In ‘myselves,’ Kohn Gallery’s recently opened group show curated by Joshua Friedman, the artists of our polarising times are entitled to create deeply personal work that steers away from identity politics and examines the interior condition instead. Featuring critically acclaimed artists just shy of mega stardom such as Loie Hollowell, Erin M. Riley, Chiffon Thomas, Jarvis Boyland, Amoako Boafo, Heidi Hahn and Salman Toor, the exhibition offers an experimental assemblage of painting, embroidery, sculpture and drawing. Maintaining traditional mediums and methods of art-making that are still tied to individual subjectivity with traceable labour, the body is a reoccurring site of construction.
“This show is essentially about the physicality of artwork during a time that has become so restricted from physical interaction with artwork,” Friedman summarises. But rather than propose sweeping and overarching theoretical models, the curator insisted on a more simple and intersectional approach, adding that he wanted to create a platform for a multitude of mediums and viewpoints on a deeply layered and complex topic. Sophia Narrett’s work acted as an initial reference point, with her thread sculpture beginning as one image, only to untangle into countless others. With all works traditional media, medium and meaning are in tandem, where the act of creating an artwork, requiring multiple layers, embodies the act of forming an identity.
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