DCARTS

Newly Selected Artists, July 2022

Gabrielle Lajoie-Bergeron

Mascha-Le Gros Party

 

Mascha – Le gros Party questions the notion of celebration in the intimate, public, and political space. Highlighting evocative traces of a past event, this vivid new corpus allows us to imagine a universe in itself. Inspired by the figure of the “mascha” — the etymological root of the word “mask,” also meaning witch in Low Latin — the exhibition marshals a vast diversity of works, including a number of faux-visages (false faces) made of various materials. “Le gros party” is a French expression meaning, in common parlance, “the big party.” Inspired by festivities and their rituals, the project questions notions of overflow and excess, and the flashpoint at which fiction and reality overlap. It is about identity, power, and relationships. If the party makes it possible to become someone else — to live a rite of passage — what happens when the event overflows beyond the dancing, the singing, the feast, and the simple drinking? The big party invoked by Lajoie-Bergeron refers to the capricious masquerade that we offer in our time, when the celebration begins to lose its glamor and to lurch into incipient violence and other abuses.

Kate Fitzpatrick

There is no anagram for the word anagram 

An anagram is a word formed by rearranging the letters of a different word, using all the letters. Any word that exactly uses those letters in another order is called an anagram. Whether as a literary game, cipher, mysterious verse, or poetry, anagrams provide a channel for making new meaning out of fixed ideas. Anagrams are anchored to their assigned positions and are limited due to their language rules, which are based on a collectively agreed-upon system.

There is no anagram for the word anagram playfully explores the idea of language and meaning by using an imaginary sign system to take the form of text, images, and objects, to break down the construction of our own arbitrary reality. The graphic potential of a sign invites the viewer to consider the possibilities that exist in arrangements that fill in the gap between image and text to explore meaning. In this exhibition, paintings, games, video, and objects offer a dynamic by which to wonder and to create personal meaning through indecipherable signs, which become a vessel for schema and a pathway to search and interpret.

Kristin Adair

Unconditional

Unconditional is a multimedia exploration of the legacy of love that we carry within us as human beings. We are the accumulation of the relationships that came before us, that brought us into the world. Through the pandemic, I have investigated my love map through the lens of a box of letters my grandfather wrote to my grandmother while he was stationed in the South Pacific for three years during World War II. I weave a tapestry of images in both paper and video form, including archival images that my grandfather made during his deployment and other found materials, with visual explorations of my own body, examining the experience during the two years of the pandemic of isolation and my own search for connection and true love. The series Unconditional uses both physical and digital manipulation to combine old and new photographs with archival and new audio, weaving stories of the past — those that live inside of me, the present, and the future of my own latent lineage.

in 2022 / Artist Highlight / Artist Interviews / Uncategorized 0 comments

Nine Patch: Q&A with Olivia Tripp Morrow

Olivia Tripp Morrow received her BFA in sculpture at Syracuse University, graduating cum laude in December of 2012. Her most recent works are video and sculptural installations that address concepts relating to beauty, intimacy, memory, sexuality, and the commodification of women’s bodies. Morrow’s work primarily utilizes found and donated textiles as material, which are imbued with social and cultural values as well as personal histories. Through her work, Morrow draws connections between status quo notions of beauty/luxury and the perpetuation of harmful social norms and expectations placed on women and girls.  Morrow’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has permanent installations and works on-loan at the National Institute of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD, the Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, DC, and the Arlington Art Center in Arlington, VA, where she is a current Resident Artist.

www.otmorrow.com

Your work addresses the human body and the experiences of human bodies through abstract installations. Can you tell us a bit about how you arrived at this theme?

The core of my work and studio practice comes from a personal context. I was twelve when I discovered that my body was perceived by my peers as a mishmash of individual physical parts entirely separate from each other, and which could be rated according to a numerical scale. In high school I learned that my value as a person could be defined entirely by my physical appearance. As an adolescent, my appeal for perfectionism mutated into a crippling fear of making mistakes or being perceived by others as inadequate—physically or otherwise. (This was before smart phones or Instagram, so I would imagine it’s only getting harder for young girls today.) Grappling with notions of beauty, bodies, and intimacy, as well as social structures that attempt to exclude and invalidate people who don’t fit neatly into conventional measures of beauty, have been important to why I create work and what I want it to do.

It’s practically impossible to filter out the incessant bombardment of media and advertisements that reinforce harmful and equally narrow definitions of beauty, bodies, and gender-appropriate behaviors, all of which normalize obsessive fixations on so-called imperfections and breed exclusivity. Once I realized what I was looking at I saw it everywhere: relentless reminders to buy whatever product or thing that would seem to simultaneously present and offer solutions to the apparently boundless inadequacies of my appearance. This subliminal conditioning can be highly effective, but knowing what strings these industries are trying to pull at can at least give us a chance to resist them.

What is the purpose of using donated materials in your work?

For the past few years my work has been driven by donated women’s clothing, undergarments, bedsheets, and other used textiles that I began collecting in 2015. Along with these donated items, many women shared personal stories associated with them: Fond memories of family, travel, and past lovers were contrasted with darker recollections such as an outfit that someone was wearing when they were assaulted. Like much of my favorite work by Sonia Gomes, Shinique Smith, and Senga Nengudi, whose found and donated materials seemed dense with meaning upon arrival, the donated textiles I received were imbued with personal history, familial tradition, social narrative, and political context.

In the context of the current exhibition at Hillyer, Crochet II is a single-channel looped video that utilizes a blanket that was crocheted by my great-grandmother. The significance of the blanket itself lies in its personal and familial sentimentality, and implications of domesticity. The intricate, open floral patterning of the blanket and mesmerizing shapes that at times resemble female genitalia might give the initial impression that it is delicate and decorative. However, its actual strength and durability defy these assumptions once it’s discovered that a person is moving around underneath, pulling and stretching the fabric to its limit. Similarly, the five printed photo quilts in Nine Patch are comprised of thousands of selfies taken while underneath used crocheted blankets, and simultaneously conceal and reveal my body.

While I grew up using crocheted blankets and handmade quilts as functional objects that were made by family members and passed down over generations, I never saw them being made by those family members. By the time I was born, the generation that labored over these textiles had passed, and their tradition and skill set largely disappeared with them. It was only as an adult that I began to consider the labor that went into their creation, and all the implications of that labor in the context of times and places that I never lived in.

Do you plan out your ideas meticulously before making an installation, or are you more improvisational? Can you take us through your creative process?

My materials and their physical properties guide my formal decisions while creating new work. I spend a lot of time experimenting with and discovering the limits of materials, such as how much something will stretch or bend, the weight something can hold, the shapes it can take, the way it might transform in different spaces. Even when I have a clear idea about some new piece or body of work, I rely on my intuition and remain willing to abandon parts of the work in exchange for a potential discovery that I might not find otherwise. Executing procedural steps has never been very exciting to me, so it’s often the curiosity about “what would happen if...” that leads me forward in my studio. There’s freedom in this process; permission for boldness, taking risks, and failure from which better ideas are (sometimes) born.

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You entered art school to study painting and illustration. What drove you to make a shift into abstract installations?

Having started my early work as a painter, I am influenced by formal techniques of painting: color used to create receding or expanding space, light that reveals/conceals, and the varied expressions of human emotion. But as a freshman in college I found working exclusively with paint and 2D surfaces limiting. I wanted to get lost in experimentation with new materials and processes, so I transferred to the Sculpture department. I am also captivated by the potential for artwork to completely transform my relationship to objects and physical space. Exploring scale and spatial relationships and considering the ways we navigate spaces translates well into this medium. In my third year as an undergraduate student, I realized that it was possible to essentially make “paintings” that people could walk under, around, or through, and which could be experienced differently from a multitude of perspectives. Installation has dominated my practice ever since.

What concepts are you currently exploring in your studio, and what kind of work can we expect to see from you in the future?

Lately I’ve been working really hard to push past certain comfort zones in my studio practice. The photo quilts in Nine Patch and the work I made for a simultaneous two-person show (called Within/Between, with artist Jen Noone at the Arlington Art Center) were an important departure from that comfort zone. While making work for Within/Between, one of the things that both Jen and I were reflecting on in our own way was materiality and function. One of my pieces (Ribbon House, 2018) is a large, shelter-like structure that is robust and meticulously constructed using scrap and found wood. Instead of hardware or glue, the structure is held together with materials normally considered decorative or inane: ribbons and beads.

It was a huge challenge to put these two exhibitions together within a week of each other, but the works in each were influenced by each other, so it feels really good to have them open simultaneously. Right now, I am in the middle of changing studios, but I’m excited to start a new residency at the Arlington Art Center and to get back to work.

in 2018 / Artist Interviews 0 comments

Objectual Abstractions: Q & A with Emilio Cavallini

English | Italiano

A renowned fashion designer, Emilio Cavallini is known the all over the world for his innovations in stockings and hosiery. In a career spanning three decades, Cavallini has collaborated with design houses ranging from Mary Quant to Dior, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and more. Beginning in 2010, he gave up designing for women’s legs in order to devote himself entirely to designing on canvas and creating fine art, but not too much has changed—we can still find his unique artistic expression, dedication and elegance in his practice.

Cavallini’s fine art was first displayed to the public in early 2011 for a solo exhibition at the Triennale Expo in Milan. Emilio Cavallini’s masterpieces draw the spectator’s gaze into a new mystical world, seemingly comprised only of stockings. This trascendental effect is achieved by the perfect union between nylon thread, emptiness, mathematics and genius. In his hands, new mathematical discoveries, through complex processes, are developed into works of art.

In partnership with the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute, IA&A at Hillyer is currently exhibiting a retrospective of Cavallini’s works, including Fractals, Diagrams, Bifurcations and Actual-Infinity. Concurrently, the Italian Cultural Institute is exhibiting three stunning masterpieces inspired by the Italian Mannerist painter of the 13th century, Giacomo da Pontormo, creating an original union between old painting and new mathematical discoveries of our century.

Objectual Abstractions is on view at IA&A at Hillyer and at the Italian Cultural Institute (appointment only) from May 4-27, 2018. 

What makes nylon thread and stockings your medium of choice? Do you find there are mathematical principles inherent to the production of hosiery?

It was in designing and producing my first stockings that I identified the tools with which I have built my dream of creating art. The mathematical principles were applied after I designed and produced samples of stockings.

Do you draw your ideas before executing them? Can you tell us a little bit about how you go from concept to finished product?

The socks are designed so that they can be made by machines following my instincts for making fashion. All of my designs are also based on my knowledge about the world of art both ancient and modern.

What are your major inspirations? In conjunction with the exhibit at Hillyer, the Italian Cultural Institute is also showing some of your artworks inspired by Jacopo da Pontormo’s paintings. What drew you to these Mannerist works?

My inspiration comes from the street, commercials, movies, television, and from my fondness for art of the Greek Classical period and the Renaissance. Colors are important, and from the Renaissance I have drawn great inspiration from Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Michelangelo, Raffaello, etc. Thus my colorful fractals were born, drawing on shades prevalent in those works.

You spend your time in Milan and New York. What has it been like to show your work in LA and now in Washington, DC?

Living in Italy, where art is very invasive and makes you lose your sense of what is modern, it was by hanging out in New York in the 60s that I gained strength and courage to undertake not only making fashion but also the creation of works of art. My passion for mathematics made my artistic work easier and more unique. Exhibiting my work not only in Italy but also in New York and Los Angeles and now Washington [DC] has been a great pleasure because I have been able to show my work to many more people.

What concepts are you exploring in your new work?

I am juxtaposing the mathematical concepts of my works with those of light and the colors of the rainbow of which it is composed.

OBJECTUAL ABSTRACTIONS: INTERVISTA CON EMILIO CAVALLINI

 

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Emilio Cavallini è oggi conosciuto in tutto il mondo prevalentemente in quanto stilista di moda di fama internazionale. Con una carriera che si estende per tre decenni, Cavallini ha collaborato con differenti case di moda, da Mary Quant a Dior, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen e altre. Smise di vestire le gambe delle donne a partire dal 2010 per dedicarsi completamente al vestire tele, ma poco cambia; continuiamo a trovare la stessa arte, dedizione ed eleganza.

Per la prima volta nel 2011, le sue opere vengono finalmente mostrate al pubblico in occasione di una mostra personale offertagli dalla triennale di Milano. I capolavori di Emilio Cavallini cuciono lo sguardo dell’osservatore in questo nuovo mistico mondo apparentemente costruito dalle sole calze. Basta poco, peró, per realizzare che questo effetto trascendentale è dato in realtá dal precisissimo accostamento tra calze, vuoto, matematica e genialitá. Così le nuove scoperte matematiche, attraverso una elaborata sfida con la complessitá, diventano finalmente oggetto artistico.

A IA&A at Hillyer sono esposte venti delle sue opere inclusi Frattali, Diagrammi, Biforcazioni e Attuale-Infinito, in collaborazione con l’ambasciata italiana e L’Istituto Culturale Italiano dov’è possibile trovare tre grandi capolavori che prendono ispirazione dalle opere dell’artista manieristico italiano del sedicesimo secolo, Pontormo. Così ci viene presentato questo originalissimo sinolo tra vecchi dipinti e le nuove scoperte matematiche.

Objectual Abstractions è in esposizione a IA&A a Hillyer e all’Istituto Culturale Italiano (solo su appuntamento) dal 4 al 27 maggio 2018.

Cosa rende le fibre di nylon e i collant la tua scelta attraverso cui realizzare opere d’arte? Trovi la presenza di principi matematici anche nella realizzazione di calze?

È Stato disegnando e realizzando le prime calze che ho individuato nelle stesse gli strumenti con cui costruire il mio sogno di fare arte. I principi matematici sono stati applicati dopo che ho disegnato e realizzato i campioni di calze.

Disegni le tue idee prima di realizzarle? Ci diresti qualcosa in merito al processo da concetto a prodotto finito?

Le calze vengono disegnate, in modo che possano essere realizzate dalle macchine, seguendo il mio istinto nel fare moda. Tutti i miei disegni seguono inoltre la mia conoscenza del mondo dell’arte sia antica che moderna.

Quali sono le tue maggiori ispirazioni? Contemporaneamente all’esibizione a Hillyer l’istituto culturale italiano sta esibendo alcune delle tue opere d’arte ispirate dai quadri di Jacopo da Pontormo. Cosa ti ha condotto a queste opere in chiave mannieristica?

Le mie ispirazioni vengono dalla strada, dalla pubblicitá, dal cinema, dalla televisione oltre che la mia passione per l’arte classica greca e rinascimentale. I colori sono importanti e dal rinascimento ho tratto grande ispirazione come da Pontormo Rosso Fiorentino Michelangelo Raffaello ecc. Sono nati così i miei frattali colorati attingendo opera per opera i colori predominanti

Passi il tuo tempo tra Milano e New York. Com’è stato esibire il tuo lavoro a Los Angeles e attualmente a Washington, DC?

Vivendo in Italia, dove l’arte è molto invasiva e ti fa perdere la cognizione di ció che moderno, è stato frequentando New York dagli anni 60 che mi ha dato forza e coraggio di intraprendere oltre che fare moda la realizzazione di opere d’arte. La mia passione per la matematica ha reso il mio lavoro artistico più facile ed unico. Esibire il mio lavoro oltre che in Italia a New York e Los Angeles ed ora Washington [DC] è stata una grande soddisfazione poter far conoscere il mio lavoro sempre a più persone.

Quali concetti vorresti affrontare per le tue opere future?

Sto affiancando il concetto matematico delle mie opere a quello della luce ed ai colori arcobaleno della sua composizione.

in 2018 / Artist Interviews 0 comments

Cut Canvas and Quiet Beauty: Q & A with Alexandra Chiou

“Initially, I was drawn to the idea of primordial landscapes free of man-made structures. Over time, my interest in unexplored terrains has morphed into a fascination with the beginnings of life, and the connections we humans share with our surrounding geography—for instance, the parallel between rivers and the blood that flows through our veins, and the cave as a womb.”

In terms of process and medium, I began as an oil painter creating large scale paintings with vibrant colors. Over time, I wanted to achieve greater transparency and airiness in my work, and moved towards pen, ink and acrylic paint. Most recently, I have incorporated layered cut paper into my work, adding new textures and more dimension to my pieces. I have also created several layered non-rectilinear works on paper, further accentuating my interest in the organic and my desire to meld the spheres of painting and sculpture. Ultimately, I plan to continue developing my interest in science, philosophy and natural history to further investigate this idea of the human body as a habitat and environment in itself.”

alexandrachiou.com

You say that your travels have strongly influenced your work; Are there any specific sites or cultures that has inspired this exhibit?

Many pieces in this exhibit are inspired by my travels in the American Southwest national parks including Bryce, Zion and Joshua Tree. I am constantly amazed by the overwhelming abundance of life that can be found in unexpected places. Such subtleties and quiet beauty can be found in many dry desert landscapes if you look with open eyes.

How do you think your development of materials, from oil painting to textured work with cut paper, has influenced your pieces? 

I have always considered myself first and foremost a painter, but over the years have started creating more dimensional, sculptural works. Many of my works are living, breathing organisms that can also be read as landscapes. While oil painting is enjoyable, it always felt a bit heavy, and I wanted to create work that was more light and airy. I have worked with cut paper for some time now and just recently starting working with cut canvas. I really like how canvas is durable and bendable and has different textures. I definitely want to keep experimenting with these canvas pieces for the near future.

How in your own words would you describe the relationship between the human body and the environment?

There are so many physical and conceptual parallels between land and the human body. Our bodies are ecosystems brimming with life.  Blood flows through veins, just like the way water flows through a river. We have our own mountains, valleys and jungles just like the ones we see in the surrounding geography. Likewise, there’s a parallel between illness of the body and illness of the land, pollution. Given the increasing urgency regarding the health of our environment and climate change, it’s really important that we constantly evaluate and appreciate our connection to the land around us. If we don’t take proper care of it, we will also suffer.

You recently had a residency at Strathmore; can you tell us about your experience there and how it has helped you grow as an artist?

The Strathmore Fine AIR program was a really great experience. It allowed me the time, resources and support to try new things and really push myself artistically. It was during this period that I first began experimenting with dimensional works on paper and created a series that is the precursor to my current body of work. Many of my first pieces could be read as both miniature landscapes and organisms, reflecting my desire to create living, breathing works.

Also, during the program I got to interact with a community of artists and received regular feedback on my pieces that was invaluable.  In addition, I enjoyed working with my mentor artist and creating collaborative work over the course of a year; that was a totally new process for me, and I look forward to future opportunities to collaborate artistically.

What other artists do you take inspirations from? 

There are so many! I’ve always admired Henri Matisse for his great use of color and line. More recently, I’ve been looking at work by Sam Gilliam, Katharina Grosse, Mary Little and Jackie Tileston, to name a few.

in 2017 / Artist Interviews 0 comments

Environments and Dreamscapes: Q & A with Jessica Burnam

Jessica Burnam received her BA with highest honors in sculpture from the University of Virginia in 2015 and was a recipient of the Aunspaugh Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship at the University of Virginia from 2015 to 2016. Jessica has had residencies at Anderson Ranch (2016), Red Dirt Studio (2017-18), and Second St. Gallery. (2019). She has had solo exhibitions at Hillyer Art Space, Washington, D.C. (2017), at Red Dirt Studio, Mt. Rainier, MD. (2018) and at Second Street Gallery, Dove Gallery. (2019) Currently, she is pursuing a MFA in Scenic Design as a teaching fellow at the University of Virginia.

https://www.jessburnam.com/

Your bio reads that you create environments for your pieces. Do the pieces inspire the environment or the environment the pieces?  

“Vessel” is a sculpture in a current series where I build environments and dreamscapes that act as a terrane and home for a myriad of sculptural bodies to dwell. I enjoy pairing the very large with the very small; the set like-construction with the little inhabitants.  It is this pairing that constitutes the artwork as a whole. There can be a great number of small physical elements in these works, but they, in my mind, are puzzle pieces, components coming together to realize the larger vision.

It depends. Sometimes I see the shape of the structure first and sometimes I am making a smaller sculpture and think, this needs to live somewhere. Most often the design process and the making process of all the elements (big and small) happen simultaneously, side by side. All of the elements feed off of one another, adapting and changing.

What brought you to the relationship of boat construction and the human form?

In my mind, they naturally go together. Both are vessels, thus the title of this exhibition.

A vessel can be a type of craft – a boat, a vehicle, a spaceship –that serves to transport bodies from a starting point to a destination.

A vessel can also be a container –  a space that has an exterior and interior, a hollow which can be filled and inhabited. And aren’t our bodies containers for organs that pump and thrive, running our systems so we can move? And in our motion through life, don’t we ourselves become vessels of sorts?

These are ideas that my work stems from. Ultimately, the forms and the bodies I create are heavily abstracted so that my sculptures become hybrids and cross-mutations of these references, not appearing fully boat-like nor at all human.

In your piece “A Relic of the Future” you describe the vessel as transportive to the afterlife; What type of afterlife are you trying to express through this piece? 

“A Relic of the Future” is a sculpture that precedes “Vessel.” In it, I juxtapose body-like elements with a sarcophagal, boat-like form—the sculpture becoming much like a living spaceship journeying to the afterlife. For the Ancient Egyptians, the vehicle of the sarcophagus was absolutely necessary to complete the transformative journey between life and death. I found this intriguing since metamorphosis of the body is a theme I explore in my work.

I would say the type of afterlife is open to the viewer for interpretation. I took inspiration from the sarcophagus, in both form and in function, and now, it is left to the viewer to imagine where it might travel. Questions and beliefs about the afterlife are a mysterious affair, so I wanted to create a likewise mysterious object.

You have a background in set design; how does that influence your creative process?

I worked as a set painter and fabricator throughout college. Upon graduating, I spent a summer working as a mold maker for an entertainment design and build studio in the L.A. area. Both of these experiences have heavily shaped my creative process in many ways – from the materials I use to the scale of my work, from how I approach my time management to how I problem solve.

Many of the materials and making techniques I use (foam, joint compound, and other industrial materials) are things I gained a familiarity with from working in these industries. I am also accustomed to working large. And when I work large and when there are many elements to keep tabs on, I create production timelines for myself to keep myself on track. These are just guidelines; however, since I also need flexibility when inspiration hits and plans get altered! Paying attention to the happy mistakes and adapting when the sculpture unexpectedly evolves is important to me. So altogether it is a balance and an intuitive process.

What is the relationship between your drawings and prints and your sculpture?

I draw constantly. I make drawings about thematic elements I present in my sculptures and, visa-versa, I make sculptures that further explore ideas contained in my drawings. The two mediums constantly build off of each other, back and forth, to generate new ideas and works.

I am not interested in making representational pictures of a sculpture that I’ve already created; instead, I want my drawings to have their own identity and voice that contributes to the dialogue I am creating throughout my body of work.

For me, my current printmaking practice is an extension of my drawing practice. My ink drawings include detailed cross hatching and a starkly contrasting color scheme of black and white – two qualities that translate well into etching. There are many things I love about the medium of printmaking and of the etching process especially. Overall, I find that it is another tool and technique for me to communicate my ideas through.

in Artist Interviews 0 comments