha Vlasova.
Akshita Gandhi, The Lockdown Series
1. Akshita Gandhi, Astral, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
2. Akshita Gandhi, Autumn drifts by my window, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
3. Akshita Gandhi, Escape, 2020. 24. 48 x 16. 32 in. Print on canvas copy
4. Akshita Gandhi, Haji Ali, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
5. Akshita Gandhi, I give you this day, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
6.Akshita Gandhi, Let me linger, longer, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
7.Akshita Gandhi, Locked down. 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
8. Akshita Gandhi, Monsoon Magic, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
9. Akshita Gandhi, Soaring, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
10. Akshita Gandhi, Traveling Souls, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
2. Akshita Gandhi, Autumn drifts by my window, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
3. Akshita Gandhi, Escape, 2020. 24. 48 x 16. 32 in. Print on canvas copy
4. Akshita Gandhi, Haji Ali, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
5. Akshita Gandhi, I give you this day, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
6.Akshita Gandhi, Let me linger, longer, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
7.Akshita Gandhi, Locked down. 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
8. Akshita Gandhi, Monsoon Magic, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
9. Akshita Gandhi, Soaring, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas
10. Akshita Gandhi, Traveling Souls, 2020. 12 x 9. 36 in. Print on canvas copy
Michael Eckblad, All The Stars (2017), 8' x 12', acrylic on canvas
This meditative project is a cartographic expression of our Milky Way Galaxy, and is a response to the phenomena in our physical world that make a self-righting boat possible. The sine wave-like visualization of the night sky resembles–what is known in the boat building world–as a stability curve, which describes in mathematical terms any given vessel’s proclivity to resist capsizing.
Michael Eckblad, Pattern for the Astral 1 (2017) 12" x 8", archival print
Michael Eckblad, Pattern for the Astral 1 (2017) 12" x 8", archival print
The series Pattern for the Astral responds to our perception of the cosmos viewed through the night sky, and attempts to describe, quantify, and give it character.
This meditative project is a cartographic expression of our Milky Way Galaxy, and is a response to the phenomena in our physical world that make a self-righting boat possible. The sine wave-like visualization of the night sky resembles–what is known in the boat building world–as a stability curve, which describes in mathematical terms any given vessel’s proclivity to resist capsizing.
Michael Eckblad, Pattern for the Astral 1 (2017) 12" x 8", archival print
Michael Eckblad, Pattern for the Astral 1 (2017) 12" x 8", archival print
The series Pattern for the Astral responds to our perception of the cosmos viewed through the night sky, and attempts to describe, quantify, and give it character.
Ernest A. Bryant III, Towards a Critique of Nature (fragment 03), 2018-ongoing, 3 min 1 sec.
The three-minute video documentation captures a scene from the ongoing work, “Towards a Critique of Nature,” an investigative performance, which occurred just off the side of a Connecticut road, between the edge of the forest and the Quinnipiac River.
The three-minute video documentation captures a scene from the ongoing work, “Towards a Critique of Nature,” an investigative performance, which occurred just off the side of a Connecticut road, between the edge of the forest and the Quinnipiac River.
Meriem Dahmani, Algiers-Montreal
Would leaving be a journey to fulfill oneself, to rebuild oneself?
Would it be a quest for freedom, to surpass oneself?
What space will welcome us or de-welcome us?
What is this “elsewhere” in a globalized environment?
After all, are the quest for Elsewhere and taking root doomed to remain forever opposing concepts? Or can they meet, or even, at a deeper level, intersect and merge.
Would leaving be a journey to fulfill oneself, to rebuild oneself?
Would it be a quest for freedom, to surpass oneself?
What space will welcome us or de-welcome us?
What is this “elsewhere” in a globalized environment?
After all, are the quest for Elsewhere and taking root doomed to remain forever opposing concepts? Or can they meet, or even, at a deeper level, intersect and merge.
Sonia Ben Slama, Untitled, 2020-21, Acrylic-oil paintings,
"As for my films, my painting embeds themselves in their mixed background and explore a dreamy
Tunisian architectural world with no living trace."
1. Porte bleue : 25cm x 25cm // Huile et acrylique
2. Porte faience : 25cm x 25cm // Huile et acrylique
3. Porte et dôme : 30cm x 40cm // Acrylique
4. Lampadaire : 30cm x 30cm // Huile et
5. Fer forgé : 60cm x 80cm // Acrylique
6. Detail of Fer forgé
7. Minaret : 30cm x 30cm // Acrylique
"As for my films, my painting embeds themselves in their mixed background and explore a dreamy
Tunisian architectural world with no living trace."
1. Porte bleue : 25cm x 25cm // Huile et acrylique
2. Porte faience : 25cm x 25cm // Huile et acrylique
3. Porte et dôme : 30cm x 40cm // Acrylique
4. Lampadaire : 30cm x 30cm // Huile et
5. Fer forgé : 60cm x 80cm // Acrylique
6. Detail of Fer forgé
7. Minaret : 30cm x 30cm // Acrylique
Tammy Logan, Gradient, 2016, 5' 3" x 1'5" x 4'
Ruby. from Tanin Torabi on Vimeo.
Mahsa R. Fard,
STADIUM II, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 40” X 40” in.
STADIUM II, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 40” X 40” in.
STADIUM II, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 40” X 40” in.
STADIUM II, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 40” X 40” in.
Jamie Martinez, Stitches, stitches, faux fur, and thread on canvas, 23 x 16 in.
Constantine Jones, Island Bruise & Underneath Construction
Sara Abbaspour
1. Iran, 2018
2. Iran, 2019
3. Iran, 2019
4. Iran, 2019
5. Iran, 2019
sizes 36 x 27. 5 framed and 34 X 25 without the frame
1. Iran, 2018
2. Iran, 2019
3. Iran, 2019
4. Iran, 2019
5. Iran, 2019
sizes 36 x 27. 5 framed and 34 X 25 without the frame
Alysha Marko, Beach, 48 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2019
Witness Mark (2020) from Raza Kazmi on Vimeo.
Constantine Jones, SAPPHO
Vincent Stracquadanio
1. Tarocchi 28, 2020, Graphite on Graph Paper, 6 x 8 in.
2. Tarocchi 25, 2021, Graphite on GraphPaper, 6 x 8 in.
3. Teatro, 2, 2020, Graphite on Graph Paper, 6 x 8 in.
1. Tarocchi 28, 2020, Graphite on Graph Paper, 6 x 8 in.
2. Tarocchi 25, 2021, Graphite on GraphPaper, 6 x 8 in.
3. Teatro, 2, 2020, Graphite on Graph Paper, 6 x 8 in.
Showna Kim
Objects More or Less Interesting (2019)
Installation, sculpture, foresco MDF, fluorescent acrylic, LED, dimensions variable
Objects More or Less Interesting (2019) explores physical and environmental phenomena associated with
urbanization in a traditional residential area. Drawing on the historical, social and cultural symbols of the
traditional Korean house, Hanok, the sculptural and architectural forms employed convey spatial-temporal
variations of traditional architecture by using three primary shapes: the square (traditional radial structure), circle
(cross beam), and triangle (roof). The central space is empty: a constructive gap, an imaginary surface asking for
the direction in which our traditional communities and our cities should develop. Using artificial industrial raw
materials instead of traditional ones, the work featured in this exhibition metaphorically examines relationships of
economic power and social change inherent in the process of urban transformation. Showna’s work re-interprets
various theories of scientific analyses and theories of molecular biology as visual metaphor. In particular, seeing
structures and landscapes as ‘cells’ undergoing the process of alteration or transformation over time (resulting
from the direct uptake and incorporation of exogenous materials from different surroundings).
Objects More or Less Interesting (2019)
Installation, sculpture, foresco MDF, fluorescent acrylic, LED, dimensions variable
Objects More or Less Interesting (2019) explores physical and environmental phenomena associated with
urbanization in a traditional residential area. Drawing on the historical, social and cultural symbols of the
traditional Korean house, Hanok, the sculptural and architectural forms employed convey spatial-temporal
variations of traditional architecture by using three primary shapes: the square (traditional radial structure), circle
(cross beam), and triangle (roof). The central space is empty: a constructive gap, an imaginary surface asking for
the direction in which our traditional communities and our cities should develop. Using artificial industrial raw
materials instead of traditional ones, the work featured in this exhibition metaphorically examines relationships of
economic power and social change inherent in the process of urban transformation. Showna’s work re-interprets
various theories of scientific analyses and theories of molecular biology as visual metaphor. In particular, seeing
structures and landscapes as ‘cells’ undergoing the process of alteration or transformation over time (resulting
from the direct uptake and incorporation of exogenous materials from different surroundings).
Luis Salas Porras, Infernal Rack, 2019
39” x 75” x 76”, Wood, paint, resin hangers, Afghan wool rug, rubber studded flooring, shirts.
39” x 75” x 76”, Wood, paint, resin hangers, Afghan wool rug, rubber studded flooring, shirts.
Tales from the Line from Hugo Santana on Vimeo.
April 29th, 2021 from Tanin Torabi on Vimeo.
Masha Vlasova, The Imaginary Kaleidoscope
The Imaginary Kaleidoscope is composed of a series of close-ups of animal sculptures, small and large. The close-ups, which excise context from the frame, suggests portraiture. Even without context, lawn sculptures are recognizably mass-produced and made of inexpensive, yet robust material intended to endure outside. The male voiceover reads a monologue quilted with quotations from the western canon in which the author ventriloquizes an animal voice (i.e. Kafka, Rilke, Bishop, Tolstoy). The video offers a meditation on voyeurism and the performative quality of public-facing private displays, and on the desire to reintegrate animals into our life. The yard art animal sculptures are dinky monuments to that desire for reintegration. I gathered the footage in towns across the Northeast, Midwest, and the South suggesting a collective place-less portrait of Americana
The Imaginary Kaleidoscope is composed of a series of close-ups of animal sculptures, small and large. The close-ups, which excise context from the frame, suggests portraiture. Even without context, lawn sculptures are recognizably mass-produced and made of inexpensive, yet robust material intended to endure outside. The male voiceover reads a monologue quilted with quotations from the western canon in which the author ventriloquizes an animal voice (i.e. Kafka, Rilke, Bishop, Tolstoy). The video offers a meditation on voyeurism and the performative quality of public-facing private displays, and on the desire to reintegrate animals into our life. The yard art animal sculptures are dinky monuments to that desire for reintegration. I gathered the footage in towns across the Northeast, Midwest, and the South suggesting a collective place-less portrait of Americana
Adam Aslan, Chill Castle
Modeled after a choose your own adventure game this continually updated website features digital animations, drawings, maps, and other types of digital art. The end of this screen recording shows web art that links the viewer to the 151 points that compose the collection of Adam Aslan's philosophic and oftentimes humorous writing that touches on art theory, non-profit work, and empowerment. The points are broken down by when they were written. These points started out as notes kept on the actor’s sides when Aslan worked on union film sets. The notes were then made into longer sentences and then finally put on chillcastle.com, which employs Aslan’s custom font. The points have gone on to be featured in drawing, painting, sculpture, embroidery, photography, and video form.
Modeled after a choose your own adventure game this continually updated website features digital animations, drawings, maps, and other types of digital art. The end of this screen recording shows web art that links the viewer to the 151 points that compose the collection of Adam Aslan's philosophic and oftentimes humorous writing that touches on art theory, non-profit work, and empowerment. The points are broken down by when they were written. These points started out as notes kept on the actor’s sides when Aslan worked on union film sets. The notes were then made into longer sentences and then finally put on chillcastle.com, which employs Aslan’s custom font. The points have gone on to be featured in drawing, painting, sculpture, embroidery, photography, and video form.
ARTISTS BIOS:
Sara Abbaspour (born in Mashhad, Iran) is an Iranian artist who lives and works between the U.S. and Iran. She holds an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art, an MA in Photography from the University of Tehran, and a B.Sc. in Urban Planning and Design from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. She is interested in studying the poetics of spaces in transitional states and making visual poetry using portraiture and landscape. She has photographically reflected on the urban public sphere vs. private realms and interiors vs. exteriors as mental spaces. Exploring the notion of psychogeography, her works exist in-between the imagined and the experienced in the current socio-political climate.
Her works have been exhibited in the United States and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at galleries such as Aperture Foundation (New York), Yancey Richardson Gallery (New York), Green Gallery (New Haven), IEEE GEM Conference (Galway, Ireland), Tehran Gallery (Tehran, Iran), and Radin Gallery (Mashhad, Iran). Her photographs have also been published and reviewed in Aperture Blog, MATTE Magazine, and Lumpen Magazine.
Adam Aslan
A dialogue between word and shape is a central tenet of my work. For the last four years I have been writing about artists, curating, and fostering an alternative art space ZXY Gallery, creating an inclusive platform for immigrants, women, QTBIPOC artists often under-represented in the creative contemporary discourse. The nurturing support of a safe artistic community is on my mind when I create work that could be an internet-based choose your own adventure game to installations that feature other artists. A narrative of creative interaction and symbiotic exchange inspires me.
Sonia Benslama is a French-Tunisian documentary filmmaker and artist, based in Paris, France. Her documentary work focuses on Tunisian women’s issues and her first feature-lengh “Maktoub” was presented in several film festivals, included Arab Film Festival (San Francisco) and Djerba Doc Days (GRAND JURY PRIZE), Zagora Film Festival (SPECIAL DISTINCTION FROM JURY), AFIFDOK – International Documentary Film Festival (GRAND
PRIZE).
Ernest A. Bryant III, L.P.I., is an artist and critic from the USA. He has a background in interdisciplinary art. He earned a BFA from The Minneapolis College of Art & Design, an MFA from Yale University, School of Art, where he focused on critical theory, new media, and printmaking; and earned a second MFA in Art Writing & Criticism from the New York School of Visual arts, where his focus was art and society’s relationship to nature, molestation, conservation, and homelessness. In his work he uses nature, video, image-making, history, positionality, theory and humor to examine the ontological conflicts that arise between different aesthetic and cultural values. Currently, Bryant has been developing a method of augmented drawing that he describes as “a form of drawing that uses line to explore value, labor and its displacement.” E. A. Bryant III, is the founder and host of the online discussion/ workshop series “Criticism and Value,” a video platform where experimental essays primarily about art and criticism are presented and discussed with guests.
Meriem Dahmani: performer, choreographer and teacher in contemporary dance.
When I was little, my body was language. Overcoming the difficulty of words, the movement of the body developed signifiers, to express with all the energy that animated it, the feeling of the moment: desire, anger, hurt ... joy. It was from this discovery that I began to have a passion for dance.
Then time took its course and it is only later in my journey that I realize my vocation.
I decided to train in dance by going into exile in Montreal, after having left France, the country of my first exile.
I chose this art which does not use any mediator. The body is both an instrument and a writing space. An ephemeral writing, mixing emotion, imagination, memory and history.
My dance experience in two countries, France and Canada, allowed me to explore different methods of learning, creation, and research spaces. Then my human experience, whether through the various creations in which I have participated, my artistic collaborations, but above all the meetings and exchanges that I have had. I would remember three highlights: an internship in Algiers (Algeria) during which I worked with the dancers of the Contemporary Ballet of Algiers. The creation and performance of a piece presented at the Mather Dance Studio (Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland (USA) as part of the project "Create to resist: Two Generations of Arab Women". Finally in 2017, my first contemporary dance workshop for a collective of women in Algiers. One of my dreams come true: to share my art in my native country.
Michael Eckblad
The urge to engage with critical issues of our day has driven my practice since I began making art in 2003. My work spans the performed to the visually formal, often involving actions that manipulate reality through object- making, cameras, systems, and installations. At the heart of every work is a gesture that touches a nexus of audiences' lived experiences and issues that shape our world. The art actions themselves are grounded in specific moments and localities but remain accessible in their afterglow. It is essential that these moments truly exist(ed) in order to gain access to the work: they occur in a specific moment, privileging those present to witness, but remain as ephemera for a broader audience. Themes of civics, liberty, empathy, history, technology, ecology, philosophy, wonder, and faith guide the content of any given work and ground the experience.
Much of the work is conceived out in the world, seeking to participate and resonate with the realities of our lived experience, touching the thresholds that define our world.
My work has shown nationally and internationally since moving to New York in 2008.
I hold an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University and a BS in interdisciplinary art and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mahsa R. Fard often paints man-made large scale structures such as cities, stadiums, and apparatuses. She tends to create a new association by introducing unusual color and spatial relationships. Growing up in Iran, she has always been conscious of the dominance of rigid patriarchal gaze both in the public and private sphere.
Accessing public and private domains as a female requires subversive strategies. Her imagery reflects a woman’s forced duplicitous roles in these domains. Mahsa contemplates and practices these strategies in her painting and writing through metaphors of censorship, sarcasm, camouflage, cover, and disguise.
Mahsa has recently graduated from LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute
College of Art in Baltimore.
Akshita Gandhi (b. 1988, India) is a multimedia artist based in Mumbai. She holds an MFA from the Lotus Institute in Dubai. By merging social, historical, and mythological concepts her work concentrates on breaking out of stereotypical gender roles, grappling with the history of colonialism, and self-empowerment. In the mixed media painting, lightbox, and poetry series Freedom, I Read Banned Books (2019-) she advocates breaking free from patriarchal structures. Working with photography, painting, and collage using light as a guiding principle Gandhi’s work speaks to the transformative power of artistic practice. Her body immersive installations include Le cirque de la liberté (2020), a mise-en-scene inspired by the circus, and Dare to Break Free (2020), a commission by the Berlin-based music festival Kater Blau. Gandhi has also collaborated with Frank DeBourge during New York Fashion Week and the Indian menswear brand Kurtees. Fall 2021, the artist will be highlighted in her first institutional solo-show at the
Nehru Center in London. Private Collections include Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
Cea / (Constantine Jones) is an interdisciplinary Greek-American thingmaker raised in Tennessee & housed in Brooklyn. They are a member of the Artist+ Registry at Visual AIDS—the largest database of works by artists with HIV/AIDS—where they also serve on the Archives Committee, as well as a member of the What Would An HIV Doula Do? collective. They are the author of In Still Rooms (Operating System 2020) & the collaborative chapbook with Portuguese visual artist Vicente Sampaio, BALEEN: A Poem In Twelve Days (Ursus Americanus 2021). Their work has been performed or exhibited in various venues across NYC & Tennessee.
Raza Kazmi (b. 1990 Faisalabad, PK) is a Brooklyn-based artist. He received his BFA in New Media Art from the Hartford Art School in 2013, and his MFA in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art in 2016.
Showna Kim resides in Seoul where she develops work and exhibits internationally. Her work is based mainly on
installation and extends to painting, drawing, photography, and graphic design. She consciously question the
post-Anthropocence future in which human civilization as we know it no longer exists through the lens of current
scientific thought, using theories of gene variation and questioning the central dogma of molecular biology
throughout the present age and the past. From 2014-2016, she held a position as a director of an alternative art
space where she created various art projects and exhibitions with national and international artists and directors.
She was selected as an artist for international projects and group exhibitions in Nottingham, Seoul and London as
well as other locations in 2020. Recent exhibitions include - Solo Exhibition(Selection), ‘INVISIBLE, BUT THEY
DO EXIST’, CyArt Document, Seoul, South Korea (2018); Group Exhibitions (Selection) Seoul Museum of Art -
SeMA Storage, Seoul, South Korea, April (2019), 2019 31st Festival Les Instants Video, Marseills, France (2018);
‘Urban Project’, Delphian Gallery, London England (2018); Europäische Kulturtage 2018: ‘Open Borders’, BBK of
Karlsruhe curated by HfG-Alumna Lisa Bergmann–Changings, Awakenings: Equal Rights for All,
BEZIRKSVERBAND BILDENDER KUNSTL ERINNEN, Orgelfabrik Durlach, Karlsruhe, Germany (2018).
www.shownakim.co.uk
Tammy Kiku Logan is a graduate of the Yale School of Art and received her BFA from the School of Art + Design at Purchase College. Tammy is the recipient of the Fannie B. Pardee Prize in sculpture and was awarded the Maya Lin Art and Architecture Scholarship. Her work has been exhibited at Abrons Art Center in New York, NY and The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, NY. Tammy has attended residencies at the School of Visual Arts, Chashama and Vermont Studio Center.
Alysha Marko is a painter, model and performing artist and owner of UEAST 75, a contemporary art gallery with two locations on the upper East side. Alysha was born in NJ, graduated with a B.A in Psychology from Seton Hall University. She began modeling (Elle, Playboy) and have acted in independent films, and many theater productions, as well as being a member of Second City comedy group. While living in Los Angeles, she began working with John Cameron, who first taught her how to paint. She continued her studies in New York, taking courses at The Arts Students League while working for The Switzer Group, an architectual interior design firm. She shows her work alongside her other international artists at UEAST 75 gallery. Follow her on IG @alyshagrace
Colombian / American artist Jamie Martinez immigrated to Florida at the age of twelve from South America. He attended The Miami International University of Art and Design then moved to New York to continue his fine art education at The Fashion Institute of Technology and The Students Art League in NYC.
Jamie’s work has been featured in multiple important outlets like a half-hour personal TV interview with NTN24 (Nuestra Tele Noticias, a major Spanish TV channel) for their show Lideres (translation leaders), Hyperallergic, Yale University radio WYBCX (radio interview), Whitehot Magazine, Good Day New York (TV interview), Fox News (TV interview), The Observer, Whitewall Magazine, Interview Magazine, CNN, New York Magazine, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Bedford + Bowery, and many more. Martinez has shown in Berlin, Brussels, Spain, Russia, Canada, Miami, California, and numerous galleries in New York City including Petzel Gallery, Galerie Richard, Whitebox NY, The Gabarron Foundation, Flowers Gallery, Elga Wimmer PCC, Foley Gallery, Rush Gallery and many more. He also participated in a group show curated by Vida Sabbaghi at the Queens Museum which was very well received by the museum and the press. @jamiemartinezstudio https://jamiemartinez.net/i-am-one-with-the-jaguar/
Anita Sto:
My works are generally autobiographical and centered on themes including time, impression, perception, space and belonging. My goal is to go beyond gender, race and culture; to tap into something more universally human in what I see, and observe in that human chaos.
I use different media (photography, painting, drawing and digital art) devoted to recreate and present concepts often based on heuristic methods, and on repetitions. To tell a story you need at least two colors, and for this reason my works are mainly in black and white.
Essentially my practice is a continuous search for a form of communication that most of the time becomes a visual metaphor. With the constant intention of creating concise communication, free of unnecessary elements and above all direct, my art is often abstract, conceptual.
My hope is that people will find their own stories in my works.
---
Born in 1981, Anita Sto is a self-taught Multimedia Visual Artist. She studied Architecture and Illustration in Rome and made her living working as a freelancer in Europe. In the early 2000s she moved to Brooklyn NY, where currently lives and works.
Tanin Torabi(طنین ترابی)was born in 1992 in Tehran, Iran. She has got her BA in Sociology and her MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from University of Limerick, Ireland. Torabi has made several award winning dance films and performances and currently works as a dancer, choreographer and dance film maker in Iran and Ireland.
Her most noticeable works are The Dérive, Invisible Point, Ruby, Beyond the Frames and Immensity. She has received more than 15 awards for her films to date and her works has been described as rebellious, creative, inspiring, unbearably elegant and affecting, emblematic and poignant, empowering to women, and with clarity and an exceptional ambition that is layered with a complexity of personal and cultural nuance, by festival directors.
Masha Vlasova:
I’m an interdisciplinary artist, working in video, film, photography, sculpture, and text. My guiding methodologies are close reading, rehearsal, and translation. I’ve exhibited and screened my films at Smack Mellon, Anthology Archives, Abrons Arts Center, the Border Project Gallery in New York City, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, and Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University. I’ve been a recipient of the Alice Kimball Fellowship, the JUNCTURE Art and Human Rights Fellowship, Research Fellowship at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and Fulbright Fellowship in Filmmaking. My current project is a series of short films about yard art and lawn sculpture in the U.S.
.