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| Sydney Chastain-Chapman, Heirlooms, 2014. Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 20x20” and 24x24” |
Rhombus Space is pleased to present Post Partum Party,
an exhibition featuring artwork by Monica Carrier, Sydney Chastain-Chapman,
Marni Kotak, David Lukowski, Qiana Mestrich and Hugh Walton. Featuring books by
Alana Capria, Katherine Keltner, and co-editors Qiana Mestrich & Michi
Jigarjian.
Exhibition Dates: November 21 – December 14, 2014 Reception:
Friday, 11/21, 6-9 PM
Post Partum Party is an exhibition of works by artists whose additional
role as parents becomes a creative fulcrum that informs their work at times
consciously and intentionally, and at other times sub-consciously and intuitively.
The artists in this exhibition explore the fertile territory of the changing
parameters and boundaries that come with having to parent children while being
active studio artists in NYC. What the work makes evident, is that instead of
mourning the loss of self-sovereignty and individual autonomy, these artists
embrace their multifaceted lives and push up against the parameters of being
parents to make provocative, profound, and fearlessly honest artwork.
Qiana Mestrich and Marni Kotak reference their own
biography through a documentary approach. Mestrich
uses beautiful color and composition in her photographs that juxtapose critical
concepts, while Kotak turns herself
into a vessel through performance art and shifts taboo/private experiences into
empowered events. David Lukowski employs
humor in his sculptures to explore the concept of early language acquisition
and the creation of complex compound ideas from simple base words that often
reveal frustration, wit and accidental poetry. Sydney Chastain-Chapman and Hugh
Walton mine their personal memories. Chastain-Chapman’s
paintings reflect a psychological realism where a dream-like logic takes over to
investigate eternal cycles of birth/life/death. Walton’s video art and extracted stills fluctuate between private
and universal content; his work exposes societal mixed messages, while
unearthing childhood trauma. Monica
Carrier’s meditative, abstract, playful black ink drawings move between organic
pooling and fine brushwork inviting the viewer to witness the emergence of
faces and forms that grow out of her intuitive and process-based work.
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| Art by (clockwise from top left): David Lukowski, Monica Carrier, Sydney Chastain-Chapman, Qiana Mestrich, Marni Kotak, and Hugh Walton |
Monica Carrier
lives in Brooklyn, NY. She earned her MFA from Hunter College, where she was
awarded a grant to study architecture in India. Carrier has had solo shows in
NYC and Denmark. She is an active member of tART and is on the Arts@Renaissance
Advisory Board.
Sydney Chastain-Chapman
lives and works in Nyack, NY. She earned her BFA from Cornell University and MFA
from Hunter College. She has been represented by Kravets|Wehby Gallery in New
York City since 2004. Her work has been shown in numerous solo, two-person, and
group exhibitions in New York City, Long Island, Los Angeles, London, and
Paris.
Marni Kotak is an NYC artist who makes multimedia works and is recognized
for her “Found Performances”, or works based on daily activities, experiences,
or accomplish-ments. In 2011, she received international attention for her
durational performance “The Birth of Baby X”, where she gave birth to her son
Ajax in a NYC art gallery.
Qiana
Mestrich is a visual
artist, writer, and founder/blogger of Dodge
& Burn: Diversity in Photography History (est. 2007). Mestrich earned
her MFA from the International Center for Photography-Bard College. She
exhibits her work nationally and currently has a solo show, Inherited Patterns, on view at the
Mid-Manhattan New York Public Library.
David
Lukowski lives in Brooklyn, NY. His work has been shown in
New York art spaces including Klemens Gasser and Tanja Grunert, Inc., helper,
General Practice, and ruSalon. And he has shown his work in San Antonio, TX at
Sala Diaz. He is a founding member of the collective Jack Roy.
Hugh
Walton lives in Brooklyn, NY. He exhibits his work
internationally. Walton had a recent solo show at the Blair Academy Romano
Gallery, and a critically received debut solo show with Clementine Gallery. His
work has been exhibited at The Andy Warhol Museum, CANADA Gallery, Rush Arts
Gallery, among others.
Books:
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| Books by (left to right): Alana I. Capria, Katherine Keltner, and co-editors Michi Jigarjian and Qiana Mestrich |
Alana I. Capria is the author
of the story collection Wrapped in Red (Montag Press,
2014), the novel Hooks and
Slaughterhouse (Montag Press, 2013) and the chap-book Organ
Meat, Killing Me (Turtleneck Press, 2012). Capria earned her MFA in
Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and resides in Northern
New Jersey with her husband.
Wrapped in Red is a
feminist horror reimagining of traditional fairytales. The stories examine the
body, birth, death, and sex interwoven in a fantastical world of putrid forests
and dilapidated factories.
Katherine Keltner
is a New York based artist. She earned her MFA from American University. Her
work has been exhibited at The American University Museum / Katzen Arts Center,
Muriel Guepin Gallery, Jamaica Center for the Arts, Max Protetch Gallery, and
Creative Time. Keltner presented her paper “Multiplicities from Motherhood” at the 2013 NWSA Conference.
One
Year: Somewhere in Between (a Life in 365 Days)
is a self-portrait as mother through a compilation of images of her daughter’s
daily rest combined with email fragments revealing dichotomous feelings about
motherhood, resulting in a limited edition artwork.
Edited by Michi Jigarjian
and Qiana Mestrich, How We Do Both: Art and Motherhood, is a
diverse collection of responses about the logistics of
balancing art making and motherhood; the need for creative space; and how having
children impacts creativity – written by contemporary artists
embracing their concurrent roles of mother and artist.
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