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Founded in 2015, by Amar A. Zahr and Nathalie Ackawi, the Beirut Art Residency is dedicated to supporting the production and dissemination of contemporary art. The program focuses on three main facets; residencies, local exhibitions and public interventions. BAR provides both emerging and mid-career artists with the time and space to work, encouraging artists to venture beyond their usual practice while laying the groundwork for future projects. BAR’s exhibition and public intervention programs enhance the approachability and dissemination of contemporary art. The work BAR presents is often experimental in nature, allowing artists to take a more conceptual approach with their practice. Ultimately, BAR’s activities strive to provide insight on the culturally rich Lebanese climate whilst creating a global network of meaningfully engaged artists.

Beirut Art Residency

Dan Nguyen is a New York-based physician, entrepreneur, and avid collector of contemporary art with a particular focus on artists of Asian descent and hands-on expertise in NFTs. As the co-founder of The Here and There Collective, his mission is to make space for narratives often overlooked in the Western art canon, through a programming focused on Asian diaspora artists, curators, and collectors.

Dan Nguyen

<div dir="ltr">The founder of renowned Instagram account She Curates (@she_curates_), Mollie E Barnes is an Independent Curator based in the UK, with a particular interest in the works of women and queer artists.</div>
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Mollie E Barnes

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Tangled Up In Blue

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“I create the world, and painting is the tool for it.”
Artist Arang Choi possesses a remarkable ability to bridge the gap between tangible and the intangible. She draws us to an intricate realm where mysteries, emotions and dreams converge. 
Having recently graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, her career has been marked by incredible milestones, including her first solo exhibition, Three Moons, held at the <a href="https://elektrohalle-rhomberg.net/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Elektrohalle Rhomberg</a> in Salzburg, this year, as well as her participation in various group exhibitions like The Blue, The Pink, The Immaterial, The Void at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and Common Room at <a href="https://www.hilger.at/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Galerie Hilger Next</a> in Vienna.

Arang Choi, Emulb Selfportrait 3, 2022. Courtesy of the artist. 

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Choi’s artistic journey so far is a testament to perseverance, marked by both challenges and immense triumphs. As with many early career artists, her recent graduation took place within the midst of the global pandemic, adding a layer to her narrative and resilience. 
This resilience is demonstrated in the relentlessness of her process, describing how she tries to draw and sketch at all possible moments to get all the ideas out of her head. Choi&#8217;s creative process is an intricate dance between inspiration and execution. Her prolific sketches serve as the gateway to her imaginative universe, capturing fleeting ideas before they take form. She then flips through these works, and chooses one that fits both her canvas and mood before beginning painting. Choi paints in silence in her studio, so she can hear the sound of the brush on canvas. Silence is an essential companion, in her words “a kind of white noise for [her].” Her studio practice is a sacred ritual, involving moments of contemplation and sketches that serve as bridges to her canvas.

Arang Choi, Parallel, 2023. Private Collection, New York. Courtesy of the artist & newcube. 

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Many of her figures sit against a dark, mysterious background, inviting contemplation of what lies beneath the surface. She describes this space as possibilities. Works become visual puzzles, urging viewers to sit with the piece, to figure out what is lurking there. 
Discussing inspirations, Choi referenced artists such as Henri Rousseau, Leonora Carrington, Nicole Eisenman and Marc Chagall, among many others. She describes how mostly all her inspiration comes from nature &#8211; mostly plants and animals as well as &#8220;their strange and extreme moments.&#8221; Her fascination with rare and peculiar flora and fauna serves as a testimony to her insatiable curiosity and thirst for the unconventional.
Surrealism, with its emphasis on the subconscious and the dreamlike, is a seemingly fitting vessel for Choi’s work. Though she employs the term &#8220;surrealism&#8221; to describe her practice, her introspective responses during the interview unveils another layer of her artistic philosophy. The merging of reality and the abstract within her works reflects a journey into the depths of the human psyche, and a desire to genuinely connect with her audience.

&#8220;My works are like my dream stage.&#8221; 
Emotionally, all works invite viewers to explore their own feelings and interpretations, creating a diverse tapestry of emotional reactions. &#8220;All emotions play a role according to one&#8217;s own experience&#8221;, she states. Arang Choi’s commitment to allowing viewers the freedom to interpret her work through their unique perspectives underscores her respect for individuality. She describes her fascination with how “different we are and [how we] can interpret.”
Her approach to titling works is both intuitive and pragmatic, as she doesn’t enjoy titling a piece. She tells me how she doesn’t appreciate “[summing] up all the possibilities of fantasy in one sentence,” not wanting to impose limitations to understanding of her works, emphasising her commitment to connecting with her audience organically.

Arang Choi, Emulb am Feuerwerk, 2020. Courtesy of the artist & newcube. 

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Tranquility base (Modern Ruin with Red, Blue and Yellow) - 120

Arang Choi’s connection with her works is both personal and profound. They are externalisations of her inner worlds with each brushstroke encapsulating a fragment of her soul, breathing life into her art and transcending the boundaries between artist and artwork. Choi’s dream project would be to make an installation, one born from a vivid dream and desire to create a powerful experience, a tapestry of objects, colors, and sensations that leave an indelible mark on her creative consciousness.

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Curator Mollie Barnes dives into the fantastical world of Vienna-based artist Arang Choi whose works guide us through through an intricate realm where mysteries, emotions and dreams converge. 


Surrealism, secrets and souls: an interview with Arang Choi

Saj Issa in her studio, photo credit Ian Byers-Gamber

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“The reality is that I have a political identity, and I’m just making art that&#8217;s informed by my surroundings and experience.”
Saj Issa<a href="https://sajissa.com/about-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></a> is one of the most exciting talents working today. A Palestinian-American artist, Issa’s practice explores vital topics, including cultural erasure, dispute, displacement, capitalism and climate change. In a recent interview, Issa described how each of these themes and realities are not isolated. They happen simultaneously within our society, and are each derived from capitalism.

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Issa&#8217;s artistic journey has taken a profound impact, as she recently spent time in Ramallah, Palestine. The regional transition between Palestine, Los Angeles and St. Louis, Missouri where she is currently based, has had a significant influence on her practice, fueling her exploration of the current social context and the contrasting realities between these places.
She begins each day in the studio early, “before the remaining 75% of the village wakes up.” She collects an abundance of “consumed, battered objects” from the streets of Ramallah, each serving as the starting point and subject for her daily drawing practice. Artwork begins with ideas scribbled down in words, then a loose sketch, then tighter. Boards are primed, and tiles are laid. Working predominantly with clay and ceramics, Saj uses a variety of mediums to best communicate the varied and nuanced topics.
“I must know the blank slate will get dirty for a decent reason,” she justifies.
Reflecting on this recent transition, Issa describes how, “in LA, [she] was checking the forecast to see if it was sunny enough to play tennis.” When she spends time in Palestine, “[she] has to check the news to see if anyone is getting forced out of their home to be sure it’s safe to travel.“ The shift from checking sunny forecasts in LA to verifying the safety of travel amid potential conflicts and displacement in Palestine, and now working from her hometown St. Louis underscores the stark differences in the environments she now navigates.

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These contrasts are drastic &#8211; and somehow still shocking to some in the ‘Western world’ They make up the forefront of her works. A standout of Issa’s works are the incorporation of ‘Western’ languages, brands and logos – each a highly commercial aspect – layered before ornate ceramic tiles that have traditionally been tools to represent the “divine principles of unity and order, as evidenced by God’s creation of the universe.” In doing so, Issa describes how she draws “parallels of ubiquitous, powerful corporations to the transcendent of The Higher Being.” Her use of tiles are as a “ tool to express repetition of advertisement while simultaneously being decorative.”
These interventions are markedly jarringly. Brands that have made critical impacts to our lives and planet are featured – including Nike, Shell, Coca-Cola and tobacco companies. Each mass produced, each defining mass consumption. They are repeated within the works, just as they are printed across our lives. Inescapable. Relentless.
Through this juxtaposition, Saj draws attention to the impact of colonisation on “indigenous ways of life… in obvious and woefully mundane ways”, highlighting the pervasive influence of powerful corporations. She goes further, examining how “signs, symbols, and language transfuse with one another.” and how “The hybridity in [her] art is a reflection of the way [she] perceive(s) globalisation and [her] urgency to document it.”
“Trying to survive is 75% of the journey.”
Issa rarely feels attached to a singular piece, but weeps at the loss of a body of work that has developed within the space. “All my emotional energy gets put into the work… plus I spend so much time in my studio… the art hears all the gossip.”

Saj Issa, Evicted From The Hachoora, MFA Thesis exhibition at New Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, 2023. Photo credit Ian Byers-Gamber

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One of Saj&#8217;s notable exhibitions was her thesis show, <a href="https://sajissa.com/">Evicted From The Hachoora</a>, 2023. Striking panel works emulated these similar ideas, with vibrancy and clarity fading from each logo as it moved down the piece. Reflecting on the overstimulation of adverts in LA, each “competing for attention”, Issa draws parallel to current road signs, each displaying three languages’. Rather than ignoring these signs, “it’s important to read each sign because some state who is prohibited from entering certain roads.” A key theme within the exhibition was Issa’s imagining of “what information [she would] rather not see exist.

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In her artistic journey, Issa has found inspiration from a diverse range of artists, including Sliman Mansour, Mona Hatoum, William Kentridge, David Hammons, Ed Ruscha, and Tom Wesselmann. Titles are carefully chosen to encapsulate the essence of each piece, each drawn from  “a soundbite of harangue”. They range from John Berger quotes and names of deliberate, violent military tactics to location names and even one of the &#8220;99 names of God in Arabic.&#8221; Each title represents the “seed of inspiration or conclusion of the artwork”, reflecting her intention to communicate profound messages through her creations.
As Saj prepares for upcoming group exhibitions this year, and a solo in 2024, her artwork continues to evolve and make powerful statements about regional transitions, cultural erasure, and the pressing issues that affect both the US and Palestine. Her commitment to documenting the social context and her surroundings remains steadfast, creating art that resonates with audiences worldwide.

Curator and writer Mollie Barnes interviews artist Saj Issa. “The reality is that I have a political identity, and I’m just making art that's informed by my surroundings and experience.”

 A Weight of Consumption: Displacement and Transition, an interview with Saj Issa

Diallo Simon-Ponte. Photo credit: Akhira Montague

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In this summer spotlight, we chat with Diallo Simon-Ponte, curator, Black Art supporter and Assistant to Director Antwaun Sargent at Gagosian. Diallo has a keen eye for talented artists and is primed to follow in the footsteps of one of the world&#8217;s most respected curators today.
Hi Diallo, great to reconnect with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to enter the art world?
I’m deeply grateful to have grown up with parents who understood the value of knowledge, so local artist’s artwork, African masks, and black literature adorned the walls and bookshelves of my childhood home. However, for much of my life my focus was always on playing professional soccer and it wasn&#8217;t until I was playing D1 at Fairfield University where I took an African American Art History course that changed my life. The class was taught by Professor Andrew Davenport who is a descendant of Sally Heming’s. He exposed me to a plethora of Black Artists and ideologies around the Black Arts that I quickly became deeply enamored with. It was then I felt called to explore these ideas for the rest of my life.
You work at Gagosian, can you tell us a little bit about your role and what your day to day is like? 

Before I began at Gagosian I was an admirer of the curator, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sirsargent/">Antwaun Sargent</a> and am fortunate to have now been working for him at the Gallery for close to two years now. My title is Assistant to the Director and he’s been incredibly welcoming in helping me expand that definition to broaden all I can gain from the role. Day to day at a Gallery like Gagosian is incredibly dynamic and can include the drafting of exhibition abstracts, compiling research on contemporary artists, sales strategy and outreach, managerial and scheduling duties, coordinating artist dinners and after parties, and handling artwork shipments are some of the tasks that remain consistent.
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You also curate, what has been your most exciting experience/project and what are some of your upcoming projects?
At this time, I feel I’m in an intensely studious period where I’m learning a certain curatorial acumen from Antwaun and at the same time training my eye working at Gagosian so much of my energy is dedicated to learning. Earlier this year Antwaun brought me on to a project working with <a href="https://hannahtraoregallery.com/exhibition/helmut-lang-seen-by-antwaun-sargent-yobwoc/">Helmut Lang at Hannah Traore Gallery</a> where he commissioned a series of artists to respond to the notion of the Cowboy. He allowed for a fluid conversation around the selection of artists which included <a href="https://www.instagram.com/turiyadkins/?hl=en">Turiya Adkins</a>, American Artist, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/awolerizku/?hl=en">Awol Erizku,</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/devinbjohnson/?hl=en">Devin B. Johnson</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/leroysoundsystem/?hl=en-gb">Justen Leroy</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamdanielobasi/?hl=en">Daniel Obasi</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/__________quay/">Quay Quinn Wolf. </a>
Outside of the space of the gallery, a couple months ago I put together a film screening <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3954418/">Dreams Are Colder Than Death</a> by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/anamibia/?hl=en">Arthur Jafa</a> and followed it with a panel led conversation to encourage discourse around the geographic localities of expectation in the art world. I’m also really excited about an article I’ve written about the overlap in Chef, Nathanael Cox and Architect, Dominique Petit Frere’s artistic practice which is meant to come out this summer!

We first met you when you were curating Shantel Miller’s work in the Black Art Sessions exhibition Straight Lick. How do you find and curate artists? Do you have expertise or a focus in a particular movement or era?
My pairing with <a href="https://shantel-miller.format.com/about">Shantel Miller</a> for the <a href="https://straightlick.com/14-Between-the-Linoleum-Me">Black Art Sessions</a> was completely the work of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ebotron/">Ebony Haynes</a> who conceived and structured the entire project. I remember being so youthfully excited but also very ready to work with an artist as brilliant as Shantel. Working with Shantel was really seminal in how I feel my eye has grown to identify what I like about an artist. Before thinking about the work I focus on the mind of the maker. I usually am looking for a deep love for the technical, the proclivity for narrative, and the imagination for research. Also I don&#8217;t really frame it in my head as “searching” for artists but finding people I enjoy thinking with.

Diallo Simon-Ponte next to Woman in Tub by Shantel Miller at Straight Lick Exhibition. Photographed by Emily Lombardi, 2021

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What advice do you have for other young people trying to enter the art world?
Relentlessly pursue your curiosity and read endlessly about the things you love.
Do you collect yourself at all? If you could own one dream artwork, what would it be?
I have a small collection of works by artists Rossana Romero, Lamar Robillard, Bakari Akinyele, Luke Austin, and Aaron Laserna to name a few. 
If I could own any artwork it would probably be Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali or Blood by Barkley Hendricks.

As someone based in NY, how do you feel the city’s art scene has shifted over the years? 
I’ve lived in NY only a couple years now and am still understanding how the city’s art scene is evolving but in the past year and half assisting on exhibitions of the likes of <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/rick-lowe/">Rick Lowe</a>, <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/tyler-mitchell/">Tyler Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/amanda-williams/">Amanda Williams</a>, <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/awol-erizku/">Awol Erizku</a>, <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/cy-gavin/">Cy Gavin</a>, and <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/alexandria-smith/">Alexandria Smith</a> at Gagosian I understand that these faces at this level of gallery is rarity. I deeply believe in and respect Antwaun Sargent’s vision.
Last question for you, from newcube’s artists, who would be your few favorite ones? And are there particular artworks you’d pick for your personal collection? 
Proudly and loudly <a href="https://www.newcube.art/artist/shantel-miller">Shantel Miller</a>. I am also quite fond of <a href="https://www.newcube.art/artist/brandon-elijah-johnson">Brandon Elijah Johnson’s</a> work.

Meet Diallo Simon-Ponte, curator, Black Arts champion and Assistant to Director Antwaun Sargent at Gagosian. Diallo has a keen eye for talented artists and is primed to follow in the footsteps of one of the world's most respected curators today. 

Spotlight on Diallo Simon-Ponte

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Born in 1992 in Seoul, South Korea, Arang Choi lives and works in Vienna, Austria.

Born in 1992 in Seoul, South Korea, Arang Choi lives and works in Vienna, Austria. Studying at Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts under famed professors such as Daniel Richter, Choi’s work interrogates our understanding of existence in general. The anthropomorphic mythical creature appears in a variety of forms throughout Choi’s work but never in exactly the same way and invokes a spiritual-religious notion of animism that positions humans, animals and nature on equal planes. Both otherworldly and fantastical, Choi’s compositions bring together the definable and undefinable in a narrative of mystical fiction inspired by her infinite dream stage.

Arang Choi

Born in 1997 in Shenzhen, China Baoying Huang lives and works in Long Island City, NY.

Born in 1997 in Shenzhen, China, Baoying Huang lives and works in Long Island City, NY. Huang uses art as a portal to tell her story of living between two cultures: being a citizen of China, and a resident of the U.S. Living in the ongoing pandemic and the antagonism between the two nations, Huang’s paintings depict the compartmentalized environments that she lives in, and her emotional connection with domestic themes as she raises questions about the meaning of home.

Huang considers her paintings as containers of “nomad” thoughts. The aspiration of wanting to express herself through language and conversation is compromised and compressed into painting materials and visual forms. Colors in these paintings are filtered and dimmed, which points to a sense of coldness she observes in her repetitive living patterns during the pandemic– being trapped in a humanless land and only able to see the traces she left in a space. The distinction between the air-tight surface and scratchy brush marks represents the paradox between hyperrealism and a gauzy, blurred romanticism. Huang believes in the power of painting because of its open-endedness communication. She is pointing at the mundane which all human beings can perceive, and hopes the spark in the dark can eventually make a good blaze. Painting is a practice to process the melancholy that comes from the present disconnect and allergy to the past; painting is Huang’s reconciliation to the outside world and the reflection of the internal mind.

Baoying Huang

Born in 1977 in Helsinki, Finland, Elina Salminen lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

Born in 1977 in Helsinki, Finland, Elina Salminen lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

Salminen’s works are hybrid. They are both paintings and objects, sculptures and installations, light and shadow, floating and barely palpable, yet we are drawn to unveil what lies behind them or else, within the color itself. Salminen surprises us as viewers and we question what we see. Her works play with space and time, they move beyond the surface and reflect on her fascination with color as an intangible source of light. With her paintings, Salminen delicately applies monochromatic hues on edges and corners, then covers the emptiness with translucent materials such as cloth or glass. There is no paint on the surface of the painting, only a reflection of the color that hides behind. Utterly romantic, her works engage us in a conversation about protection and warmth. They are abstracted minimalist compositions that entail infinite meanings, each altered with time and space.

Elina Salminen

Born in 1992 in Seattle, Washington, Brandon Elijah Johnson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Born in 1992 in Seattle, Washington, Brandon Elijah Johnson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

As we step into Johnson's world, somewhere between imagination and reality, we become a part of his visual diary. A collector of images, from photographs found on the internet to snapshots taken with his phone, Johnson reinterprets familiar ordinary scenes in his paintings and drawings, perhaps in an attempt to freeze a moment in time. He takes reference images from his direct environment and intentionally - or not - offers a representative picture of today’s world. His vivid compositions draw from pop culture, embrace pastiche, and remain attached to the here and now. As part of a generation willingly returning to figurative painting, Johnson moves away from pure representation, at times infusing a touch of playfulness, and distancing himself from painterly conventions. Between fiction and documentary reality, Johnson’s works reveal a part of our collective memory.

Brandon Elijah Johnson

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1983, Katayoun Vaziri now lives and works between New York City and Mexico City.

Following a voluntary hiatus from the art world, Katayoun Vaziri started painting again, mainly on Sundays and more regularly throughout the pandemic. Her 'Sunday paintings' are her personal visual diary. Vaziri depicts ordinary people, often including herself in ordinary settings, completing everyday activities. With her Memories of a Bourgeoisie Series and her Repetition Series amongst others, Vaziri reflects on each individual as equally a subject and an object of capitalism, as political agents of social transformation who are nonetheless subjects to socio-economic inequalities. With her oeuvre, she reflects on how ordinary people may have to forego their ideals for the sake of survival. Somewhere between empathy and critique, her miniature works are playful, yet engaged, like postcards filled with familiar references that tell the story of each and everyone of us.

Born in Tehran and now living and working between New York City and Mexico City, Katayoun Vaziri graduated from Yale University in 2009 with an MFA in Painting. Since her graduation, Vaziri has had solo and group exhibitions in New York, London, Mexico City and Dubai and has invited to prestigious residencies including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawings in Maine and Eyebeam in Brooklyn.

In continuity with the source of inspiration for her artworks and her active social engagement, Katayoun Vaziri has committed to hold no monetary gain from the sale of her artworks. The artist's proceeds will be donated to carefully selected and vetted community building organizations. For any further queries regarding these causes, please contact us.

Katayoun Vaziri

Born in Massachussetts in 1994, Meghan Murray lives and works in Waltham, MA.

Born in 1994 in Massachussets, Waltham-based Meghan Murray received her BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College in 2016 and her MFA in Painting from Boston University in 2022. Her representational painting practice embodies and simultaneously intervenes upon historical tradition. Murray’s oeuvre is a continued investigation into intergenerational American ideals and clichés as viewed in the mid-century family photo album. Her paintings examine her preoccupation with nostalgia as she finds inspiration in midcentury photographs that she collects. She is a recipient of the 2022 Blanche E. Colman award for New England artists and was awarded second place in the 2023 Miami University Young Painters competition by juror John Yau. Murray currently lives and works in Waltham, MA.



Meghan Murray

Born in 1993 in Lisbon, Portugal, Pedro Ruxa lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

Born in 1993 in Lisbon, Portugal, Pedro Ruxa lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

Ruxa is enamored with painting and inspired by words. It is through painting, but also through objects and bits and pieces of poems that Ruxa attempts to communicate with his senses and sensibility. His works create an intimate dialogue, be it actually between himself and the paint, or us and the words. Through a reconstructed language that is his own, shapes, colors, letters, and sentences become his subject matter. Ruxa constantly creates ever-changing clouds of words and imagery and sticks them on his studio walls, making them the starting point to his oeuvre. Yet, he simultaneously explores the restraints of this same language: what is happening before or after what we see? The more Ruxa tends to take control over his words, his sight, and his emotions, the more he is unable to contain it within the realm of comprehension. But all this is exactly at the core of his aesthetic language and it is undeniably touching, both visually and emotionally.

Pedro Ruxa

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Ceramic and glaze in artist frame 
2022

Description

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With a certificate of authenticity signed by the Artist.

Authentication

Born in 1994 in St. Louis, Missouri where she currently lives and works, Palestinian-American artist Saj Issa explores vital topics, including cultural erasure, dispute, displacement, capitalism and climate change. The regional transition between Palestine, Los Angeles and St. Louis, Missouri where she is currently based, has had a significant influence on her practice, fueling her exploration of the current social context and the contrasting realities between these places. A standout of Issa’s works are the incorporation of Western languages, brands and logos – each a highly commercial aspect – layered before ornate ceramic tiles that have traditionally been tools to represent less atheist concepts. Saj Issa's commitment to documenting the social context and her surroundings remains steadfast, creating art that resonates with audiences worldwide.

Saj Issa

Installation

Sculpture

Bleachscape #4

Oil on Canvas 
2021
Baoying Huang is a citizen of China who has been living in the US for over 7 years. Through painting, she tells her story as a young woman living between two cultures. Her paintings depict the compartmentalized environments she lives in, and they reveal her emotional connection to domestic themes as she asks herself what the meaning of home is. With a play on reflection, on inside/outside and a depiction of the normal objects that surround her, Huang builds herself an aesthetic universe that has become her home.

Painting

Oil on linen mounted on panel 
2022
In found midcentury photographs, clichés like suburban cowboys appear as American kitsch, almost comforting in their familiarity. Artist Meghan Murray examines these motifs, parsing out Kodachrome color cast, pouring over the 35 mm slide memories of a stranger with both nostalgia and a cold disaffection. Murray finds herself complicit in a history written by the figures in these photos. In this work, Murray reimagines the humor and warmth of the Christmas season, and the obsession with the western television genre, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. In elevating a discarded snapshot to the historical context of painting and by engaging with the snapshot as both archival object and image, Murray encourages critical viewing of emblematic themes. The titles Murray uses for her works are found in the New York Times archives, from the same year that the original photo was printed, in a way to challenge the temporality - or lack thereof - in the image.

With a certificate of authenticity signed by the Artist.

President and Family Spend Quiet Christmas in Capital (December 26, 1968)

Oil on canvas 
2022
A collector of images, from photographs found on the internet to snapshots taken with his phone, Brandon Elijah Johnson typically reinterprets a familiar or an ordinary scene, perhaps in an attempt to freeze a moment in time.

Claire's Knee

Oil on canvas 
2022
In Three Women, Reihaneh Hosseini once again pushes boundaries forward, tainted with humor and cynicism. A selfportrait, Hosseini stands proud alongside two of her closest friends from the LBGTQ community back in her native Iran. Their somewhat deranged and melancholic appearance is a reflection of how the conservative society in which they live - or rather survive - perceives them. There's something purposefully disturbing, yet a peaceful and tender affection between the figures seems obvious. These figures are not erotic objects, rather Hosseini speaks against genderism, and in favor of humanity. A contemporary take on The Three Graces, the artist and her friends - like Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia - each bestow a particular gift on humanity, but with a twist. They become a metaphor for a complex approach to gender identity: the artist herself is heterosexual, yet still on a journey exploring her sexual identity, while her friends are respectively lesbian and transexual. How do they fit - as human beings - in their contemporary society, and in particular within the restrained and overly restricted Iranian community?

Authentication 

Born in 1988 in Tehran, Iran, Reihaneh Hosseini lives and works in Vienna.

Born and raised in Tehran, Hosseini studied philosophy before emigrating to Vienna in 2014, where she currently resides. Trained under Austrian abstract artists including Christian Schwarzwald and Gunter Damisch, Reihaneh soon returned to figurative painting, her favored style for reflecting on the world that surrounds her. As a storyteller, she is inspired by her friends and her everyday life experiences, yet she portrays them with a dysmorphic rendition, exaggerated proportions, grotesque, and distorted features, and an incongruous palette. Her strong sense of corporeality coupled with the absurdity of the scenes that she depicts reveal a psycho-emotional approach to life and painting. The figures that populate her works oscillate between beauty and ugliness, they have a cartoonish appearance that adds a glimpse of humor and playfulness to her compositions, yet they are imbued with philosophical subtleties. Hosseini’s paintings take us to a dreamlike world where each of her characters evokes our unconscious thoughts, our inner child, as well as our mental and social imagery.

Reihaneh Hosseini

Gouache on Paper 
2021
With her Memories of a Bourgeoisie Series, Vaziri reflects on each individual as equally a subject and an object of capitalism, as political agents of social transformation who are nonetheless subjects to socio-economic inequalities. With her oeuvre, she reflects on how ordinary people may have to forego their ideals for the sake of survival. Somewhere between empathy and critique, her miniature works are playful, yet engaged, like postcards filled with familiar references that tell the story of each and everyone of us.

Drawing

Memories of a Bourgeoisie, Labor Day Weekend in America (Tribute to David Hammons)

Acrylic on wood and Cotton cloth 
2020
In Finnish, Kangastus means 'mirage' or 'illusion' and Kangas refers to the 'cloth'. The title of the painting, therefore, brings together two defining aspects of Salminen’s work, the illusion and perception of color with the delicate cloth that reflects light. As part of an intimate series created by Salminen, this work epitomises how the artist plays around with both the visible and the invisible.

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