AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY - FLXST Contemporary

2251 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVE, SUITE 220 / CHICAGO, IL / 60616 [email protected] / 773-800-1470 / www.flxst.co

AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY: ARTIST PACKET 1

AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY LATIFA AL AJLAN, ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC, WEIYANG GAO, AJMAL ‘MAS MAN’ MILLAR, SIENA SMITH

FEBRUARY 13 – MARCH 28, 2021 EXHIBITION INVENTORY LIST

DIRECT INQUIRIES TO JAN CHRISTIAN BERNABE [email protected]

773-800-1470

LATIFA AL AJLAN

Cloud Walker Joint compound and oil on canvas 60 x 40 x 1.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY brings together these five emerging contemporary artists who work across the mediums of sculpture, fibers and textiles, mixed-media, and painting and who, despite their precarious positions as MFA students in their final year of studies, continue to produce work influenced by the tumult happening around them. FLXST Contemporary intentionally curated MFA students in their final year at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) to showcase how the current moment has affected this new wave of contemporary artists in Chicago working under extreme constraints because of the pandemic; working with new modes of learning and talking about art; and working in new spaces to produce art outside of the academic setting—put simply, working against impossible conditions.

As young, emerging contemporary artists, these artists have had to adjust to the conditions around them and have had to ask difficult and often existential questions about their art practice and their identities as artists stepping into the art world. AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY is about the perseverance of these artists. Their work offers possible answers to the question of why art matters tremendously during these moments of crisis.



Hoor Al-Ayn Sand, acrylic, oil, and joint compound on canvas 58 x 58 x 1.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

Fur Coat and Fur Hat Oil, casein, sand, moss on wood 14 x 11 x 2 inches 2020 SERIES: Skulls CONTACT GALLERY

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Insomnia Oil, sand, moss, glue on wood 16 x 20 x 2 inches 2020 SERIES: Skulls CONTACT GALLERY

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WEIYANG GAO

The Ineluctable Weight of Lightness Oil on canvas 60 x 72 x 1.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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AJMAL ‘MAS MAN’ MILLAR

Composite Acrylic, glass cullet from BLM uprising, and twine on found cardboard Approx. 21 x 17 x 10.5 in. 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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Crucial Conflict Acrylic, cork, fiber strings, glass cullet from BLM uprising, and nylon twine on found cardboard Approx. 14 x 9 x 9 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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Guard Your Grill Acrylic, carnival gemstones, oil pastel on found cardboard Approx. 12 x 7.5 x 10.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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SIENA SMITH

Foggy Jacquard woven (stretched), watercolors, wax pastel, graphite 46 x 36 x 1.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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Remember Jacquard woven (stretched), charcoal, wax pastel 23 x 22 x 1.5 inches 2020 CONTACT GALLERY

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact Jan Christian Bernabe

Chief Creative & Operations Director FLXST Contemporary

[email protected] 773-800-1470

FLXST Contemporary Opens Artists of Color Group Show AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY on February 13, 2021

Chicago, Illinois – January 19, 2021 - FLXST Contemporary, a young but noted fine arts and photography gallery and an arts incubator in Chicago’s historic and transitioning Motor Row District will open their first 2021 group show AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY on February 13, 2021, with a reception at 5:30 pm. The show runs through March 28 and exclusively features five artists of color, three of whom are international artists representing China - Weiyang Gao, Kuwait - Latifa Alajlan, France and Mexico - Alexis de Chaunac; two of whom are African Americans from the South, a black queer man - Ajal “Mas Man” Millar and a cis-gendered black woman Siena Smith.

AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY brings together these five emerging contemporary artists who work across the mediums of sculpture, fibers and textiles, mixed-media, and painting. Despite their precarious positions as MFA and BFA students in their final year of studies, they continue to produce work influenced by the tumult happening around them. FLXST Contemporary intentionally curated art students at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to showcase how the current moment has affected this new wave of contemporary artists in Chicago working under extreme constraints because of the pandemic, implementing new modes of learning art, creating art in new spaces outside of the academic studio setting, and, in all, working against impossible conditions.

As young, emerging contemporary creators, these artists had to adjust to the conditions around them and have had to ask difficult and often existential questions about their art practice and their identities as artists. AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY is about the perseverance of these artists and their work offers possible answers to the question of why art matters during these moments of crisis.

FLXST Contemporary’s gallery director and founder Jan Christian Bernabe is a Filipinx American queer person of color based in Chicago. Jan has given an extensive curatorial statement about the show:



“We ended 2020 with signs of change in the United States, a new elected President, and two promising vaccines to battle the COVID pandemic. Change seemed to be on the horizon, a transformation in American culture that many believed could move us away from the hateful rhetoric against people of color, the LGBTQ community, and immigrants unabashedly condoned by President Trump, his congressional allies, and his supporters. The breakneck speed of the development and approval of two COVID-19 vaccines in December captured the global cooperation of doctors and scientists to finally combat a virus that by the end of the year had killed over 300,000 people in the US alone. The last two months of 2020 looked as though the new year would bring back a semblance of normalcy in the US and around the world. With the odds stacked against FLXST Contemporary’s survival in 2020, we rolled into the new year working harder than ever developing an art program for 2021 that aligned with our mission to support and exhibit the very best of contemporary art by artists of color, LGBTQ artists, and immigrant artists. Last year showed us that art matters tremendously during times of crisis. Our art programming last year offered Chicagoans a means to cope with all that was happening in the world and ways to think about and to make meaning of moments of racial and social unrest that was happening all around us through the artwork exhibited in the gallery. The insurrection that occurred during the first week of January that we witnessed at the U.S. Capitol fomented by the conservative media, Republican legislators, and the President of the United States proves to us that we continue to live in a state of precarity—a moment of impossibility that as a gallery and as artists, we continue to work against.” ABOUT THE ARTISTS LATIFA AL AJLAN is a Kuwaiti visual artist currently studying Fine Arts at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Most of her work is inspired by her native culture, surroundings, and reality; aiming to facilitate a conversation between the conservative and the liberal with a focus on women empowerment. Alajlan has a keen interest in the developments of artistic practices taking place in Kuwait and hopes to engage and contribute to its community. ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC draws from literature, religion, mythology, art history, politics, and his own multicultural background to produce exuberant, mixed-media drawings. He describes drawing as “a transcendental language that anyone can understand.” He works quickly, often with ink because of its fluidity, producing rich, multilayered works filled with faces and laden with cultural references. De Chaunac draws inspiration from such diverse artists as Rembrandt, Goya, Delacroix, Schiele, Picasso, and Francis Bacon, whom he groups together as “chroniclers of the human condition.” His own artistic rendering of humanity comes from literature. He claims influences from the Scriptures to great epics and all the way to Beat Generation writers such as William S. Burroughs. Referring to his practice as contemporary myth making, he takes archetypes such as Oedipus, Jesus Christ or Dante “working out of them to explore the primitive aspects of the human being.” Born in New York and raised in Mexico City and Paris, he grew up surrounded by art and culture, drawing in the studio of his



grandfather – renowned Mexican artist Jose Luis Cuevas. He then lived for ten years in Paris immersed in European culture only to return to the US to study at the Sarah Lawrence College, NY. WEIYANG GAO is an artist born in Beijing, China, based in Chicago, US. Wei graduated with BFA in painting and drawing from Boston University. Now, Wei is the second-year painting MFA student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As an artist with a multi-cultural background, Wei has insight into the many ways people have used and abused culture and history to create barriers and divisions. In order to be independent and free from such division, Wei has visually abstracted and encapsulated a broad range of cultural, and philosophical allusions to build imagery of sacred spaces within his paintings. As an artist with a background of both traditional East-Asia art and academic art education, Wei is also seeking the balance between old and new, east and west, tradition and contemporary during his creating process. AJMAL ‘MAS MAN’ MILLAR was born in Brooklyn, NY. They are a self-taught contemporary visual artist and mas man (carnival costume designer). Their work includes mixed –media collage paintings, re-purposed material, sculptural metal, performance, photography which interrogates notions of cultural heritage, sexual and gender identity, and ritual practices as a first generation African–American black queer man born to Trinidadian immigrants. In Autumn of 2019, he relocated to Chicago and entered an MFA program at SAIC. During this time, he also decided to further embrace his alter ego and preferred name, MAS MAN. SIENA SMITH is an artist currently based in Chicago, Illinois. She works with drawing, weaving and collage to work out the complexities of identity and investigate personal narratives. She earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and MFA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is interested in how gesture, color, and texture of textile and 2-D mediums allow for representation and abstraction to begin a conversation about Black identity, emotions and thoughts. Her work has been exhibited in shows across the US and in Italy. Recently, she collaborated with the TextielLab/TextielMuseum to create a series of jacquard woven fabrics. AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY opens on February 13, 2021 and runs through March 28, 2021. The gallery requires that patrons book a time slot to attend the opening reception using the Tock app on their phones or computers. We also encourage patrons to set an appointment to view the show due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Patrons can also email or call the gallery to schedule an appointment for a private viewing. Due to COVID19, gallery patrons must wear face masks at all times in the gallery. Gallery hours may change because of the pandemic.

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WHAT: AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY WHO: Latifa Al Ajlan, Alexis De Chaunac, Weiyang Gao, Ajmal ‘Mas Man’ Millar, Siena Smith WHEN: February 13 to March 28, 2021 Gallery Hours: By appointment. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 1-3 pm. Sunday: 2-5 pm WHERE: FLXST Contemporary, 2251 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 220, Chicago, IL 60616 RESERVATIONS FOR PRIVATE VIEWING: https://www.exploretock.com/flxstcontemporary IMAGE Hi-res image accompanying this press release: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2p1Ua1dnZt9Y3V3b7 Caption for image: (left) Latifa Al Ajlan, Hoor Al-Ayn, canvas, mixed media, sand, acrylic, oil, and joint compound, 58 x 58 x 1.5 inches, 2020. (right) Alexis De Chaunac, Insomnia, oil, sand, moss, glue on wood, 16 x 20 x 2 inches, 2020. Courtesy of the artists and FLXST Contemporary.



LATIFA AL AJLAN ARTIST STATEMENT

Cloud Walker, joint compound and oil on canvas, 60 x 40 x 1.5 inches, 2020

As a Kuwaiti woman artist, I have always projected the social and political issues of the Middle East, especially those of Kuwait. The paintings project what my body and women actively go through in an abstract form. I translate Kuwaiti women’s plight to architectural structures to illustrate women’s expected compliance with societal and religious norms. My work also draws heavily off of that of Nancy Spero and Kiki Smith, who are biblically orientated, as well as Antoni Tàpies, who is more material based. The range of colors are specific to the feel of heat and water, an excavation of the past to understand the history and a reflection of the juxtaposition of cold and hot, dry, and wet, freedom and limitation. The earthy materials that I use in my paintings such as sand, clay, and standard building materials hearken back to the building of mosques and historical sites that symbolize the formidable patriarchy imposed by male religious scholars in the region. Using my hands and body, the sensual strokes and textures of my paintings aim to invoke the intimacy of nature and taking ownership of one’s flesh. Therefore, in defiance of societal shaming and belittling of topics like sexual assault that have long been censored by religious scholars, I narrate my perspective through these Islamic patterns.



ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC ARTIST STATEMENT

Fur Coat and Fur Hat, oil, casein, sand, moss on wood, 14 x 11 x 2 inches, 2020

My work is embedded with multiculturalism, being brought up between New York, Mexico, and Paris. I spent my early years adapting to different environments, and I thought about my sense of belonging often—a common thread within my work. A few years ago, I found an anatomy book in an antique shop. This experience triggered my desire to work with discarded old books filled with knowledge. It attracted the idea of drawing on its pages. This type of practice fascinated me, especially by how the ink on these old papers could travel through time and unite the world in a more direct and organic way than any new technology. Natural sciences attracted my curiosity: anatomy, biology, zoology, and botany. Coinciding with the spirit of naturalists, I feel the urge to name and classify the natural world around me. Using the fragility of paper as a metaphor for the frailty of the human body, I have obsessively altered those tenuous pages faded by time and that have reached the end of their lifecycle. They become spaces of exploration where I let go of all preconceived ideas. I draw lines and stain them with watercolors to give them new meanings, while keeping elements of the original pre-printed document apparent as if they were forgotten secrets. The pages now have a renewed purpose while preserving their histories. Even if the core of my practice is working on paper, I always take an interdisciplinary approach in my process as I try different mediums in order to express myself. Though my process of investigation, my interests in collage and installation and the use of unconventional materials such as butterfly wings, snake skin, small bones, or dry plants have only grown stronger. My creations have now become less predictable as I combine my personal memories with the collective human experience using archetypical imageries in my work. I hope to continue my artistic process, creating order within the chaos of the world, where the past and the present can coexist in harmony.



WEIYANG GAO Artist Statement

The Ineluctable Weight of Lightness, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 x 1.5 inches, 2020

My paintings blur the categories of figuration and abstraction. Within them, I utilize themes of pattern and space in relation to the human body to discuss and critique the constructions of systems of belief. Being an artist with a multicultural background, I have insight into the many ways people have used and abused culture and history to create barriers and divisions within the broader spectrum of humanity. My work stands in opposition to such divisions. Within my paintings, I build imagery of sacred spaces, devoid of specific religious or spiritual demarcations, in order to allow all audiences a place for spiritual and meditative contemplation. Purposefully, I create new systems of symbolism within my works in effort to reconnect my audience with the ineffable source of all spirituality, outside of specific cultural or temporal paradigms.



AJMAL ‘MAS MAN’ Millar Artist Statement

Crucial Conflict, acrylic, cork, fiber strings, glass cullet from BLM uprisings, and nylon twine on found cardboard,

approx. 14 x 9 x 9 inches, 2020 My current work focuses on introducing and re-imagining Blackness in America as a hero archetype. Inspired from my carnival technique of “wire bending,” Afro-Futurism, and Afro-Surrealism, I have an opportunity to express my emotions and thoughts in the present, as well as to create the armors crafted carefully for the hero's protection. As MAS MAN, I utilize the Asante Twi (Akan) Sankofa principle of “looking back to thrust forward” in order to embrace the imagined possibilities. My goal is to contextualize black heroism rarely experienced through imagination, invention, and the investigation of dreams, magic, and ritual. I combine sculpture, painting, photography, as well as performance while particularly grounding it from my experience as a mas man (carnival artist) as well as a Bondage, Discipline, Sado/Masochism (BDSM) master. I am interested in using the metaphors of life as an opportunity to form commentary or conceptualize incomprehensible realities we face. Elucidation and illumination of the state of the world is a prominent modality of traditional MAS or masquerade. I have the ability to address the present time while inserting subconscious visions into my work. The combination of imagination and a yearning to ‘bring things into life’ causes me to thrust into my formidable medium of MAS (carnival art). “When I am creating MAS, I am fashioning several artistic disciplines in a way that is ritualized and traditional, then release them into the world as sigils and opportunities for transcendent arrival.”



SIENA SMITH Artist Statement

Foggy, Jacquard woven (stretched), watercolors, wax pastel, graphite, 46 x 36 x 1.5 inches, 2020

Once you shed all the stereotypes, you just have the girl and the skin she is in. In my work, I depict women in the black community. Our skin, beautiful shades of brown, is unfortunately sometimes negatively judged. Through drawing and weaving, I try to show a group of people in a different light and capture an individual person’s soul and personality. Drawing is the foundation of my jacquard woven work. Drawing lets me get all my ideas out and allows me to capture a range of skin tone values, which are then defined by different weave structures. As I draw, I being to think about how these marks can become wefts being held down by warp. Weaving continues the process of creating the subject I begin to sketch, the values of her skin highlighted with each weave structure. Yarns turn into skin and space. The varied fibers and textures add to the emotional and physical interpretation of the subject. Maybe the audience can even imagine the subject’s internal dialogue and empathize with her. Using the template of the repeat on a jacquard loom, I represent figures within this repeat. Their images reading over and over again across the width of the fabric suggests movement and gesture and the passage of time. What is she doing or thinking about? Does her routine repeat every day? Is she in the same position or is she moving? It is just her in the space, thinking, feeling, living. The viewer follows



her in that moment and sees her for her. When I see the woven image repeated, I think: “There she is. She is just trying to be ... be comfortable in her own skin.” Every time I realize my drawings into a woven surface, I think about the essence that makes up these figures. I want to keep questioning and creating more. When others see my work, I want them to be provoked to think about and question what it means to see a girl or woman of color in a space. What does a person who looks like this do in a space? How does a subject’s gesture suggest their actions or intentions? Is it because her skin is brown that she acts a certain way? I want to challenge the viewers’ perceptions of a group of people while at the same time reaching out to viewers who look like the people that my work depicts. I hope when other girls who look similar to my images see my work, they’ll think: “She looks like me, it’s okay to be me.” Identity is complicated. Every time I draw, I try to figure out mine. What does it mean to be? I’m still trying to figure that out.

ARTIST CVS

PLEASE CONTACT FLXST CONTEMPORARY FOR INQUIRIES [email protected] 773-800-1470

LATIFA ALAJLAN

b.1998 [email protected]|latifaalajlan.com

Lives and works in Chicago, IL

60E Monroe st

Education

2021 School Of The Art Institute of Chicago (Expected)

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 Blessons For Women Annual Holiday Benefit, Casati, Chicago, IL

2018 Circular X Gonuts Donuts, The Hub Gallery, Kuwait City, Kuwait 2018 Zaan, Alkhaled Complex, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Residencies

2019 Oxbow School of Art and Artist, Saugatuck, MI

Awards & Honors

2018 Merit Scholarship, Kuwait Ministry of Higher Education

Experience

2020 Shurooq Amin’s Art Assistant (Like Russian Dolls, We Nest in our Previous Selves)

2020 Representing CAP Kuwait in the 46th Bahrain Annual Fine Arts Exhibition

ALEXIS DE CHAUNAC

French-Mexican, b. 1991 in New York, NY

Lives and works in New York and Mexico City

EDUCATION2014 B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY2013 History of Art, University of Oxford, UK

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2019 Botanica, Silas von Morisse, Sargentʼs Daughters, New York, NY2018 Botanica Magnifica, Silas von Morisse, ChaShaMa, New York, NY2017 Rebelde con Causa, XLV FIC, Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico2015 A Dance with Life and Death, Silas von Morisse Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Mala Sangre, Bestiario, Pinacoteca Diego Rivera, Xalapa, Mexico2014 Mala Sangre, Instituto Cultural de León, Guanajuato, Mexico Mala Sangre, Museo Iconografico del Quijote, Guanajuato, Mexico

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2019 Vertigo, Works on paper, Baahng & Co. Gallery, New York, NY2017 7102 Fantasma semiótico (s)cituacionista, Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico2014 Inaugural Exhibition, Silas von Morisse Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2013 What is an Art Book?, Garis & Hahn Gallery, New York, NY2010 DRAW, the largest contemporary drawing exhibition, curated by Erik Foss and Miguel Calderon, Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS2016 Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX2014 Francois Pinault Foundation, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

FAIRS2016 Two Person Booth, Silas von Morisse Gallery, Zona MACO, Mexico City, Mexico

SELECTED PRESS2017 VANITY FAIR Mexico, Recuerdos del Abuelo, by Norberto Bogard, October, 20172015 WHITEWALL, A Dance with Life & Death, by Katy Donoghue, October 19, 20152015 WHITEHOT Magazine, A Dance with Life & Death, by Jeffrey Grunthaner, October, 20152015 HARPERʼS BAZAAR Mexico, Alexis de Chaunac inaugura exposición, April 15, 20152015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC en Espanol, Arte en Veracruz, May 18, 2015, illus.2015 ARTSY Editorial, How Trilingual Painter Alexis de Chaunac Wrestles With His Multiple Histories, by Molly Osberg, September 16, 2015

Exhibitions• Fresh Perspectives Pt 2, London Paint Club, London, UK (2021)• Part 1: The Era of Seclusion, Visionary Projects, New York, NY (2020)• 6 Ft From You, Guayaba Gallery, Union City, NJ (2020)• SAIC Writing Center 2D Art Call, Chicago, IL (2019)• Continuum, 808 Gallery, Boston, MA (2018)• Inversant’s 8th Annual Art Show, Boston, MA (2018)• Fall Showcase, Stone Gallery, Boston, MA (2017)• @Sloan, Sloan House, Brookline, MA (2017)• Summer Showcase, 855 Gallery, Boston, MA (2016)

Publication• Art Hole Magazine: 6th Edition (2020)

Awards• Exhibition award at Inversant’s 8th Annual Art Show, Boston, MA (2018)• Exhibition award at Fall Showcase, Stone Gallery, Boston, MA (2017)

Education• MFA of painting and drawing, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

(2021)• BFA of painting and drawing, Boston University, Boston, MA (2018)

Weiyang [email protected]://www.weiyanggao.com/

Ajmal “MAS MAN” MillarAjmal is a freelance costume designer and artist with experience in creating mixed media paintings and a specialty for making MAS (carnival costumes) and sculpture from found objects. His work is culminated into performance artwork and also lives on through new media film and photography.

Education

*School of the Art Institute of ChicagoAugust 2019- presentCandidate for MFA Painting and Drawing

*Morehouse College August 2004-May 2008Graduated with a BA in English

*The Art Students League of New York September 2012- January 2013Attended classes for mixed media painting and collage with mARTha Bloom

Work Experience

*Mas Man (Costume designer and creative director) 2012-PresentDeveloped narratives and created carnival costumes for Calabash Alley Masqueraders: The Theater of the Streets presentation for the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival

Mirror, Mirror- 2012CELEBRATION- 2013Out of this World- 2014H2O: The Key of Life- 2015FYAH!- 2016A Breathe of Fresh Air- 2017PLANET ROCK-2018INTERGALACTIC-2019 *Intern at The High Museum of Art June- September 2003Assisted in facilitating summer programming for youth through the Arthur Blank Family Fellowship Program*Exhibition facilitator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art August-December 2012Facilitated and oversaw the acceptance and enforcement of guidelines for navigating the roof top structure Cloud City*Exhibitor November 2012Displayed the painting, When You Plant a Seed at DBGM Art Exhibit in Harlem, NY*Freelance Costume Designer- August 2013

Created masquerade headpieces and masks for CW’s The Originals (episode 103)* Freelance Costume Designer- February 2014Created Mardi Gras headdresses and goddess crowns for CW’s The Originals*Freelance Costume Designer- July 2014Created cardboard werewolf and zombie masks for CW’s The Originals *Exhibitor- Jul-Aug 2014Displayed paintings at various community art events held by TUC magazine *Exhibitor- November 2014Displayed paintings at KIPP South Fulton Academy for their 12th Annual Parent Appreciation breakfast*Freelance Designer Costume - February 2015

Displayed costumes and performed in New Orleans Mardi Gras parade *Exhibitor- February 2015Displayed and sold artwork at the February RAW art show, "PRESENT" *Exhibitor- February-March 2015Participated in a group show at the Apache Cafe for Black History month called "DA Corporation."Displayed a piece entitled "When the Trumpet Blows.”*Exhibitor- March-April 2015Participated in a group show at the Apache Cafe called "Purple." Displayed a mixed media painting entitled "School Lunch." *Exhibitor- April 2015Participated and displayed erotic costumes at Hedonism Erotic Art show*Exhibitor- May 2015Exhibited at Bloom Salon Marketplace in Manhattan, NY*Exhibitor- June 2015Exhibited paintings and MAS (costumes) at ART SWIM: volume 1 Group art show*Exhibitor- June 2015 Exhibited ‘When one door closes, another opens’, displayed MAS, and performed ‘The Mounting of Yemeya’*MAS- August 2015Performed ‘MAS MAN and the EROTIC ANIMALS’ at THE EROTIC CIRCUS art show*Exhibitor- August 2015 Performed ‘That which we Call a Rose’ in the Othella Group Art Show*Exhibitor- September 2015Exhibited at Bloom The Flag Fete Marketplace in Manhattan, NY*MAS- September 2015Performed Kakilambe at First African Church*MAS- October 2015Performed ‘Day of Freak’ at HEDONISM: Dia en el Monstrua Erotic Art show*Exhibitor- December 2015Exhibited artwork at ART BEAT MIAMI during Art Basil*Exhibitor- December 2015Exhibited artwork at NOW or Neverland Art Show during Art Basil*Exhibitor- December 2015

Exhibited the mixed media painting ‘Dear Youth,’ at the Jump On It! Group art show at Apache’ Café*MAS- February 2016Performed ‘CHEERS to LIFE’ at the Soul Spin’s Mardi Gras on Edgewood*Exhibitor- February 2016Exhibited ‘Brought to Fruition’ in the Atlanta Renaissancegroup art show at City of Ink Gallery*MAS- May 2016Performed ‘AKUA’ at Soul Spin’s Tropisol: An Afro Latin Dance Party *MAS- July 2016Performed ‘WE ARE ONE’ at Elevate Atlanta hosted the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affair*Exhibitor- July 2016Exhibited ‘Protect the King’ in the group art show, CURSE WORDS at Apache Café *MAS- October 2016Provided costumes and performed with musical performer Rahbi for AFROPUNK Festival*MAS- November 2016Performed ‘Keep on Moving’ at the Opening Ceremony of the US tour of ‘The Things that we Treasure’ exhibit at the SGI Atlanta Buddhist Center*Exhibitor- January 2017Exhibited ‘Never Blend In’ at the FOCUS group art show at City of Ink Gallery*Exhibitor- February 2017Exhibited ‘Timely Arrival’ in the Celebration of Life art show at City of Ink’s Tenth Anniversary*Exhibitor- February 2017Exhibited ‘Gather Peace (Djembe’)’ in the American Religion group art show*SOLO art show – April 28, 2017 Painted Bodies and Pholourie art show at Mas Man Art Gallery*Curator/Exhibitor- June 2017Organized the group art show PRIZMATIC and exhibited the mixed media painting ‘Life is Picking Flowers’*MAS- October 2017 Performed ‘FREE SPEECH’ at the Bakery Birthday Bash*SOLO art show- November 17, 2017JAB JAB art show at JavaVino Cafe*Exhibitor- November 2017Exhibited ‘Ochosi’ a carnival costume installation for Xfinity group art show at City of Ink Gallery *Exhibitor- December 2017Exhibited ‘The Best Ways to Love You Come From the Universe’ in the ART BEAT MIAMI group art show during Art Basil*Artist residency- December 5-18, 2017Disguises Welcomed Here group residency at Eyedrum Art Gallery*MAS- March 2018Provided costuming for a performance at Surround: an Immersive Experience at University of Georgia School of Music*MAS- March 2018Performed ‘Beasts of No Nation’ at BELA!: burlesque noir at Apache Café

*MAS- April 2018Performed ‘Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?’ at Apache café*MAS- May 2018Performed ‘My People’ and ‘Earthy Magician’ at Kibbee Art Gallery*Illustrator- June 2018Designed the cover art for a poetry book called A Flower Left to Wilt*Exhibitor- August 2018Exhibited paintings and sculptures in the LARGER THAN LIFE group art show*Exhibitor- September 2018Exhibited paintings and sculptures at Atlanta’s Streets Alive in collaboration with MINT Gallery*Exhibitor/Panelist- October 2018Exhibited three JAB-JAB paintings in SHOOK and participated in a discussion about the ‘New Black Goth Image’ in music, comic books and cinema at the Auburn Avenue Research Library during the A3c Festival*Exhibitor- October 2018Exhibited sculpture and exhibited/performed THE SKY FATHER during Abstract Mindstate at FUTURE DEAD Artist Gallery*Exhibitor- November 2018*Exhibited ‘Seeds of Hope’ sculpture in SMALL WORKS juried exhibition at The Real Milk Studios*Guest Relations at The HIGH Museum of Art- November 2018Working as an attendant for Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit *Exhibitor- December 2018Exhibited a series of small mixed media paintings called SAFE SEX MATTERS NOW! during the ANNUAL POSTCARD SHOW at MINT Gallery*Exhibitor- December 2018Exhibited ‘Representing Race’, ‘The Magician’, and ‘The Hierophant’ in the ART BEAT MIAMI group art show during Art Basil*Panelist- December 2018Participated in Seen/Unseen: Queer Artists of Color, Visibility & Self in Atlanta, a panel discussion at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art hosted by Johnnie Ray Kornegay III*MAS- December 2018Performed Kakilambe at First African Church*Exhibitor- January 2019Exhibited several mixed media paintings and sculpture in Deeper Than, a group art show at Hapeville Makers Space*MAS/Exhibitor- January 2019Performed and exhibited as an art installation called ‘NOW IS THE TIME’ at the Bakery Atlanta*Interviewee- February 2019Interviewed with School of the Arts Institute of Chicago for Graduate Painting and Drawing program and Performance Art Program*MAS- February 2019Performed ‘Cook-Up’at Black Lives Matter Global Pop Up in Atlanta*Interviewee- March 2019Interviewed with Yale School of Art for the Graduate Painting and Printmaking program

*Panelist- March 2019Participated in and exhibited art during CANVAS, a discussion about Art, HIV, and the Black Queer and Trans community presented by The Counter Narrative Project*SOLO art show- July 2019PROTAGONIST art show at Murmur Gallery *Muralist- August 2019Participated as a muralist working with Living Walls Atlanta and The Atlanta Beltline to create the mural ‘THE TRANSFORMATION TUNNEL’ aka WE ARE ALL THRIVING WITH HIV*Exhibitor- November 2019Performed ORI: THE PLACE WHERE YOU ARE during the 13th Annual New BLOOD Festival held atLinks Hall in Chicago*Exhibitor- June 2020Featured in THE SUBURBAN’s 2020 Exhibitions: PROJECTS (online)

SIENA SMITH

sienasmith.com 857.472.0687 [email protected]

EXHIBITIONS

2021 Always Moving, Martha’s Contemporary, Texas 2020 Social Studies, Something Special Studios, New York Voter’s Initiative Art Exhibition, Martha’s Contemporary, Texas Still Here, Martha’s Contemporary, Texas 2018 RISD Textiles, New York Design Center, 1stdibs Gallery, New York String Theory, Woods Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island 2017 Designing Traditions, RISD Museum, Rhode Island International Contemporary Furniture Fair, ICFF, Javits Center, New York Salone Del Mobile, FieraMilano Rho, Italy 2015 RISD Textile Triennial Show, Woods Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island

AWARDS

2018 Sherri Donghia Award

EDUCATION

2021 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL M.F.A. Fiber and Material Studies 2018 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI B.F.A. Textiles

TEACHING

2019-2020 Teaching Assistant, Woven Structure Basics, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2016-2018 Studio Monitor, Weaving and Silkscreen Classrooms, Rhode Island School of Design 2016 Teaching Assistant, Weaving I Continuing Education, Rhode Island School of Design 2015 Teaching Assistant, Foundations Drawing Studio, Rhode Island School of Design

SIENA SMITH

PRESENTATIONS

2020 Guest Artist Talk, Rhode Island School of Design, Jacquard Design Class

PROJECTS / WORKSHOPS

2020 Weaving Project, TextilelLab/TextielMusuem, Tilburg, NL W.E.F.T. Class, The Weaving Mill, Chicago, IL 2016 Tilt-Down Fence, BR+A+CE, Boston, MA

PRESS

Core Jr, Core77, Where to Find the Best Student Work at NYCxDesign (May 11, 2017): https://www.core77.com/posts/65984/Where-to-Find-the-Best-Student-Work-at-NYCxDesign Metropolis (Print May 2017) Blouin Art+Auction (Print April 2017) Mark McMenamin, Georgina McWhirter, Rebecca Thienes, Athena Waligore, Interior Design, RISD Student Rethink Soft Furniture at ICFF (April 20, 2017): https://www.interiordesign.net/articles/13173-risd-students-rethink-soft-materials-in-furniture/ Katie Dominy, Arts Thread, Milan17: Patterns of Making by Rhode Island of Design (April 11, 2017): https://www.artsthread.com/news/milan-17-patterns-making-rhode-island-school-design/

AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY - FLXST Contemporary

Documents

Transcript of AGAINST IMPOSSIBILITY - FLXST Contemporary