KARINA SHARIF: A DREAM EMBODIED
10 FEBRUARY - 30 MARCH 2024
Karina Sharif is a multidisciplinary paper artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work explores wearable and non wearable sculpture; highlighting multitudes of the divine, Black, femme. Sharif focuses on rest, adornment, space and sensory encounters as catalysts for her vision and centers Black bodies, minds and experience throughout her work. Each piece by Sharif serves as a form of therapy and restitution for individuals within her constituency.
Sharif began working with paper in 2019. Today, she combines her dedication to the medium as an endless source of form and possibility with her nearly 20 years of sewing, styling and construction experience. This intriguing union has allowed Sharif to fully embody the range of her visions; ensuring her devotion to Black femme-hood and her chosen medium boldly encourage viewers to experience how the two are intertwined.
“Sharif’s work pays homage to traditional domestic practices while reworking them into a contemporary narrative. Historically, female artists have been keen to explore the prospects of paper and textiles to acknowledge their relationship to the troubling history of their art. Other artists such as Jen Aitken, Mary Evans, and Elisabetta Di Maggio implement the fibrous material in their practice in different but equally as innovative ways as Karina Sharif. Naturally, the use of paper evokes a repetitive and tedious task that tributes time-honoured craft and the unseen, at-home labour of women. By intuitively choosing paper, Sharif is reckoning with this dialogue and evolving it with her own practice.” Written by Elephant Magazine.
Jamel RobinsoN:
The Eagle Flies Free, But why not me?
11 NOVEMBER 2023 - 13 JANUARY 2024
“I want people, primarily the youth, to ask why I’m using sand, rice, rope, pennies, nails, chains, and wood in the work so that, socially, we’re forced to address the truth regarding historical issues of race inequality that may have changed in shape, but are still the pulse of our country today.” - Jamel Robinson
Jamel Robinson’s exhibition, “The Eagle Flies Free, But Why Not Me?” comments on the Black American experience through the innovative use of found materials. Robinson’s artistic career has spanned a decade in the form of painting, abstraction, sculpture, poetry and installation. His work has recently solidified in its strongest form of striking and profound assemblage works. His assemblage utilizes immediate materials, demanding viewers take inquisitive action when confronted with them. Public space and ownership are the subtexts that run throughout Robinson’s practice.
Why firewood? Firewood represents the reclamation of a discarded item that was chosen to be burned. Why pennies? Pennies serve as a metaphor for how black men and women have been seen throughout American history. Why rice? Rice was hidden in the braids of enslaved individuals on their journey to the New World. Why sand? Sand is a reminder of the enslaved being taken from coast to coast. Why boxing gloves? Boxing gloves represent the constant fight.
Why the Eagle? Eagles are a symbol of American prowess and freedom. They soar uninterrupted throughout the country as a protected species, contrary to the plight of African Americans.
The materials used to create the unique works in Robinson’s exhibition speak to the present and historical realities of grief in Black America. Gallery 495 is proud to host Robinson’s very first exhibition in Catskill, NY and the first exhibit to showcase the full range of Robinson’s assemblage artworks. Many of the works on view were made in the Berkshire Mountains, a sister region to the Hudson Valley, at the Long Meadow Arts Residency.
Installation view. Gallery 495, Jamel Robinson: The Eagle Flies Free But Why Not Me? Image by Otto Ohle
PANEL DISCUSSION: MATERIALS AND STORYTELLING
JAMEL ROBINSON Alteronce Gumby Jade Warrick
DECEMBER 16, 2023 AT 1PM
MYron Polenberg: Out of many, One
23 SEPTEMBER - 21 OCTOBER 2023
The inaugural exhibition, Out of Many, One, unveils the profound artistic vision of Myron Polenberg. With a career spanning over 50 years, Polenberg's work has entered a new phase of exploration. Polenberg’s September exhibition will show a body of work that invites both a visual and experiential contemplation on the many themes which have been central to his artistic practice thus far; mainly concepts related to processing, obscuring, revelation, and destruction.
Early in his creative career Polenberg worked in advertising and design. His unique professional ability of conveyance and direct communication for the consumer market, has given way in his most recent years to a purist sensibility. Meditative at their core, Polenberg’s works challenge our understandings of permanence.
Artist portrait by David McIntyre
Installation image by Otto Ohle
Shanekia Mcintosh: Flow
15 JULY 2023 - 18 SEPTEMBER 2023
Shanekia McIntosh is an interdisciplinary artist, encompassing the roles of poet, cultural mapper, and performer. She is an explorer and observer, with the core of her work centered around shaping the narratives of our living history. Her work has been featured in the New Museum, Second Ward Foundation, Charim, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival, Hudson Hall, NY Live Arts, ICA at VCU, Basilica Hudson, and many others. In 2021, she released her debut chapbook, "Spiral as Ritual," published by Topos Press.
