Lifting the veil: themed exhibition, featuring eleven international female artists at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery

Rosenfeld Porcini is proud to present ‘Lifting the Veil’ a themed exhibition including works by Claudia Fontes, Argentina; Silvia Hatzl, Germany; Bongsu Park, Korea; Rossana Zaera, Spain; Marianna Gioka, Greece; Firelei Baez, Dominican Republic; Alice Cattaneo, Italy; Luisa Rabbia, Italy; Teodora Axente, Romania; Arushee Suri, India; and Miyuki Tsugami, Japan. The exhibition intends to look beyond the artists’ narratives to examine the formal and poetic interpretations they adopt in their chosen artistic languages. ‘Lifting the Veil’ is rosenfeld porcini’s sixth themed exhibition, following ‘Around Drawing’ last year.
There has been a visible increase in recent years of all-female #contemporaryart exhibitions notably The Rubell Family Collection’s ‘No Man’s Land’ (Miami) and Saatchi Gallery’s ‘Champagne Life’ (London). This attention is primarily a reaction to the perceived gender imbalance in society and more specifically in the art world. However, rosenfeld porcini’s decision to bring together these eleven international women artists has another intention. ‘Lifting the Veil’ is not aiming to make a statement about what it is to be a female artist in our contemporary society, but rather looks at a selected group of artists from very different cultures and backgrounds in order to examine if there is a common sensibility that links their practices, even though their narrative concerns vary greatly.
There are thematic relationships, however, between the artists. Arushee Suri's large installation entitled, ‘Memories of a Mild and Gentle Breeze and the Smell of Rain’, is a sensory and visual voyage into the artist's memory of the landscape where she grew up. She utilises both painting and a multitude of ceramic objects, which are covered in spices and essences with the aim of submerging the viewer in the atmosphere of an imagined Indian landscape. Miyuki Tsugami is also interested in the sensations and impressions of landscape. Her aim is to capture nature’s fleeting moments; colours seep into one another as light in part emerges and in part retreats from and into the canvas. The paintings selected in this exhibition largely relate to her experiences of landscape in her native Japan.
An idea of landscape also inhabits the paintings by Marianna Gioka and Luisa Rabbia although both use drawing as the basis of their practice. Luisa Rabbia’s large colour works are concerned with skin, blood and the inner workings of the human being. ‘In my work, the skin is often my primary subject, represented as a membrane that in my drawings extends until it becomes a vast, fragile, landscape’ (Luisa Rabbia). The artist’s drawings have a pronounced sense of translucence, glowing with light which magically emerges from behind the colours. Marianna Gioka's abstract works on the other hand have developed out of the structure of architecture and speak of an imaginary landscape. Her visual universe is the result of an intense process of mark making made by an array of pen strokes with a variety of nibs, each picture finally assuming its definitive form only when the process is complete.
Teodora Axente's paintings are influenced by Catholic imagery but the symbols are reinvented with a
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contemporary narrative. Drawing on a wide range of unexpected textures and objects which become metaphors for anxieties of the soul, her work has a recurring surreal quality which makes it feel more in line with the Flemish tradition, rather than the Cluj School where she hails from.
Firelei Baez is concerned with individual female experiences and renders her subjects through finely painted symbols, patterns, textiles and ornaments. Baez’s true intent is to comment on cultural dominance and the fate of women from diasporic societies similar to her own Dominican Republic. Bongsu Park's videos focus on the body, predominantly those of women, thus creating a parentage with Luisa Rabbia. However, Park uses dance and music to explore her theme. Dressed in traditional Korean dance attire, her character in the work ‘Lethe’ separates into three overlaid time frames; the visual composition creates harmony and dissonance as the dancer travels into oblivion. This passage of life, death and reincarnation is the artist's interpretation of the Grecian myth referenced in the work’s title, where the dead were required to drink the river's water in order to forget the experience of mortality.
Claudia Fontes, with her miniature ceramic figures also focuses on the female form. However, in her case, it is both as mother earth, the root of all beings, and as a female archetypal figure emerging out of inanimate matter. The delicacy of Claudia Fontes' sculptures is echoed in an abstract sense by the Italian artist Alice Cattaneo whose sculptures explore a world of fragility and precariousness. Using a variety of objects placed in an unlikely proximity to one another, the works appear on the verge of collapse but somehow, remain in a completely stable state.
Artists Rossana Zaera and Silvia Hatzl use clothes as important elements of their practice and both utilize female garments in the sculptures featured in the exhibition. Zaera employed natural esparto grass fibres to produce the main element in ‘La Novia del Tempo’ (roughly translated as ‘The Girlfriend of Time’); a wedding dress comprised of precious objects from the artist's infancy and girlhood. Sea shells, shoe horns, hand knitted baby clothes, jewel like strands of cut stone, glass and locks of hair are all intertwined in the fibres, which act as a binding force keeping the fragility of existence and memory in balance. On the other hand, Silvia Hatzl's haunting garments address the impermanence of being. Their innate sense of fragility only increases their poignancy. Using materials as varied as cotton, silk, animal intestines, rust, blood soot and ash, her sculptures represent a haunting voyage into the tragedy of what is to be human and a constant reminder of our tenuous passage through the world.
The eleven artists featured in this exhibition all have very distinct voices; yet it is their poetic approaches and the sensibilities they display, which appear to weave a thread unwittingly and unknowingly between them as the veil is lifted and their inner worlds are revealed.
Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery
Founded in June 2011 by Ian Rosenfeld and Dario Porcini, rosenfeld porcini occupies a prime location in the heart of the dynamic gallery district of London’s Fitzrovia with 3,000 square feet of gallery space. rosenfeld porcini has a strong international outlook. The gallery values a cross referencing approach both through exhibitions curated around themes in art and a cultural program focusing on unique events involving artists across all disciplines – visual arts, performance and music , which are meant to challenge perceptions.
Exhibition Schedule
3 June – 14 July 2016
22 July – 29 September 2016
Nearest Tube: Opening Times:
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Pieter Obels: Solo exhibition
Black & White: Themed exhibition curated by artist Chao Lu
Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road & Goodge Street Tuesday to Friday 11am - 7pm & Saturday 11am - 6pm
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Notes to editors
Teodora Axente (b. 1984, Sibiu, Romania) currently lives and works in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She received both her MFA and PhD at the Univerisity of Art and Design, Cluj Romania, succeeding graduates such as Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Muresan, Victor Man and Serban Savu. During 2011 Teodora Axente was the recipient of the Essl Art Award resulting in a group exhibition at Essl Museum in Vienna. In 2015 her work was exhibited at Boulder MoCA Colorado in “Defaced”, at Museum of Art, Cluj-Napoca in "T.A.N.G.O.", and at Hugo Voeten Art Center in Belgium in “My Name Is Artist”. In May 2016 she will have a solo presentation at Hugo Voeten Art Center.
Firelei Báez (b. 1981; Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic) currently lives and works in New York. Báez studied arts at the Hunter College, The Cooper Union’s School of Art, and The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She had solo exhibitions at the Utah Museum of #contemporaryart and at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Her work has been exhibited widely in the USA at the New Museum, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the New Orleans Biennial Prospect.3, Taller Puertorriqueño, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, The Drawing Center, the Bronx Museum and The Studio Museum. She has been the recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Award in Painting, the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, and the Chiaro Award from the Headlands. Báez’s works have been acquired by numerous collections including the Studio Museum, USA; The Phillip and Tracey Riese Foudation, USA; The Jean- Marc Salomon Foundation for #contemporaryart, France; and the BNY Mellon Art Collection, USA.
Alice Cattaneo (b. 1976; Milan, Italy) studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Glasgow School of Art. She currently lives and works in Milan, Italy. Recent solo exhibitions include Galerie Stadtpark (two person show with Fred Sandback), Austria; Galleria Suzy Shammah, Italy; Ikon Gallery, UK; MADRE Museum, Italy; Analix Forever, Switzerland. Selected group exhibitions include #arte in Memoria, Sinagoga di Ostia Antica, Italy; Wäscherei Kunstverein, Switzerland; The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, China; MUSMA, Matera, Italy; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia/Frankfurt Kunstverein, Germany; Hangar Bicocca, Italy; Fondazione Pomodoro, Italy; Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Switzerland; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Today Art Museum, Beijing; Palazzo delle Stelline, Italy; Galerie Christine Koenig, Autria; Palazzo Grassi, Venice/MCA, Chicago; The Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon; MAXXI Museum, Italy; and the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Germany.
Claudia Fontes (b. 1964; Buenos Aires, Argentina) currently lives and works in Brighton, UK. She studied arts at the National School of Fine Arts Prilidiano Pueyrredón in Buenos Aires and Art History at Buenos Aires University. She was awarded grants to develop her practice at Taller de Barracas in Buenos Aires and to be a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Selected international solo and group exhibitions include: Documenta(13) Germany; Frieze, #london; the Royal College of Arts, UK; the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art, Argentina; the Foundation Santillana, Spain; the Foundation Banco Patricios, Argentina; and the I.C.I (Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana), Argentina. Fontes also has a sculpture permanently installed at the Remembrance Park in Buenos Aires in homage to the ‘desaparecidos’ in Argentina. Her work features in the collections of MALBA (Museum for Latin American Art), MAMbA (Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art) and MACRO (Museum of #contemporaryart Rosario), and in private collections in Argentina and Europe.
Marianna Gioka (b. 1980; Athens, Greece) attended the Pratt Institute, NYC; the School of Fine Arts, Madrid; and the School of Fine Arts, Athens. The artist currently lives and works in Athens. Gioka had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Greece and has shown at art fairs internationally. Gioka recently had her first solo UK exhibition ‘Landscape’ at rosenfeld porcini in 2015. Her paintings are regularly acquired for private and public collections: Eurobank; Marfin Bank; Benaki Museum; Vore Museum; National Theatre of Greece; private collections in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, USA, France, Italy and Greece.
Silvia Hatzl (b. 1966; Bavaria, Germany) studied Visual Arts in Brussels before moving to Paris to study at the Sorbonne and l’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués. Currently working as a painter, sculptor, performance artist, stage and costume designer in Belgium and Germany, Hatzl has exhibited with various international galleries and museums including Museum am Dom, Wurzburg; ModeNation Museum, Antwerp (MOMU); Rosenheim City Gallery, Rosenheim; and A.R.T.- inc, New York. Her work has been acquired by MOMU in Belgium and Museum am Dom and Museum Burg Miltenberg in Germany. Hatzl’s participation to ‘Lifting the Veil ‘ follows her inaugural UK solo exhibition ‘ A Fragile Existence’ in 2013 at rosenfeld porcini.
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Bongsu Park (b. 1981; Busan, South Korea) live and works in #london, UK. She studied at l’École des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, France, the Sangmyung University, South Korea, and at the Slade School of Fine Art, UK. She has exhibited in solo and group shows internationally, including exhibitions at the Kyungnam Museum, Korea; #rosenfeldporcinigallery, UK; the Niv Art Center, India; LOOP, Spain; Moving Image, Turkey; the Barbican Trust Arts Group, UK; The Crypt Gallery - St Pancras Church, UK; Bermondsey Project Space, UK; and the International Art Festival Evento Off, France. Park has been invited to present live performances at #rosenfeldporcinigallery; the Go Est Festival 2013, Germany; and the Platform1 at Camden Art Centre; UK. The artist has recently returned from two residencies in Iceland and Korea.
Luisa Rabbia (b. 1970, Torino, Italy) currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She has had solo exhibitions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, USA; the Fondazione Merz, Italy; the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Italy; the Fundación PROA, Argentina; the #arte All’Arte IX, Associazione Galleria Continua, Italy; the Giorgio Persano Gallery, Italy; the Mario Diacono Gallery, USA; and the Peter Blum Gallery, USA. Luisa Rabbia has public installations in Switzerland and Italy and her work is included in many permanent collections including the Museo del Novecento, Milan, the GAM-Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Turin, and the Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Arushee Suri (b. 1987, New Delhi, India) currently lives and works in New Delhi, India. She studied at the Central St-Martins College of Art and Design, UK and the College of Art, India. Selected exhibitions include the Gillman Barracks, Singapore; Blue Studios, UK; Central St-Martins, UK; Matt’s Gallery’ UK; Croydon College, UK; OXO Tower, UK and the Heritage Gallery, India.
Miyuki Tsugami (b. 1973, Tokyo, Japan) currently lives and works in Japan. She studied at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. Selected solo exhibitions include the Pola Museum, Japan; the Dominikanerkloster Prenzlau, Germany; Gallery Hashimoto, Japan; the Ichinomiya City Memorial Art Museum of Setsuko Migishi, Japan; Koubou Ikuko, Japan; and the Ohara Museum of Art, Japan. Selected group exhibitions include the Luciano Benetton Collection at the Fondazione Querini Stampallia, Italy; the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Japan; and The Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, China. Selected public collections in Japan include the Futako Tamagawa Rise, Kashiwa City, Kurashiki Central Hospital, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyushu Dental College, Morgan Stanley, Ohara Museum of Art, ORIX Corporation, The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, and The National Museum of Art.
Rossana Zaera (b. 1959; Castellon, Spain) currently lives and works near Valencia, Spain. She studied at the Open University of Catalonia and the University of Girona. Zaera has exhibited in solo and group shows internationally, including exhibitions at the University of Valencia, Spain; Pinta, UK; Jaume I University, Spain; Central Connecticut State University Art Galleries, USA; Espace Croix Baragnon, France; #rosenfeldporcinigallery, UK; Galleria Napolinobilissima, Italy; and PAN, Palazo delle Arti di Napoli, Italy.
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lifting the veil : themed exhibition featuring eleven international female artists
8 april – 27 may 2016
private view : thursday 7th april 2016 6:30-8:45pm
37 rathbone street #london w1t 1nz