APAA’s May ’22 Top 10

With the Western World’s attention grimly set on Eastern Europe, we might find a glimmer of inspiration in the life and work Geta Brătescu. If one were limited to a single word to describe the multi-valent practice of this outstanding artist, it would be perseverance.  From the periphery of Communist controlled Romania in the 1950s which forced her practice “underground” to halls of the Venice Biennale in 2017 which helped further expose her genius to a global audience, her conceptualist practice, experimental and tenacious approach, and feminist perspective sit at the crossroads of today’s contemporary culture, evidencing just how established these roots really are. From collage to video to her accomplished line work, she imbues a sensitive radicality into her work that still has very much to teach contemporary audiences.  – Julian A. Jimarez Howard

In the first presentation of her work in New York beyond her exhibitions with the quilters of Gee’s Bend, the quilts of Rachel Carey George (1908-2011) at Nicelle Beauchene are a great example of the balance between the continuity of a creative tradition passed through generations of mothers and daughters, and the celebration of individual expression. While the graphic black and white patterns in George’s quilt My Way (I refuse to follow the normal pattern) from the 1970s may recall traditional patterns found in quilt making, the artist celebrates freedom and individuality in her design, with triangles arranged in a rhythmic, circling dance. George’s work is presented alongside contemporary artist Ruby Sky Stiler, in an intergenerational conversation on pattern, abstraction, and narratives of care and relationships. – Erin Dodson, Curator, Hallmark Art Collection

“Like a kid in a candy store” is what I find myself thinking when I stand in front of Emma Kohlmann’s works on paper…kaleidoscopic cornucopia of figures, flora, fauna and forms. Often stacked atop and sidled next to one another, like two-dimensional specimen jars in saturated color, what it is about these anthropomorphic, deceptively faux-naif forms, non-binary Boteros bursting the seams of the picture plane? They are life, encapsulated: I see Grimm’s fairy tales, John James Audubon, feminist theory, Mexican Olmec ceramic heads and DIY ‘zines, all rolled together into an eye candy of the most dazzling variety. I hear there will be paintings, too, at the Independent; can’t wait to sample these new sweet treats. – Liz Parks

Ruby Sky Stiler’s mixed media works use paint, resin, paper and graphite to build reliefs that echo the materiality of stone or wood. The artist’s sculpture practice is evident in these works, which balance the line between sculpture and two-dimensionality with their illusionary quality. Sky Stiler’s human forms suggest the formal qualities of antiquities and stylized characteristics of Cubism, adding art historical and cultural references to these recognizable portraits. The contrast between the foreground and background, along with the deep, pointed gaze of each subject adds to the depth of the work, drawing you in as a viewer.  – Elizabeth Fiore

The messy line between Fashion and Art is, perhaps, a false dichotomy. Tenant of Culture (the artistic practice of Hendrickje Schimmel) is someone pushing beyond such surface level comparison and reaching into far more interesting fields of inquiry. Their graduate work at London’s Royal College of Art, A Just Game / How to preserve a Happening drew poignant connections between the archive and embodied practice as much as it did between mass culture and the selection of objects into high culture. The Flash and Puzzlecut series works on display here continue to reflect on history through their layered (literally) critiques of anthropocentric culture and the uncanny valley of consumer capitalism’s value-based frameworks.  – Julian A. Jimarez Howard