October 2 – 31, 2015

Looking Into the Distance Becomes Difficult

“Looking Into the Distance Becomes Difficult” is a personal response to upsetting contemporary realities, namely the refugee crisis in Europe. Each work takes as its starting point a journalistic photograph found on the Internet, which is then abstracted and fractured to reflect and deal with the intense emotions surrounding these images and the concomitant stories of people fleeing war, persecution, torture, rape and hopelessness. No attempt is made to create a literal representation or a similar narrative; rather, fragmentation and abstraction function as a means to a more universal comprehension of these deep and fundamental emotions, while a counter-intuitive palette expresses the naive yet arguably beautiful dreams undeniably at play in the midst of this ongoing tragedy. Call it hope.

Born in Cologne, Germany Surya Gied spent her early childhood in South Korea and her adolescence and adult life in Germany. She completed her MFA from the University of the Arts (Universität der Künste) in Berlin, Germany. Working predominantly in the medium of painting and drawing, Surya Gied has also completed site-specific installations and works. Since 2008 she has exhibited in many project spaces, art institutes and galleries in Berlin, Seoul, Sidney and Los Angeles. Her work has been awarded with grants from the German Academic Exchange Service, the Goethe Institute Seoul and the Bosch Foundation.
Surya Gied lives and works between Berlin, Germany and Fairfield, Iowa, where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at the Maharishi University of Management (MUM).

Surya Gied is the recipient of the 2015 Bosch Foundation Exhibition Grant. This is event is made possible with the support of the Robert Bosch Foundation Alumni Association.