Chinaza Agbor | Elsewheres | UTA Artist Space | Los Angeles, USA

Chinaza Agbor is showing at UTA Artist Space in group exhibtion Elsewheres this October & November 2023.

 

 

Presented at UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills
403 Foothill Rd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
10 a.m.– 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on Saturdays

 

(Beverly Hills, CA – September 26, 2023) UTA Artist Space presents the group exhibition Elsewheres, curated by Zuzanna Ciolek, Director of UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills. In Elsewheres, artists have been invited to create new realities through alternate views of the past, present and future. Politics, sexuality, religion and race are explored through the varying perspectives and worldviews of the 17 exhibiting artists whose work variably examines art historical tropes, science fiction, Afro-futurist traditions and cultural systems. These often physiologically charged works defy and deconstruct traditional histories, creating new aesthetic narratives and abstract mythologies. 

 

Artists such as Alex Anderson use the delicate medium of ceramics as a vehicle to explore the intersections of sublime experiences that make up both the man-made and natural worlds. Chinaza Agbor uses figurative painting to reflect the ongoing struggle to formally communicate a muti-identity experience – connecting with her Nigerian heritage while exploring her existence and upbringing in the American South. April Bey, positioned within the Afro-futurist tradition, works with a fictional universe called ‘Atlantica,’ inspired by the alien stories her father used to tell her as a child to explain racial oppression. Paintings by writer and artist Sedrick Chisom ground apocalyptic narratives of white supremacy, Christianity, and climate change in romantic landscapes, underscoring his concerns with climate change and right-wing assaults on science.

 

Dainey Chin captures mythological beasts and fertility goddesses in her mystical paintings, including a piece inspired by Elisabetta Sirani representing duality and another depicting a protective spell jar for the wilderness deity Pan. Conceptual artist Ryan Cosbert invites viewers to see things from an internal and external perspective, igniting conversations while encouraging higher consciousness. Sarah Issakharian similarly focuses on the emotional status of her subjects – immigrants and refugees – conveying their stories and the environments in which they envision themselves. Nate Lewis explores history through patterns, textures and rhythm, creating meditations of celebrations and lamentations.

 

Informed by his upbringing in Haiti and his experience emigrating to Montréal at the age of 19, the paintings of Manuel Mathieu investigate themes of historical violence, erasure, and cultural approaches to physicality, nature, and spiritual legacy, while Sophia Narrett turns to embroidered canvases that weave together narratives of sexuality and desire. Rose Nestler’s wall-bound sculptures with traditionally femme signifiers–flowers, broomsticks, high-heeled shoes, soft body parts, and ruffled skirts–are freighted with personal and cultural allusions to the artist’s rich material language, prompting one to wonder why we are so quick to dismiss popular culture when it lies within women’s realms. Paulina Stasik’s paintings depict surrealist figures that float between the real and symbolic world, between life and timelessness, sleep and silence.

 

Drawing on a range of influences, from Christian iconography to gay pornography, Krzysztof Strzelecki creates his own world through various media where his subjects inhabit their environments freely. Daisy Parris paints psychologically and emotionally charged spaces using the vocabulary of abstraction, with Astrid Terrazas’ visual language merging dreamscapes, Mexican ancestral folklore, lived experiences, and unearthly transfigurations. Lien Truong blends techniques to create hybrid art forms that interrogate the relationship between aesthetics and doctrine, while Lian Zhang assembles constellations of images through which a series network of fractured narratives emerge.

 

“This exhibition brings together such an extensive group of artists from across the world. While all incorporate different media and approaches to their work, they are all drawn together through their ability to generate alternative perspectives. They each take their own lived experiences and make us look at the world differently. They take us elsewhere – which is the guiding curatorial motivation behind the show. I can’t wait to see how each artist’s work speaks to one another, and introduce so many exciting new names to Los Angeles,” said Zuzanna Ciolek, curator and Director of UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills.