During the lockdown of 2020 we have been collaborating with a group of artists to keep a source of conversation and analysis. Clandestina thanks the five artist that participated in the Summer Series 2020.
IM BAU
ELIZABETH DE JESÚS
Press Release
Clandestina @Artsy
Jun 11th – Aug 11th
This show is part of the SUMMER CHOICE series, presenting a body of work by artist Elizabeth de Jesús based on her observation of the memory of architecture due to urban displacement. de Jesus, lives and works in CDMX, a city branded by social disparity and gentrification.
Ghost House - Im Baum is part of Piedra Angular a project developed by Elizabeth de Jesús starting 2015. Piedra Angular is divided in three parts: Variaciones Piramidales, Ghost House-Im Baum, and House Skins.
These pieces are the result of an interpretation of the artist’s perceptual experience of "blue prints " left through the voracious real estate phenomenon of gentrification. Her paintings work as a memory of this disappeared buildings and the life of the people that once inhabited the spaces.
This show is part of the SUMMER CHOICE series and showcase the outstanding work of painter Elizabeth de Jesús and her observation of the memory of architecture due to urban displacement. de Jesus, lives and works in CDMX, a city branded by social disparity and gentrification.
She
SUMMER CHOICE:
Press Release
Clandestina @Artsy
May 28th – Jul 28th, 2020
Clandestina is thrilled to introduce SUMMER CHOICE Series. Presenting four installations by Chicago based artist Yasmin Spiro (Kingston) and six paintings from New York based artist Alan Reid (Texas).
The dialogue of the selected works aims to allow a reading on intersecting concepts. In this case somewhere along the lines of the approach of female observation and observation of the female. The selection comprises works created between 2012 - 2019, responding on one hand to a political and social anxiety with installations that represent the softness and strength of the concept of shelter, in the other hand the male observation of the female presence.
SUMMER CHOICE is composed by four weekly selection of works that will be available, exclusively, online.
MILT KASS
SUMMER CHOICE II
Press Release
Clandestina @Artsy
Jun 4th – Aug 4th
Clandestina invites you to stop and take a look to those around you. Milt became a constant to our world during art fair and gallery visits. We want to dedicate this week's Summer Choice to those who in their privacy have the ability to observe the surroundings and find value on that practice.
These watercolor images are a calm representation of streets, parks, and boardwalks in the cities of New York, Miami, and Paris visited in an observation exercise that has lasted a lifetime.
Although innocent, the images depict a moment of content. Today these public places around the globe hold the traffic of a very distressed world.
This show is dedicated to thank those that with their comments, works, and presence allow us to remember the reason of the most complex curatorial exercises.
IRL
ELVIRA SMEKE
Press Release
Clandestina @Artsy
May 21st – Jul 4th
Elvira Smeke (Mexico City, 1978) is an artist researching and analyzing the subject of the female role as caretaker, women as an individual, and violence related to gender.
The Blue Paintings is an ongoing series started in 2019 that depicts scenes of daily life, exploring the texture of social and gender roles. Smeke started working on paper and in her attempt to translate the same exercise to canvas she realized that the immediate gesture of a more childish process was lost. To keep their original character she went back to creating the Blue Painting series on paper.
Nudity and the search of self are shown in images of groups of characters standing naked in close proximity or facing their reflection in the mirror. The narrative implies a contrasting layer in comparison to the style in which the paintings are constructed, including deliberated choices on regards of color to approach gender and race.
In times of social distancing (2020) the Blue Paintings by Elvira Smeke remind us about the perception of self, common and private spaces, and solitude. The available works were produced in 2019 and first months of 2020 a timeframe in which the definition of reality changed dramatically. These paintings superpose the simplicity of childhood as a resource to relate to adult life, which seems to have a more complex weaving.
The proposal for this show was reevaluated under the light of the global pandemic to share a reading that is sensitive to our current reality. On April 6th, 2020 Amanda Taub (updated 04.14.2020) summarized the increase of domestic violence around the world on her article for The New York Times, A New COVID-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide. The World Food Program, a United Nations agency has calculated that the crisis has put 265 million people to the brink of starvation.