Diana Gabriel and Azadeh Gholizadeh
January 12, 3-6 pm
Curated by Claudine Isé
December 6, 2019 – January 4th, 2020
Reception for the Artist on Sunday, December 8, 3-6pm
Diana Gabriel
Pesca
Wire and acrylic on panel
8” x 8”
2019
“Tumbaga” is the name of the gold, copper, and silver alloy often used to create ceremonial adornments by the Pre-Columbian indigenous people of Colombia and other countries in the lower Americas. Once the Spanish arrived, a large portion of these cultural artifacts were melted for gold and shipped back to Spain. By using tumbaga colors in my work, I not only reference the awe and loss I felt while visiting the remaining cultural relics at the Museo del Oro in Bogota, but also the awe and loss inherent in my relationship to my own Colombian heritage. Assimilating to American culture as an adolescent, I became disconnected from aspects of Colombian culture that were so potent in my memories of mud vases, crocheted doilies, knit “ruanas,” and hand-woven tablecloths, hammocks and handbags. Using line and geometry, I forge a connection with the kind of Colombian handicrafts I deeply revere but never learned, “restitching” the rift created by my migration.
– Diana Gabriel
Azadeh Gholizadeh: The Park
Linen, mohair, silk, cotton on canvas
34” x 32”
2019
In her current practice Azadeh Gholizadeh explores body, landscape and fragmentation of identity by examining her emotional connections to belonging. Azadeh’s work adapts the forms and scenes recovered from her memories of landscape. In the absence of the tangible elements of these places, Azadeh explores the fragility of home through landscape tapestries and drawings and creates a new language of longing to re-discover the meaning of landscape. It transposes memories and creates a momentary tangible space of tenderness and hope.