At Face Value Curated by Robert Curcio and Leah Oates
5th July, 2024 – 27th July, 2024
Station Independent Projects
220 Geary Avenue #2B
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M6H 2C3
Station Independent Projects, Toronto, and curcioprojects, NYC, are thrilled to present At Face Value featuring thirteen artists from Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. Premiering on Friday, July 5th, with a reception from 6 to 8pm at Station Independent Projects, ends Saturday, 27th, 2024. Many of the artists and Robert Curcio, curcioprojects, will attend the reception.
At Face Value features Claudine Anrather, Noah Becker, Marcy Brafman, Chambliss Giobbi, Amy Hill, Sam Jackson, D. Dominick Lombardi, Shantel Miller, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Dana Nehdaran. Andrew Owen AO1, Arlene Rush, Pierre St. Jacques.
“The self-portraits by D. Dominick Lombardi, Dana Nehdaran, and Arlene Rush are personal journeys rather than surface-level depictions. Lombardi’s irreverent surreal ink drawings depict the artist at ages 17, 35, and a preview of him at 95. Nehdaran’s over 300 near-daily self-portraits, created on paper or in sketchbooks, or as the paintings exhibited, are intimate in scale yet grand in color and brushstrokes. Rush’s digital photo series ‘Twins’ examines identity, sameness, and authenticity from her experiences of having a twin male counterpart, while also challenging traditional misconceptions about gender roles.
Noah Becker, Amy Hill, Claudine Anrather, and Shantel Miller create seemingly traditional portraits, though the subjects themselves carry much deeper context and meaning. Becker’s stylishly elegant portraits feature fictitious figures that invoke a feeling of déjà vu. Hill’s portraits juxtapose the formality and structure of Renaissance portraits with mundane contemporary images of technology and consumerism. Anrather’s beautiful activist portraits of black trans women who have passed away are surrounded by calla lilies, representing rebirth, death, and a touch of sexuality. Miller’s portraits are situated in very intimate positions and moments, speaking to the emotional intricacies of the daily life experienced by black people and families.
Andrew Owen AO1, working with a relational art program, creates a photo-based series titled ‘United Diversity Portraits,’ featuring hybrid portraits of a post-ethnicity, color, gender, sexuality, and age society. This series features the now-famous model Winnie Harlow and was created with Fashion Art Toronto. Additionally, photo portrait artist Ruben Natal-San Miguel portrays his subjects in a documentary-style setting, touching on socio-political issues and identity. Most of his work takes place in Harlem, where he conducts a photographic study of various subcultures.
Marcy Brafman and Sam Jackson’s graffiti-esque paintings create identifiable yet unrecognized personas. Brafman’s paintings depict characters from American pop culture and Hollywood using bright colors and rapid brushstrokes. Jackson references the UK punk and fetish scenes of the 70s and 80s, creating traditional portraits scattered with gestural symbols, text, bits of collage and glitter, and tattoo-like images, resulting in an almost punk rock portraiture.
Chambliss Giobbi and Pierre St. Jacques select outside references to create unique types of portraiture. Giobbi’s medium of melted Crayola crayons crafts miniature reproductions from a collective memory of portraits by well-known artists, describing them as “like votives; love letters to the real thing that could fit under your pillow.” Jacques’s work is referential to a caveman at peace while a spaceman in his head attempts to disrupt his peace. Both characters illustrate how two separate personas can be joined in their state of mind, setting the psychological tone for the space they reside within.
Robert Curcio, of curcioprojects, is an independent curator, consultant, and writer. Curcio was a co-founder and co-producer of the Scope Art Shows. He has curated and/or managed over 20 exhibitions, including ‘Mortality: A Survey of Contemporary Death Art’ with Donald Kuspit, ‘Go Figure,’ ‘HEAD,’ ‘The Great Nude Invitational,’ ‘PRESENCE,’ ‘Walk-ins Welcome,’ ‘Corporeal Identities,’ ‘Media Life,’ and ‘Women Depict Men.’ Curcio has written for Arte Fuse, Artvoices, ARTnews, Cover, dART International, Sculpture, Tema Celeste, WhiteHot Magazine, and Zing magazines.”
Station Independent Projects organizes exhibitions and events with a focus on artist advocacy and specializes in discovering new, emerging, and mid-career artists not represented by galleries. The organization also organizes shows to connect artists to broader audiences. Before opening the gallery in Toronto, we were located in the Lower East Side of New York City. We have also organized exhibitions in the New York City area for over ten years with numerous New York galleries, art fairs, and nonprofits.
The curators would like to extend a special “Thank you” to Myles Fucci for his curatorial and administrative assistance.
At Face Value Curated by Robert Curcio and Leah Oates opens on the 5th of July, 2024 until the 27th of July, 2024 at Station Independent Projects
https://www.instagram.com/station_independent
©2024 Station Independent Projects
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