Sensitive to Art & its Discontents
In the universe created by the 2022 Southeast Queens Biennial, abstract art invited viewers to engage their imaginations and to consider the multiple realities conveyed by the seven participating artists through their distinctive visual languages.
Curated by artist Rejin Leys, the show, titled Formations, presented artwork by Jean Foos, Vandana Jain, Jeanne Heifetz, Anton Kerkula, José Carlos Casado, Carl E. Hazlewood, and Dominant Dansby at the York College Fine Arts Gallery and the King Manor Museum.
“We chose to focus on abstraction to open up space for the imagination, and to highlight how a material or a process can drive an entire project,” Leys said about the biennial’s third iteration, which recently closed after extending its run through April 29.
As Leys observed, the similarities that emerged among the distinct artworks were especially evident at the York’s gallery.
José Carlos Casado uses digital technologies and media to create installations and sculptures, among other artworks. His approach is exemplified by “sacrifice.vMeat” (2013), in which a mirror’s reflection brings to mind a psychedelic alternate reality.
In his series R3-visi0n3D, Anton Kerkula also makes use of technology, in this case to transform his architectural photography into surrealistic images that challenge viewers to reconsider the logic of architectural structures.
Dominant Dansby’s abstract grids are inspired by the energy and improvisation of jazz. The collaged grids of pieces like “Interlude of constructed ideals or mannerism” (2015) explore textures and dimensions and showcase the importance Dansby gives to the notion of the artistic process.
In Carl E. Hazlewood’s artist statement, he describes his intention to make “things that tend to be ephemeral in reaction to the space and the surfaces of the site.” The biennial showcases his “BlackHead Anansi Web” (2022), an abstract collage composed of organic forms and diaphanous lines.
In her series Pre-Occupied, Jeanne Heifetz faces her fear of death and offers layered drawings based on the maps of different Jewish cemeteries, including the ones where her relatives are buried.
Jean Foos and Vandana Jain collect and transform discarded materials, creating images that suggest rituals. Foos’s tower-like sculpture “Convulsive Beauty in the Fur Teacup Bar” (2022) evokes a totem, while Jain’s works provide a burst of energy, elevating ordinary objects, such as a broom or rope, into striking art objects to create pieces like “Love Is Love” (2020).
A poetic sense of materials unites the show’s artists, as well as the stories and ideas they express.
“One thing that I realized, looking at the show and installing it … is that though the pieces are different in the processes and the things that the artists are thinking, there’s a continuity in terms of how they approach materials,” noted Nicholas Fraser, York College Fine Arts Gallery’s director.
At the King Manor Museum, the contemporary artworks established a provocative, and almost transgressive, dialogue with the historic structure.
Like its previous editions, the biennial served as a geographical and cultural bridge between art and its surrounding Southeast Queens community. “The biennial was founded to bring more visual arts cultural programming to Southeast Queens, and to bring more visibility to our artists and venues,” Leys explained.
In Formations, the curator’s aspiration for the community to experience and be challenged by the work of diverse artists was accomplished, offering new takes on abstract art and its symbolic power.
Jim Fitton has been in custody since March, when Iraqi officials found 12 small shards of pottery in his luggage.
An exhibition at the Noguchi Museum marks the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which forced over 120,000 Japanese Americans into detention camps.
This new exhibition in Evanston, Illinois considers how art has been used to protest, process, mourn, and memorialize anti-Black violence for more than a century.
This week, Manhattan offices are still mostly empty, Gwyneth Paltrow releases luxury baby diapers, how to remove your personal data from Google, and much more.
The artist says she wants to “confront people with beauty and pride and complexity.”
Guest curated by Alison Burstein, An Asterism* at the school’s Kellen Gallery in NYC features the work of 15 multidisciplinary artists, on view from May 16 through May 27.
We spoke with workers at the International Documentary Association about their successful fight for a union.
Sandra Monterroso confronts the knots that tie together the inequalities, violence, discrimination, racism, and patriarchy in Guatemala.
All US-based artists, including those who work with NFTs, are welcome to submit to the 2022 Future Art Awards. 25 winners will each receive between $2,500 and $5,000.
For all its quirks, Sprout Hinge Nap Wobble’s immersive elements never feel gimmicky.
Researchers are using chemical analysis to concoct the fragrance possibly worn by the last Egyptian pharaoh.
It’s “the first direct image of the gentle giant in the center of our galaxy,” according to astronomer Feryal Özel.
Carmen Graciela Díaz is a Puerto Rican journalist working in New York. She is the author of Huele a bomba: la paradójica esencia del periodismo de... More by Carmen Graciela Díaz
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
{{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}Your submission failed. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Learn More{{/message}}
{{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}It appears your submission was successful. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Learn More{{/message}}
Hyperallergic is a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today. Founded in 2009, Hyperallergic is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.