Synchronicities: Intersecting Figuration with Abstraction

Synchronicities: Intersecting Figuration with Abstraction celebrates the fluidity of artists who navigate the spaces between abstraction and figuration. Featuring Leia Genis, Sheree Hovsepian, Liz McCarthy, Laura Hart Newlon, Sondra Perry, Amy Pleasant, Christina Quarles, Heather Rasmussen, and Carolyn Salas, this exhibition is a visual journey that challenges traditional artistic categories.

Each artist's unique approach blurs the lines between the recognizable and the abstract, inviting viewers to explore the layers of meaning within their works. In essence, abstraction and figuration are not opposing forces but rather complementary tools that artists use to convey their ideas, emotions, and perspectives. Their relationship is a testament to the ever-evolving and boundless nature of artistic practice and expression, allowing for the creation of artworks that challenge our perceptions and expand our understanding of the world around us.

Carolyn Salas's sculptures juxtapose geometric forms with organic shapes, while Heather Rasmussen's photography captures ephemeral moments in dreamlike compositions. Sheree Hovsepian's experimental use of photography and materials creates enigmatic compositions, and Amy Pleasant's expressive paintings hover between the realms of realism and abstraction. Sondra Perry’s 2-channel work articulates bodily freedom through digital whitening tools while Laura Hart Newlon, Christina Quarles and Leia Genis all explore the complexities of identity and representation, adding depth to the exhibition's exploration of the liminal space where abstraction and figuration meet. Synchronicities highlights the artists pushing the boundaries of artistic expression, showcasing how the relationship between abstraction and figuration lies in their interplay and ability to inform each other.

Many artists find that by experimenting with abstraction, they can distill the essence of a subject or emotion, creating a more impactful and expressive representation. Conversely, figuration can ground abstract concepts in the familiar, making them more relatable to viewers. The artists included collectively highlight how abstraction can serve as a powerful tool for reinterpreting the body. By intersecting figurative and abstract elements, they challenge conventional understandings of physicality and identity, inviting audiences to engage with their works on multiple levels. Showcasing these artists together enriches the broader conversation about the complexities of the vast human experience.

Leia Genis (b. 1997, Chicago, IL) is a trans artist and writer currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design with degrees in painting and sculpture (2019), her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as MOCA GA (Atlanta) and the Ipswich Biennale (Ipswich, UK). Her artworks have been written about in Elephant Magazine, Galerie Magazine, Sugarcane Magazine, and other publications. Her writing has been published in Frieze, Hyperallergic, Observer, and others. In addition to her artistic endeavors, she is an avid cyclist with a competition history at the national level.

Sheree Hovsepian (born 1974) is an Iranian American artist whose practice highlights the physicality of photography and its relationship to the human body. She employs ceramic, string, nylon and velvet alongside printed images in her assemblages to compose a sense of the framed physical body. Coaxed into sculptural forms, layered with tactile materials and assembled into larger compositions, her work oscillates between object and image, creating an embodied experience of the photographic document.  She lives and works in New York.

Liz McCarthy is a Chicago-based artist combining ceramics with other mediums to interrogate material and cultural modes of collective performativity. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Studio Art and her BFA from the University of North Carolina at Asheville in Photography.

Laura Hart Newlon is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator whose recent work explores materiality and conditions of visibility related to the body and image-making. She lives in Vancouver, BC where she is an Associate Professor of Art at Emily Carr University.

Sondra Perry makes videos and performances that foreground the tools of digital production as a way to critically reflect on new technologies of representation and to remobilize their potential.

Amy Pleasant received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1994) and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University (1999). Pleasant was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2018, the South Arts Prize for the State of Alabama (2018), Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award (2015), Mary Hambidge Distinguished Artist Award (2015), Cultural Alliance of Birmingham Individual Artist Fellowship (2008), and Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship (2019/2003)

Christina Quarles (b. 1985) is a Los Angeles-based artist. Her practice spans drawing, painting, and installation, as she works to dismantle assumptions and ingrained beliefs surrounding identity and the human figure. She received an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art in 2016 and holds a B.A. from Hampshire College. In 2015 Quarles received the Robert Schoelkopf Fellowship at Yale University, and was a participant at the Skowhegan School for painting and sculpture in 2016. In 2017 she received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and participated in the Fountainhead Residency that same year. In 2019 she became the inaugural recipient of the Pérez Art Museum Miami Prize.

Heather Rasmussen (b. Santa Ana, CA 1982) lives and works in Los Angeles. She received a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA in 2007 and a BFA from the University of California, Irvine, CA in 2004. Rasmussen choreographs scenes resulting in photographs, sculptures and videos using her own body, plaster casts of her legs and feet, oddly shaped vegetables, mirrors, and collection of possessions that are loaded with personal and historical meaning. She is represented by The Pit in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. She is the co-founder of Probably Gallery in Los Angeles in 2023, alongside artist Julian Hoeber. Rasmussen’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.

Carolyn Salas was born in Los Angeles, CA. She lives and works in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. She earned a BFA in sculpture from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA from Hunter College. She has attended residencies at the Abrons Art Center A.I.R. Space Program and The NARS Foundation, New York, NY; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY; the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM. She has also been a Chashama Studio Space recipient, and an Elizabeth Foundation Studio Program/Space awardee. Selected exhibitions include the Berkshire Museum, Berkshire MA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA; Casey Kaplan, Koenig & Clinton, Brookfield Arts, and Kate Werble Gallery, New York, Mrs., Maspeth, NY; Terrault Contemporary and Towson University, Baltimore, MD; Páramo Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico; and NADA Special Projects, Miami, FL.