Introducing the Spring SOLOS 2016 Artists
by Evan Odoms, Arlington Arts Center Marketing Intern
Spring in the DMV may not always be consistent, but our Spring SOLOS are blooming right on schedule.
Each year more than 100 artists submit unique proposals detailing how they would use one of our seven main exhibition spaces – we’re all about site-specific work, and proposals that incorporate our distinctive gallery spaces are particularly exciting!
Around this time last year we asked Michele Ho Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and Chicago-based artist Jefferson Pinder to help us make the selections for the 2015-16 SOLOS.
Through this competitive process only 14 artists were selected, seven for fall and seven for spring.
We wrapped up 2015 with the Fall SOLOS, and are now, at this very moment, preparing to present the Spring SOLOS, opening April 16.
This series is the heart of our mission, and highlights contemporary artists from across the Mid-Atlantic, but more than that we offer space for artists to realize ambitions and push the limits of their practices.
What’s so interesting about SOLOS is how each artist produces an independent body of work, and while they are all different, there are moments of discovery each season where we find these fascinating common threads in technique, concept, or ideology.
Read on to learn more about each artist, and come to the reception this weekend to see if you can find the connections throughout Spring SOLOS 2016
In Locked Apart: The Impact of Incarceration on Families, Gabriela Bulisova uses videos and documentary photography to depict the poignant, but relevant, stories of family members whose loved ones are incarcerated. Gabriela’s work is fueled by her desire to be a catalyst for real change in an often ignored structure of society.
Not A Sunday Morning is an exploration of the concept of home by Maggie Gourlay who, by combining drywall and embroidery thread, plays with personal perspectives using different materials that seemingly change before your eyes.
Adam Hager’s work also combines unusual materials as he reassigns the purposes of tiny mechanical components. In Mechanical Resonance he does just that; creating interactive structures, prompting participants to generate sound and movement.
Jesse Harrod explores the natural form in her exhibition Soft Hardware. Her vibrantly colored macramé pieces represent the juxtaposition between artificial and organic components; a commentary on sexuality and the cultural meaning of the body.
Touching on ideas of fidelity, ritual, transmission, and progress R. Mertens uses VHS and audio cassette tape in traditional fiber art techniques such as crochet, weaving, and macramé. Paradoxical Acousmêtre features objects (integral elements of his performance art installations) created from these materials and methods.
In Parts and Wholes, Lauren Rice explores the past, present, and future by creating displays from an imagined archaeological dig with found materials and artist-made objects.
Amy Ritter draws you into her personal memories by recreating scenes and objects often found in mobile home communities. She used large-scale Xerox prints and building material like plywood to create her exhibition: Here | There.
At first glance the works of these seven artists may not seem to have a correlating theme, however, all of their work are an artistic expression of our contemporary society and are a commentary on our present culture.
