EUTOPIA

Aphrodite Désirée Navab

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Aphrodite Désirée Navab
“THE HOMELING”
Johannes Vogt Gallery, New York, NY [link]
January 11th-February 17th, 2018
Curated by: Roxana Fabius

It is only afterwards- with the realization that these saturated Piranesi-esque inscriptions on paper are indexical marks of the artist’s body– that the encoded thing is decoded to an uprooted buoyant identity leaving its trace in sporadic leaps on paper, then into the subconscious of the viewer where the notions of gender and ethnicity take form and are torn asunder. This is followed in the casually hung drawings where suffused delineations of nuances marked by paper’s absorption recall Meret Oppenheim’s furry teacup, invoking both a fetishistic assault on the Freudian phallus and a partial vestige of the body on paper.

~ Ali Soltani
Photographs courtesy Johannes Vogt Gallery

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Annie Vought

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Annie Vought
a sketchy outline
Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, California [link]
August 12 – September 30, 2017

Annie Vought offers a fresh approach to papercutting traditions without compromising personal sensibilities. Further achieved through repurposed paper from her father’s sketchbooks and written letters, Vought generates a new vernacular and stream-of-conscious poetics decipherable for only brief moments in time. Intimacy exists in scale and clandestine conversations started by the artist, as whispers of thoughts and barely existing with more negative space than physical paper. Lacking words altogether in several pieces, these contain non-verbal communication as dynamic rhythms attempting to convey messages where Vought reveals the futility of complete comprehension in language through playful gesture and serious investigation.

– Jake Weigel
images courtesy of Jack Fischer Gallery 

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Zaria Forman

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Zaria Forman, Greenland no.50, 40″x60″ pastel on paper [2012]

Zaria Forman
Antarctica and Greenland
pastel on paper drawings

Forman uses beauty as a means of attracting attention to global climate change, exemplifying the idea that one’s sense of emotion –rather than logical prowess— functions to acknowledge and promote empathy of injustices. Thus beauty is the most effective tool of manipulation when mobilizing support and action from the community. The spectacle of Forman’s drawings not only provide awareness about climate change but create the capacity in viewers to delight in, learn about, and deeply care for Earth and its multitude of beautiful places and peoples.

~ Harold Adams

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