NON-PLACE
September 5th, 2018 — September 30th, 2018
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 5th, 7pm-9pm
SFA Projects is proud to present NON-PLACE, a two person exhibition of works by Levan Mindiashvili and Grant Wells.
The title of the show borrows a phrase coined by Marc Augé to refer to spaces where concerns of relations, history, and identity are erased.
Mindiashvili’s practice explores the transitional, liquid state of historically accepted social forms and paradigms. Focused on in-between, transient conditions, his work itself can be placed in interstices between sculpture, drawing, tapestry, and painting. Hand-produced pigmented hydrocal sculptures visually and superficially mimic found concrete remnants from construction or archaeological sites and become the surfaces for charcoal drawings and paintings; they comment on the fragility of the sense of place and the ever-expanding virtualization of the image in current society. Hand-altered, jacquard woven tapestries explore possibilities of the work to exist fluidly in various physical bodies from sculpture or a painting being translated into the textile and sometimes back into three dimensional objects. (Jacquard, a semi-computerized loom, operates with digital files, thus actual weaving is done by hand, where each weave responds to one pixel). Being conceived as individual pieces, his works are interconnected in deep dialogue with each other, creating one whole – yet temporary – setting, that could be rearranged and reformulated for each new presentation.
Wells sources his imagery from digital map applications, experiencing locations and space through a removed reality. Although maps are generally used as an informational tool, an excess of information creates a tension to keep searching for some point of reference while moving through this space. With the traditions of landscape photography and painting in mind, Wells is interested in the relationship to the ideas of depicting ones surroundings. However, his work deals with the removal of physicality from location and how this device changes our relationship to space. Through multiple layers of pigment transfers, Wells moves this imagery from his computer to canvas. As the image smears and breaks down, colors and forms merge together to further abstract the overall composition. By using this process, Wells creates a tension between the digital and physical realities, and a greater distance from actual locations.
Levan Mindiashvili (b.1979) is a Georgian born visual artist living and working in Brooklyn and Tbilisi. He holds his BFA in Sculpture from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and MFA in Crossed Media from The National University of Arts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Among his awards are Commission Grant for Public Art Projects from National Endowments for Arts (New York, 2014) and Emerging Artist of 2011, Movistar Arte Jóven (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Since 2017 he serves as a guest professor at The Free University: School of Visual Arts and Design, in Tbilisi (Georgia). Currently he is in a studio residency at NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY. His works had been included in recent group exhibitions at The 7th Beijing Biennale, China; Georgian National Gallery, Tbilisi; Super Dutchess, NYC; The Border Project Space, Brooklyn, NY; Tbilisi History Museum, Georgia; Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine; Tartu Art Museum, Estonia; Recent solo exhibitions include “Here” at Georgian National Museum, Mestia; “In-Between” at State Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia; “Studies For Unintended Archeology”, The Vazquez Building, Brooklyn, US; His works are in public collections of Georgian National Museum, State Silk Museum (Tbilisi) and National Art Museum of China (Beijing).
Grant Wells (b.1991) is currently living and working in New York City. Originally from California, he received his B.A in Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has exhibited at Resort Baltimore, Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon, Nomadic Gallery, Huset for Kunst og Design, and ARO Gallery. His work is in the Busch Risvig Collection in Demark and in private collections in Los Angeles and Baltimore. He is currently an MFA candidate at Hunter College.
Gallery Hours: Wed-Fri 2pm-8pm, Sat/Sun 12pm-8pm
131 Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
(between Delancey & Broome)
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Grant Wells”
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