Stories of This Month

The first time I encountered Shona McAndrew’s work was in the room The Staging of Vulnerability, curated by Allison Zuckerman, at the 2017 SPRING/BREAK Art Show. I immediately was drawn to her work, the multiple mediums of her art practice, and the warmth and confidence that radiates from each of the women she depicts. Somehow through fate I posted her work on Instagram and we became online friends; mutually appreciating each other’s accomplishments, giving each other advice, sending cat photos, and even having Shona encourage me in my own art practice. It was this base of friendship, of mutual trust and admiration, that when Shona asked if I would send her a nude of myself, based on her own nude self-portrait, for her to paint me for her solo show MUSE, I immediately said “YAS!”. The experience of being an artist’s muse, in particular one of Shona’s, was a special and unique experience. By letting myself be seen at my most vulnerable, literally being photographed naked playing with my cats in my bathroom, at first made me nervous. Not only did I trust her to see me completely exposed, but I was also putting my likeness in her hands, for her to depict for the whole world to see. As a person living in recovery from eating disorders, I was a bit anxious to see the final result.

Wear Your Values: Fashion's Role in the Fight for Freedom

The word “fashion” connotes a trend that is en vogue, and temporally-linked. But in continuously wearing the toub to protest, the women of Sudan have shown that fashion also transcends different time periods and trends, in part due to its symbolic powers. One garment or piece of fabric can take on different meanings, and its uses might have different purposes and repercussions for its wearers, depending on the regime and cultural era.

Learning Hinglish in New York City: An interview with Maria Qamar

Maria Qamar’s bright Pop-Art canvases have brought a splash of color to Richard Taittinger Gallery and New York City’s Lower East Side. Qamar’s exhibition FRAAAANDSHIP! explores some of the realities and challenges of gender, patriarchy, love and friendship. Her work is deliberate, purposeful, and created with a Desi audience in mind. She intends for it to speak to her cousins and friends. Having Maria and her work in the gallery has created an entirely new energy in the space, and introduced a nuanced feminist point of view. Mera Jism, a 5 foot vertical canvas, explodes off the wall, insisting that a woman’s body is a strong and powerful weapon. Qamar’s works challenge the patriarchy, but they also make you smile. Hai Rabba echoes back to Lichtenstein and reminds viewers of the exhausting reality of falling in love… again. But perhaps the most exciting element of Qamar’s FRAAANDSHIP! has been Qamar herself. She is articulate, poised, and sure of her work.

Spirituality in Insanity, Revelation from Beyond: Paulina Peavy and Lacamo’s Cosmic Interpretations at Andrew Edlin Gallery

If you were to hear a voice, see a vision that no one else witnessed or saw, what would you do? Would you tell someone? Would you question your sanity? Chug a bunch of tequila and hope you stop hearing/seeing things? Or listen. Watch. And choose to believe? During a séance in 1932 Los Angeles, the late artist Paulina Peavy (1901 – 1999) chose the latter, and with that began a decades long ‘relationship’ and collaboration with the entity from the future that she knew as ‘Lacamo.’ We are able to see the results of this collaboration in Paulina Peavy/Lacamo: They Call us Unidentified, curated by Bill Arning, at Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York.

Fishhook Seascape: What Yoan Capote Speaks through his Isla series

The sea is the ultimate boundary that separates lands, ideologies, generations and families for Cubans. Enclosed by the sea, one would imagine the world beyond the horizon and soon be frustrated by his or her immobility. Yoan Capote, a Cuban artist, recalls the same experience. For Capote, the sea without doubt “represents the seductiveness of these dreams, but at the same time danger and isolation.” His experience and contemplation on this duality have been visualized through his Isla series (‘Island’ in Spanish) since 2007. Each Isla painting seems like an ordinary seascape from a distance, but up close the sea is a violent cluster of fishhooks, reminding of the Iron Curtain. It may not be a complete coincidence that Capote believes his art should ultimately draw a connection with his viewers. In fact, his childhood frustration perhaps has been compensated through his growth into an international artist, presenting his works worldwide. A question then arises: with his oeuvre rooted in the history of the isolated island, how does this Cuban artist connect with his viewers who have grown more international than ever?

What an Art Critic Wants to Teach You About How to Look at Art - Interview with Lance Esplund

"Esplund said that when we encounter art objects (whether paintings, sculptures, totems, masks, crucifixes, or contemporary assemblages), we should approach each artwork with childlike curiosity; that we should treat each work of art as a functional object that has something important to communicate; that we should engage with it as we would in a “one-on-one” encounter with a living thing. “Yes,” Esplund said, “great art speaks to you at the highest level; but it also speaks to you at the entry level, too. That’s what makes it a great work of art. It draws you in at every level, no matter where or how you come to it. Unless you’re totally shutting down to it, art has the power to draw you in.”"