ZAROUHIE ABDALIAN
~born in New Orleans, lives in Oakland, California.
~site & context-specific sculptures are mostly located in public spaces; causes people to be more engaged of their surroundings.
~created an installation at the New Orleans African American Museum, using the built structures with audio and mirrors to reflect on the history of labor.
~used gas power generator to keep the audio playing.
~focused project on built materials
~”It was never my interest or intention to work with blighted properties of New Orleans-there’s plenty of opportunities for that.”
TALA MADANI
~born in Tehran, Iran
~creates satirical paintings that skewer stereotypes, they evoke clashes of culture. ( men and women, rational and absurd, western and nonwestern)
~believes sketchbooks play a crucial role in her painting practice.
~sketchbooks are a way for artists to experiment/play.
~draws in the mornings when she walks into the studio.
~her sketchbooks serve as a visual archive for her paintings.
~most immediate record of the thinking process
~”It’s more about how do you use the material to help you communicate the idea clearer.”
RICHARD SERRA
~born in San Francisco
~studied at University of California and Yale University
~early focus on the nature of Art
~wrote a verb list; worked on the verb list physically in space
~allows to not think of the physical look
~inventing tools to not think in an “academic way”
~Torqued ellipses, giant steel plates, bent and curved to create private spaces.
PEDRO REYES
~born in Mexico city
~designs projects that propose playful solutions to social problems.
~turned guns into musical instruments, hosted a people’s united nations to address pressing concerns, offered ecologically-friendly grasshopper burgers from a food cart.
~shares a mutual love of Mexican craft and design with his wife Carla Fernandez.
ELLE REYES
~born in the Bronx, lives in Brooklyn.
~attended Yales School of Art.
~works primarily with photography.
~depicts intimate moments, emotional exchanges, and visceral details of their subjects and landscapes.
~began photographing wrestlers in the Bronx.
~believes something can live through photography.
~”I don’t think there’s a way to involve a camera without immediately involving a kind of fiction.”
