Exhibitions
Art Prize: Abstract Fiction
September 2021 | Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation
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Artist Statement
I often feel trapped in my head. When I’m stuck there, my emotions take my thoughts so far away from reality that they almost start to become fictional. To unpack this, Abstract Fiction situates abstract art as visual fiction.
This exhibit uses visual fiction — abstraction — to capture the experience of being trapped in your head, telling yourself stories that may or may not be true. It is the hope that through art, this claustrophobia can become visible and visceral, allowing the artist and viewers to face their mind — and their fictions.
Contradictions
Oct 22 – Dec 4 | Aggregate 136 | Grand Rapids, MI
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Contradictions Facebook Event Cover
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Artist Statement:
How can someone who feels ugly inside find beauty in the world?
Can someone in despair find hope?
Why can someone appreciate something that hurts them?
Can someone have change and peace at the same time?
How come someone can love and hate themselves?
These states seem irreconcilable, opposites — contradictions, but the reality is that both of them exist at the same time in and amongst all of us.
In fact, these supposed opposites, things that aren’t supposed to exist at the same time, can only exist because the other one does. Without beauty, there is no concept of ugly. Without connection, there is no concept of shame.
This exhibit centers portraits, figures, and textural abstractions to showcase this duality of existence: how seemingly contradictory states exist in us at the same time. As you observe, consider if you can relate to any of the faces, bodies, or abstractions. What contradictions exist inside of you?