Get ready Greenwich, this month's exhibition at Heather Gaudio Fine Art will reshape your thinking and give you pause to reconsider what you know, or think you know, about space. We are not talking about the cosmos or the final frontier, but space in the broader sense: internal, external, physical, metaphysical, spiritual, and intellectual. The Space We Exist In, opening in November at the Greenwich Avenue based gallery, features seven artists carefully selected by the celebrated curator Larry Ossei-Mensah. The exhibition will offer audiences ways to consider and question what it means to “hold space” or “exist within a space.” Working with different materials and media, this diverse group of artists will present visually poetic and engaging paintings, sculpture and other mixed media works which are sure to challenge and stimulate viewers into redefining their own perception and perspectives on the world and their place in it.
Since arriving in Greenwich over a year ago, Heather Gaudio Fine Art has enriched the visual panorama in the community, showcasing various solo and group exhibitions from their roster artists as well as works by great masters, such as Richard Serra. The gallery has also hosted artist talks and held other captivating events to the delight of art aficionados. To this marquee add The Space We Exist In, the first time the gallery has invited a guest curator in its 15 years of being in business. Collaboration is deep in the gallery’s DNA, and Heather along with her team has translated this approach to working with outside sources. This ethos has given HGFA the chance to enhance its programming by working with dealers and artists that fall outside of its roster, hosting exhibitions and site-specific installations that diversify the art landscape and conversation. In addition to supporting roster artists, the gallery feels it is important to present collectors, art enthusiasts, and the community at large alternative engaging viewing experiences and acquisition opportunities.
The exhibition will feature three Connecticut-based artists: Patrick Alston, Debra Dancy and Clara Nartey. Alston is known for bold, abstract paintings using striking colors and gestures that elicit powerful emotional responses. Coupled with their titles, the paintings prompt viewers to cast away preconceived notions and reconsider paradigms in the world around them. Dancy’s emotive paintings reference the complexities of memory, consciousness, identity and duality in the personal and collective. Nartey’s figurative subjects in her embroidered tapestries are filled with detail and symbolism surrounding identity, questioning the narrative and conformity of cultural norms. Of Jamaican descent, New York City-based artist Kim Dacres’s sculptures are created from recycled rubber tires and other found materials. These intricate three-dimensional objects also confront racial identity, strength, and resilience. Another New York based artist, Austin Uzor, explores themes of migration, displacement, with figures set in atmospheric paintings attempting to define and settle themselves within the picture plane. The West Coast is represented by Shinique Smith, a Los Angeles-based artist who uses fabric, collage and her signature calligraphy to explore themes of cultural history and identity, making connections across time, space, gender and place as ways to suggest new possibilities of existence. The seventh artist who earns ‘traveled the farthest award’ is Ghana-based Patrick Quarm, (although he also spends time in Connecticut.) Quarm explores themes of identity and cultural hybridity in his multi-layered mixed media paintings that feature friends, family and colleagues, offering reflections of the complex visual topographies we all share in this ever-shifting world.
Ossei-Mensah’s proposal presents not only a visual journey for audiences, but also endeavors to create an intellectual and emotional experience. “These works act as mirrors and portals, reflecting personal and collective experiences while offering glimpses into diverse perspectives,” states the independent curator. Ossei-Mensah’s aim is for viewers to pause, reflect and engage in meaningful conversations about the narratives articulated by the artists and viewers, to ultimately convoke empathy, a sense of community and shared humanity. He continues, “By bringing together a rich tapestry of voices and visions, The Space We Exist In underscores the power of art to transcend boundaries and connect us with our innermost selves.” This exhibition will surely do that and more - particularly now, during these trying times, what better way than to spend an afternoon coming together to look at art and be further enriched by a diverse set of voices.
The Space We Exist In curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, is on view at Heather Gaudio Fine Art, Greenwich, November 16, 2024-January 18, 2025. The public is invited to an opening reception and curator talk on November 16, 4-6pm. Visit your favorite book store or local library and pick up one of the books selected by the artists and curated by Ossei-Mensah exclusively for this exhibition.
“These works act as mirrors and portals, reflecting personal and collective experiences while offering glimpses into diverse perspectives”