Media Contact:
Timothy Brown
Hillyer Director
hillyerdirector@artsandartists.org

PRESS RELEASE

Newly Selected Artists: George Lorio, Oluwatoyin Tella, and Dan Ortiz Leizman, January 6–January 28, 2024. The opening reception is Friday, January 5 (“First Friday”), 6 to 8 p.m

George Lorio
Sustainable

This current body of work is a commentary on ecological destruction and a proposed view of renewal. The works represent the significance of nature’s provision of trees. Several fabricated sculptures resembling stumps and logs are placed surrounded by commercially pressed wood pellets. On superficial inspection, the blanketed works appear to have a trompe l’œil direction; however, this concern for defining a context is not to fool the eye but to engage interest. Lorio wishes to physically convey the loss of trees as terminated in a billet of pellets. A variety of embedded sculptures include “Notch,” “Bough Breaks,” “Segment,” “Injury” and a few smaller stump pieces; “Pelletized” is a tall sculpture which rests atop the pellet covered floor. The walls carry mounted sculptures of similar arboreal content, but only protrude slightly from the wall, measuring two to four feet tall. They include “Side by Side,” “Bent,” “Dryad,” “Infolding,” and “Residual Limb.”

Oluwatoyin Tella
Expansion of Oyo

Expansion of Oyo is an exhibition of original paintings and a video installation. These works spotlight the continuous thread between pre-colonial African aesthetic and contemporary Black aesthetic. Despite the trans-Atlantic slave trade traffic that included an insurmountable number of West Africans, the Yoruba culture of Oyo empire has expanded worldwide to the present day. From strongholds in Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the United States, the cultural influence of the Oyo empire keeps growing, and Oluwatoyin’s work contributes to that expansion. In the exhibition, Oluwatoyin transforms the gallery space through visual and auditory input. These multisensory components are extended to be multi-disciplinary, incorporating vessels and video.

Dan Ortiz Leizman
NUCLEAR

NUCLEAR is an exhibition that explores queer pregnancy and nuclear pessimism in the context of late stage capitalism through digital media and installation. Central to this exhibit is NUKESOUND, a short documentary-style film which contains AI generated imagery and sound to depict a world where nuclear radiation triggers asexual reproduction. Complementing the film is an immersive floor-to-ceiling installation of street-style poster prints and a playable plexiglass record. The prints, inspired by AI generated prompts and containing propaganda and ads, immerse the viewer into a paradigm where asexual reproduction has become reality. The plexiglass record plays a reading of the CDC’s FAQ webpage for nuclear disaster. This installation invites viewers to consider alternative reproductive methods for the queer body and combines anti-war sentiment with pessimistic navigation strategies and queer world building..

Exhibition Content

Visit Hillyer’s upcoming exhibitions to learn about the featured exhibitions in January 2024.

Image Credits (Left to Right): 

George Lorio, Pelletized, 2023, manufactured pellets, 61 in x 13 in x 13 in; Oluwatoyin Tella, Asobi, 2023, oil, acrylic, gold leaf on canvas, 48 x 48 in; Dan Ortiz Leizman, NUKEE, 2023, stable diffusion.

International Arts and Artists at Hillyer

Founded in 2006, IA&A at Hillyer (formerly Hillyer Art Space) is the Washington-area initiative of International Arts & Artists. Through its innovative and often provocative exhibitions and public programs, IA&A at Hillyer champions local and international artists at all stages of their careers.IA&A at Hillyer collaborates with artists, cultural organizations, and embassies to develop and host creative, thought-provoking programs that push our understanding and reflect the uniqueness of DC as an international capital. Whether you live in Washington or are visiting, IA&A at Hillyer invites you to encounter contemporary art from the US and around the world in a welcoming, and intimate gallery setting.Hillyer is open Tue-Sun from 12p – 6p (5p on weekends).