We are thrilled to present to you: BEING+! Although we wish we could host you in person, the current situation (we don't need to say it; you already know) has redirected our energy towards a beautifully executed digital showcase.
As mentioned before, this exhibition is curated by Abisola Oni, recipient of The Flavio Belli Curator Award. Abisola and Flavio have been working towards the physical and in-person showcase for a few months now, and have fine tuned and perfected the digital exhibition we have before us. We invite you to read Abisola’s words below, capturing her curatorial vision and how the selection of six emerging artists came together.
Our sincerest thanks to the Lindy Green Family Charitable Foundation for their vision in recognizing Flavio Belli's contributions to the arts with this award. We are grateful to Propeller Gallery and their support of Emerging Artists by Emerging Curator Awards that gave us the opportunity to find a synergy between these two wonderful opportunities.
Please join us on Saturday, January 15th, 3PM on Zoom to celebrate the opening of BEING+. Let’s take this chance to extend our congratulations and support to all the wonderful collaborators who have brought you this showcase.
Don't forget to register in advance. See you then!
BEING+ is now viewable online through propellerartgallery.com and TOAF.ca/BEING+
About BEING+
“As we exist in what seems to be endless isolation due a global pandemic, BEING+ is timelier than ever. In solitude, we are granted the opportunity to look inward. BEING+ offers a critical outward gaze; it situates the self within society to examine relations with one another and society at large. Ultimately, this exhibition aims to generate dialogue between diverse members of the community about the interplay between individual and group existence.”
– Abisola Oni, Curator and Recipient of the Flavio Belli Curator Award
BEING+ explores the nexus between the experience of the individual and the objective social and cultural forces that bind this experience. Simone De Beauvoir recognizes the ambiguity of the human experience which suggests we are both subjects who act, and objects who are acted upon, constrained by our physical limits, social barriers, and the political powers of others (The Ethics of Ambiguity, pp.7-34). BEING+ similarly considers the variable states of selfhood and complicates the rigidity of subject-object relations.
BEING+ consists of abstract, figurative, installation, and collage artworks by Biba Esaad, Noah Lima, Miles Ingrassia, Roxana Parsa, Michelle Cieloszczyk, and Michelle Rodrigues. The artists examine the experience of being in relation to social and cultural phenomena by expressing diverse subjectivities through formal elements and subject matter. Collectively, BEING+ considers nuances in the socio-cultural influences on gender, power relations, the racialized body, and the role of place and kinship in the conceptualization of identity. As a result, BEING+ forms an exploration of selfhood that lends itself to the understanding of collective memory.
BEING+ Artists through the Curator's words
Michelle Cieloszczyk engages the domineering presence of police power with the audience as subject with a separate, but related, power to look and interrogate.
Carapace Pillar, Michelle Cieloszczyk, 2021, Silicone, metal, hardware.
Biba Esaad approaches the construct of racialized existence with artworks that transcend the limits and imposed physical barriers erected by the society in which one lives.
Left: Cheated of Some Marvellous Experience, Biba Esaad, 2020. Oil Paint On Canvas;
Miles Ingrassia presents the masculine figure in a method which underlines the emotional and temporal bonds that fortify the masculine individual’s sense of self.
Left: Daisy Chain, Miles Ingrassia, 2021, Oil on panel, unframed;
Noah Lima asserts the right to define oneself by creating bold figurative paintings that examine the interplay between the imposed, rigid structures of gender and the embodied lived experience of gender identity.
Left: Sock Packer Vase, Noah Lima, 2021, Watercolour, gouache, watercolour pencil and charcoal on watercolour paper, framed;
Roxana Parsa creates dream-like group compositions that fortify notions of memory and kinship as well as single figure portraits evoking solemn reflection and relationality with the surrounding environment.
Left: The Gathering, Roxana Parsa, 2021, Acrylic on canvas board, unframed.
Michelle Rodrigues builds striking collages that interrogate the socio-cultural construction of womanhood through the accumulation and meaningful destruction of imagery.
Left: Friends With Benefits, Michelle Rodrigues, 2021, Magazine paper and spray paint on wood panel, unframed.
Learn more about the artists in 'BEING+'
Join the Virtual Reception
On Saturday, January 15 at 3 PM, get the chance to virtually meet Abisola, the artists, and learn more about the exhibition.
Help us spread the word by inviting your friends through Eventbrite and Facebook! The opening reception is free to attend. We recommend you register in advance.
