Hi!
The opening was great last night! I’m super sick so I was delirious, but it was the most dang fun! Im so proud to be part of this show!
There is an event on nov 23rd from 6-9 pm with all kinds of fun stuff! You should come, you’re invited! Among other things Melissa Walker will be trying old recipes, Andrea Coronil will facilitate the smashing of a piñata she made, and I will facilitate a zine workshop. I heard something about jump rope? Come on out!
Look under the press release below to see pictures of my work in the show!
Academic is pleased to present the group show World Building, which features artists Andrea Coronil, Sarah Goodchild Robb, Gayla Martin, Katie Simpson Spain and Melissa Walker. The title refers to the world that each of the artists build within their work, as well as the exhibition itself being a community building experience as it is the first hosted by Academic. Each artist was invited to make work in the gallery responding directly to the space.
Employing a highly symbolic language Andrea Coronil’s work uses snakes, insects and human figures in dance-like struggles to depict a highly personal relationship to birth/death cycles of renewal. Her cartoon-like drawings on transparent surfaces cast shadows, problematizing the veracity of imagery and raising questions of subjectivity, narrative, and transformation. In her site specific installation, Sarah Goodchild Robb has paired selected photographs shot on film from an ongoing series depicting entry hallways in NYC apartments with a collection of handmade wood tiles. The tiles point to individual units used in the construction of spaces and the dialogue between each suggests an experiential encounter with architectural elements. Gayla Martin uses repetitive actions of threading and knotting to create a meditative state of mind while building her dense fiber works. White and Blues, Martin’s hanging sculptures, activate the gallery space like columns of thread, while her prints quietly reinterpret the activity of addition by carving away the printing plate to illustrate the paradoxical construction underlying each of the art making methods.
Katie Simpson Spain’s installation is based on different types of water. Enclosed within a frilly tent that resembles a waterfall or cave are detailed etchings that describe locations where the artist recently swam, a friendship bracelet made from recycled plastic bags, and a pillow stuffed with tear stained tissues rests on the ground. Melissa Walker’s work uses the domestic sphere to question and review heteronormative relationship roles as well as the emotional ties to quotidian objects. Her large scale collage reflects the anxiety and humor related to trying to follow a recipe, while the dining table overflows with fresh red rose petals and dried flowers adding a cloying smell to the gallery.
The opening will be held November 14th from 5pm – 9pm. There is a special night of artist run activities and performances on November 23rd from 6pm-9pm and there will be a closing reception on December 12th from 5pm-9pm.
Katie Simpson Spain (say it again). 