Julieta Tetelbaum

Julieta Tetelbaum

Black Chalk Intimacy
May 4 – June 2, 2024

Black Chalk Intimacy immerses visitors in the intimate world of a woman with Down’s Syndrome, who writes on the wall with black chalk a list of daily activities to organize her life. The exhibition features a continuous screening of “Black Chalk” an 8-minute short film, still frames from the film, and sculptures created especially for this exhibition as symbols of the themes explored. Enhanced ambient sounds, like chalk scratching, footsteps, and ticking clocks, envelop the space, evoking the subjectivity of the main film’s character and conveying the sensation that a secret has been revealed, as if someone’s intimacy has been entrusted to us. Additionally, the “Chalk Wall” invites visitors to write their main daily activity, fostering interaction and inclusion in the evolving artwork. These multi-sensory elements are designed to foster active participation by engaging visitors’ senses. Through this immersive experience, Black Chalk Intimacy invites viewers to empathize with the challenges and resilience of individuals with functional diversity, promoting empathy and awareness.

About the Artist:

Julieta Tetelbaum (Buenos Aires, Argentina 1990) is a queer film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and sculptor based in London. Tetelbaum’s short films have garnered recognition worldwide, among these: “The Misfortune of Femininity” (2020), “Wake Up! It’s Yesterday” (2021), “Black Chalk” (2022), and “Joy” (2023). Her films are part of the esteemed collection of the Library of Congress of Argentina, have been showcased in prestigious museums, art galleries, urban spaces, and over 200 international film festivals worldwide. Tetelbaum shared the big screen with Pedro Almodóvar at a special screening hosted at the Public Library of Congress of Argentina, where her film “Joy” was presented alongside Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory.”

Additionally, she exhibited “Black Chalk” at renowned venues such as the BFI British Film Institute in London, MALBA The Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires, The Swedenborg Society, and many other art galleries and museums.

She has also contributed to performances with Marta Minujin at Frieze New York and with Amalia Pica at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Contemporary Echoes

Contemporary Echoes: Rediscovering Italian Art from 1950-1980. Artworks from the BFF Collection
Curated by Renato Miracco
April 6 – June 2, 2024

The exhibition features eighteen works by ten prominent Italian artists and serves as a captivating exploration linking the artistic journeys of Italian and American artists, drawing inspiration from BFF Bank’s art collection dating back to the late 1980s. Read the full description to learn more. If you missed our recent event “Creative Alliances,” check out the video and other highlights.

About the Curator:

Renato Miracco is a scholar and curator who was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for Cultural Achievements in 2018. He served as Cultural Attaché for the Italian Embassy in Washington from 2010 to 2018. Prior appointments include Director of Cultural Affairs for the Italian Cultural Institute in New York (2007-09), and Art Advisor at NYU’s Washington Square campus (2006-07), working with the Italian Department and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò to create exhibitions related to Italian artists. Miracco currently serves as adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy on the restitution of artworks, and advisor for the Venice Biennale. Dr. Miracco curated important exhibitions with the Tate Modern in London, and with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Miracco has published widely on Giorgio de Chirico and Lucio Fontana, as well as Giorgio Morandi. He was co-author and co-curator with Matthew Gale for the exhibition “Beyond Painting: Burri, Fontana, Manzoni” at the Tate Modern.

Deborah Grayson

They Think of Love as a Reddening of the Earth Under the Sun
April 6 – April 28, 2024

They Think of Love as a Reddening of the Earth Under the Sun is about what happens at the intersection of the archive, biomythography, and spirit memory. For the last seven years Grayson has been deeply immersed in origin stories—stories that say something about who we are, where we’ve been, and who we might become if we rewild ourselves and our stories. She reflects on questions like: Who are our people? How have we connected with and nurtured lands and communities? What are the rituals that have sustained and carried our families? What artifacts have we fashioned to bring magic, love, and life to lands and communities? She asks these questions as she wanders through archives and maps, time, space and cultures to restore the stories that have been violently annotated or redacted. Each work of art in They See Love is inspired by the stories of our ancestors to ground ourselves in communion with the land and community.

About the Artist:

Deborah Grayson is a fine art printmaker, painter and scholar. She creates work about the interior lives of Black people and how they fully live in their lives. In her work Grayson is interested in capturing the nuance, beauty and dimensionality of Black lives that often gets drowned out by the necessity of always having to say truly obvious and basic things like Black lives matter. Kevin Quashie tells us that there is heft and history in everyday moments. For Grayson, to reflect on these everyday moments – to recognize and relish them –provides an opportunity for more expansive ways of seeing and being. Born and raised in Washington, DC and Montgomery County, Maryland (Go-Go for life). She earned a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MA and PhD in American Studies from Michigan State University where her areas of concentration were literature, history and science. Her studio is located in NE Washington, DC.

Judith Klausner

(de)composed/nocturne
April 6 – April 28, 2024

(De)composed/nocturne is an exhibit in two parts: dark and light. Works in the darkened portion of the space utilize the science of light, including fluorescence, luminescence, and retroreflectivity. All of the pieces beckon the viewer to look closer.

Often when something has “gone bad,” it has given rise to something new, but it can be hard to appreciate new growth in the shadow of our disappointment. In this body of work, every element was made by hand: every rock and popsicle stick is painstakingly sculpted. This crafting of every detail inspires new ways of looking at familiar objects and helps to reveal small and easily overlooked beauty.

(De)composed/nocturne reflects the artist’s journey to reframe life as a disabled person. It aims to encourage others to observe, reexamine, and perhaps find beauty for themselves.

About the Artist:

Judith Klausner is a Somerville, MA artist with a love for small, intricate, and overlooked things. She received her degree in Studio Art from Wesleyan University in 2007 after constructing her thesis primarily out of insects, and has since continued to search the details of her surroundings for inspiration. Her experience of invisible disability and chronic pain play an integral role in how she views the world and creates art. Her work has been featured in Harper’s magazine, Reader’s Digest, the Huffington Post and NPR, and exhibited in venues internationally including the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Susquehanna Art Museum, Museum of Natural History, RI, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, and the Boston Children’s Museum. Judith enjoys playing with her food, both recreationally and professionally.

Judith Klausner
Pronouns: She/her
www.jgklausner.com
https://www.instagram.com/miss.mantis/

Alexandra Chiou

Remember/Renew
March 2 – March 31, 2024

Remember/Renew celebrates the life and legacy of Alexandra Chiou’s late father and her healing journey after his passing. In the exhibition, Chiou gives physical form to abstract concepts and feelings such as hope, love, joy, and wonder, which defined the wonderful life and time she spent with her father. Many of her recent works focus specifically on memories of her childhood home in Virginia. After her father’s passing, her family made the difficult decision to move away, leaving behind a house filled with cherished memories. Several pieces in this exhibition are about coming to terms with this change and finding peace and healing in memories of home, love, and family.

About the Artist:

Alexandra Chiou is a visual artist who draws on nature and memory to create layered, dimensional works on paper that give physical form to abstract feelings and concepts such as hope, joy, resilience, and wonder. Chiou’s work has been exhibited nationally at galleries including Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston, MA), Launch LA (Los Angeles, CA), Newport Art Museum (Newport, RI), and Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, NC), and internationally at venues including the US Embassy in Ethiopia. Her work is also in the public collection of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. A native of Richmond, Virginia, she currently lives and works in Cambridge, MA.