An online exhibition project created from open-sourced content. 7 artists and 7 different works presented each week for 9 weeks from April 4 - May 30.
To maintain our commitment to presenting exciting artists and programing at TAM, we decided to present online - on our website and social media pages - in lieu of TAM’s Spring 2020 Exhibitions (April 4 - May16). Due to popular demand, this online project was extended through May 30.
Artists were selected from your suggestions! Below are the 9 weeks (63 works) of HOBSON’S CHOICE.
Frankie Orozco
Check
2020
video art
3:57 minutes
Artist statement : As a photographer I’m fascinated by images... with so much time on my hands...desperately in need of an artistic outlet I had no choice but to attempt to create a video containing these powerful images we are all witnessing during these uncertain times.
Steven Michael Hampton
Bather
2020
30 x 22 inches
Through a focus on world leaders and using official, candid, and campaign images, my recent paintings analyze the projection of masculinity in political imaging. In painting these “hard bodies,” my interest is in embracing effects largely considered “kitsch” for its appeal to archetypes and collective reception. As the theatre of American image politics is a global one my paintings pair the “antagonist” to American leaders in an attempt to picture global aesthetics as wholly relational and dependent. With a focus on scenes of leisure, or, more specifically, “bathers,” a genre that historically depicted an eroticized female nude and addressed modern notions of privacy or cleanliness, my work strives to de-schematize these highly coded scenes. By focusing on photographs of world leaders in domestic or familiar settings, exhibiting their tastes, physique, or connection to cultural archetypes, my recent figurative works investigate the role representation plays in contemporary politics.
Monica Wyatt
AS THE WORLD QUIETS
2020
Steel chain, medical glass vials, lightbulbs, wire.
7 x 32 x 12 inches
I made this piece during the "stay at home" order, my psyche anxious and disoriented. The result was a sculpture that reflected my unconscious need to feel grounded (heavy rusted chain) and hopeful, the fragility and vulnerability of this moment in time ever-present.
Detail:
Grace Lynne Haynes
Redeemed
2020
Gouache, pastel, collage on paper
27 x 40 inches
My works consists of composed paintings containing bright textures and patterns. These intricate moments are juxtaposed against flat, black swaths of paint shaped to represent black female bodies. I strive to lead the viewer to question the very nature of color and how historically symbolic meanings surrounding colors and shades, especially black, are constructed. In my work, black appears aspirational, dignified, and sublime. The result is a network of images addressing complex topics and stereotypes surrounding black femininity. My paintings portrays tender moments as women lounge in a glorious environment with painted patterns against washed of color. I chose the piece "Redeemed" because it addresses a history of female nudes by showcasing the Black body in the reclining position. It also addresses material culture by incorporating various elements of collage, in conjunction with pastel and gouache. Parts of the figure are sourced in from various textured papers such as alligator scales and tiger stripes, revealing the animalistic nature of sexuality as well as stereotypes that have burdened Black women. This piece highlights my most recent body of work and most accurately represents my thesis.
Dani Vinokurov
Falling Into Grace
2018
Ink, watercolor, paper and fiber
15 x 22 inches
Nominated by Tara Centybear:
Dani’s artwork bursts with human curiosity and vulnerability. Her delicate works on paper are stories from our dreams, they acknowledge but rebuff the shallow truths we tell ourselves each day, and instead encourage us to believe in the things we are scared to hold too close for fear that the risk will be too great. Fragments of our human stories are brought together each piece resting on her pure white background that emanates optimism and light. Meticulous in her making, sewing, painting, cutting, and collaging, Dani produces fragile works that let us momentarily tap into the parts of us that are breakable and beautiful in a way that very few experiences in life bring about.
Arezoo Bharthania
LAX / IKA - IKA / LAX 2
2020
Transfer onto different materials, paint, printed fabric, mylar, spray paint, gold metal rod
dimensions variable
My work reflects the experience of creating a home while existing in a state of in-between. It is a narrative formed through layers and gestures that blend my childhood and early adulthood in Iran with my current life in Los Angeles. The space I occupy is navigated through the bodily experience of womanhood and a balance of dichotomies: public and private, psychological and physical environments, here and there. This specific installation is constructing a home within the space, making connections to build anchors within the disconnect and displacement of diaspora fuel my artistic explorations.The homes that I have inhabited across geographies represent a multilayered construction of identity influenced by interdependent forces that define roles, govern behaviors, and order power relationships.
Khang Nguyen
Summit of Limpidity
2020
Oil on canvas
50 x 35 inches
I have selected this piece because it is about finding inner peace and clarity during this difficult time. This turning inward of awareness is neither about passivity nor escapism. Rather, through composure and clarity of mind we can better cope with the challenges of our time.
