Submerged within the enchanting exhibition of Enmeshed, Dreams of Water, which ran at the NARS Foundation from October 6 to November 1, five remarkable artists—Keren Anavy, Jamie Martinez, Magdalena Dukiewicz, Sanie Bokharie, and Jonathan Ojekunle—crafted an immersive experience where fluidity and identity converged with elemental, and imagined currents of immigration. This exhibition resonated with the themes of transformative journeys, revealing the distinctive perspectives of each artist through their poignant paintings, and bizarre, sometimes abject, sculptures. From Jamie Martinez's dive into the cultural provenance of life under the sea, to Keren Anavy's intricate spatial storytelling, Enmeshed, Dreams of Water engaged with themes of identity, mythology, and the unpredictable complexities of being an immigrant artist.
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Sanié Bokhari (season IV, 2018) and Umber Majeed (season I, 2018) Discuss the Forbidden
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In its second edition, The Immigrant Artist Biennial was founded by Katya Grokhovsky, an immigrant artist, to advocate for other immigrant artists. By platforming these artists’ experiences, audiences can take part in longing, expectations, successes, frustration, and long-term emotional effects of geopolitics, all spurred by migration, through the lens of artistic expression. Leila Seyedzadeh came to the United States from Iran to study at one of the country’s most prestigious MFA programs, Yale in Painting & Printmaking. “Over this 50-year period, Yale’s Graduate School of Art has pumped out nearly 10 percent of all our successful artists,” the popular art newspaper Artnet states.
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Representing a similar set of botanic and aquatic motifs, the exhibition taps into migration through the spirit of constant self-searching, resistance, and adaptability by presenting the work of U.S.-based immigrant artists Keren Anavy, Sanié Bokhari, Magdalena Dukiewicz, Carlos Franco, Kathie Halfin, Bonam Kim, Umber Majeed, Jamie Martinez, Jonathan Ojekunle, Sa’dia Rehman, Leila Seyedzadeh, and Masha Vlasova. As part of The Immigrant Artist Biennial’s 2023 edition “Contact Zone,” the group show brings together a cohort of artists from twelve different countries and is currently on view at NARS Foundation.
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Annesta Le’s ethereal neon sculptures, Eun Young Choi’s hand-cut vinyl works, and other standouts from this weekend’s event.
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Two current exhibitions are worth seeing at the NARS Foundation in Brooklyn: Bodies We Inhabit, curated by Jessica Duby, brings together 10 women and nonbinary artists who reflect on our relationship with the earth and the harm we’re doing to it (though we’re really only harming ourselves). The other, a solo exhibition by NARS resident artist Nicki Cherry, is a personal meditation on chronic pain, mitigated best by the healing power and beauty of the natural world. —Hakim Bishara
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From surrealist suburban horror to collaborative assemblage, artists brought originality, humor, and curiosity to Sunset Park Wide Open.
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Participants of Sunset Park’s open studios this weekend told Hyperallergic why they’ve shifted gears and joined the up-and-coming community.
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Brooklyn’s NARS Foundation—short for New York Art Residency and Studios—presents a strong exhibition, curated by Marian Casey, of work inspired by the state of Texas and residents’ relationship to the land there. This weekend’s opening featured a compelling live performance by Jose Villalobos, who filled a series of cowboy hats with potting soil and then gorged himself on the dirt, shouting “silencio” in a chilling commentary on queer assimilation and machismo culture—it was disturbing, but impossible to look away. Highlights of the exhibition include Richard Armendariz’s woodblock prints of animals in the desert.
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Highbrow / Brilliant: Immigrant, first-gen, and borderline artists get the spotlight at Governors Island's "Transient Grounds".
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