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Written by Melanie Reese
Apr 28th, 2020 • 11 minute read
Apr 28th, 2020 • 11 minute read
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The Weekly Curation: WFH - The Simple Pleasures
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Everyone’s going a little stir crazy right now. And it’s totally understandable. The days where we begged for lazy Sundays spent watching Netflix in our pajamas are fading into a distant memory. Even the idea of going to the coffee shop or riding the subway feels luxurious and almost illicit. We crave being busy again.
But, as the concept of time seems to melt away, we try to remember the sense of release we once felt returning home after a long day –– the comfort of seeing our familiar objects and spaces. The comfy couch we picked out so carefully, the kitchen table we now hate. Let’s try to relish this time that’s been forced upon us. Together, let’s reexamine the good in the situation––the cozy pillows, the late night snacks, the old movies on streaming––and revel in the simple pleasures of the home we’ve built ourselves.
This week artist and curator Mel Reese has brought together a collection of Art in Res pieces to remind us to relish the simple pleasures of home. There’s a special ease and comfort to surrounding yourself with familiar objects, memories from past vacations, gifts from your loved ones, items we’ve curated thoughtfully over our lifetime. We know there’s still a joy to climbing into our favorite pair of worn in PJs.
It’s a good time to spruce up your home, envisioning a new piece of art in your little universe. We promise that with all your time spent sitting on your bed in a towel after you shower, staring into the distance, a new piece of artwork on your bedroom wall can go a long way. It’s a welcome distraction to picture new artwork in your home, interacting with your other pieces, envisioning your budding curated collection of fine art! Scroll through the post to see Mel’s placement of each piece, as well as how the selected works come together in a thoughtful, coalescent collection. Make sure to also catch Mel’s tips on curating your own collection!
Now, readjust those sweatpants, get comfy(er), and let’s browse!
Your Plant Babies
Caring for a living thing and watching it grow is an innate human instinct. That’s why all our plants have names now and we’ve put far too much emotional stock into their wellbeing. Each of our house plants is hand-picked by us and we’ve spent a lot of time taking care of this being, fostering it’s little sprouts, giving it love. And maybe we whisper to it sometimes, because at least we’re talking to something alive. Plants provide support, emotionally and physically. They bring the natural world we crave into our living space; they clean our dirty air, providing us with fresh oxygen. And isn’t that just astounding? House plants remind us that, in this world where we now emphasize the virtual and digital, we need to take a moment to appreciate the Earth around us, even when we’re detached from the outdoors. In Bradley Kerl’s painting of a noble little potted cactus, Kerl picks up on the personality we often place on our plants. There’s a bright, yet awkward cheeriness to the solitary cactus, emphasizing the importance we place on the most small, yet crucial family members.
A native of southeast Texas, Bradley Kerl is a painter and arts educator based in Houston, TX since 2011. Bradley studied drawing and painting at the University of North Texas, as well as the University of Houston, where he earned his MFA in 2014. His work has been exhibited widely in Texas including solo exhibitions at Jonathan Hopson Gallery, Galveston Arts Center and Art Palace Gallery. His work also appears in New American Paintings #138 and Friend of The Artist: Volume 7.
The Sanctuary that is your own Shower
Sometimes showering can feel like quite the feat. It’s hard to move through the steps of getting undressed, washing your hair, and drying off when you have nowhere to go. But it’s a universal fact that when you’re actually in the shower, breathing in steamy shampoo-scented air, life feels better. And, if you’re lucky enough to be quarantined with friends or family (or plants), the shower can be the best place to steal away for solitary time. The shower is the place that makes us appreciate being alone. Bathing yourself is a time for rejuvenation. It’s a simple pleasure––hot water, good smells, warm air––feeling the healing power of a soapy scalp massage. It’s one moment in our daily life that shines a spotlight on the selfish (and necessary) joy of self-care. Maria Stabio’s bright, fun piece reminds us of singing in the shower or making friends with the resident spider that you don’t have the heart to kill. It’s his shower now too, I guess.
Maria Stabio (b. San Francisco, CA) is a first generation Filipino-American painter. She graduated with a BFA in Painting from Boston University and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Her work has recently been shown at Goggleworks Center for the Arts (PA), Fjord (PA), Pen and Brush (NY), Essex Flowers (NY), (harbor) (NY), Orgy Park (NY) and Ely Center of Contemporary Art (CT). She has been awarded artist residencies at ChaNorth (NY), the Hinge Arts Program (MN), The Rensing Center (SC), and Vermont Studio Center (VT).
The Everyday Objects
Ah, the cool cucumber. An everyday object we never spent much time fixating on, until we woke up and realized fresh produce is now a time-sensitive luxury. We relish the idea of a fresh sliced cucumber in a good sandwich or a glass of ice water. Igor Sokol’s still-life treatment of this object, so hilariously mundane, is a lovely and welcome satirical reminder to appreciate all our small household objects. As we sit in our homes, it feels like the perfect time to find the humor in simple things, the mundane, the so-often taken for granted. Never again will we ignore the refreshing joy of the lay cucumber. We find ourselves laughing at the idea of Marie Kondo-ing our homes, but instead of throwing out what doesn’t bring immediate joy, we take Sokol’s direction. He suggests through his thoughtful still-life painting to find that spark of joy in the everyday, reacquainting yourself with your home.
In his home studio in Ridgewood, New York, Igor Sokol actively experiments with different mediums and investigates 'other' methods of expressing himself. He creates work based on physical laws and his perception of them based on structure, form and color. He uses varied combinations of colors, interactions of light and shadows which help him build the depth of both composition and idea.
Your Comfy Clothes
Remember that feeling of coming home after a long day of work and climbing into a pair of fresh, clean, comfortable sweatpants? Be careful what you wish for. Now we have that feeling everyday, all day long, from when we wake to when we go back to sleep. You could put on jeans during the day, but sometimes it just feels pointless. Let’s stick to the sweatpants. When we think about it, it’s pretty great to constantly exist in our most comfortable state. Sometimes we think we’ll never wear jeans again. We want to relish the simple joy of being able to wear our comfy clothes 24/7. Matias Arganaraz’s grand piece elevates that inexplicable feeling of “ahhhhh” when we settle into the comfort of our most soul nourishing outfit.
Matias Arganaraz creates mesmerizing, complex paintings. Gas station decals and cigarette butts sit within glowing, ambiguous spaces evocative of mid-century abstract painters like Joan Miro, Willem de Koonig and Robert Rauchenberg.
The Guilty Pleasures
These days, there is no guilt in pleasure. Eating cereal at 2AM? That’s ok. Watching your favorite childhood cartoons? Chase that high. All this is to say, we’re enjoying the guilty pleasures of life. We’re embracing them. These activities were previously reserved for weekends, but now we find ourselves in a semi-permanent weekend feel. So it’s time to indulge. Artist Gabriel D’Elia’s quippy drawing is a self-portrait of all of us in quarantine, and we are here for it. The economic use of black line in this print tells a clear, robust story, one we can all connect and identify with, slightly reminiscent of Keith Haring’s iconic style. Now sit back, relax, have a smoke, and stir your drink while you soak in the simple pleasure of knowing that you don’t have to go into the office tomorrow, or the next day, or the next....
Gabriel D’Elia is a self taught artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He was born in Georgetown, D.C. with Argentine and Italian roots. His artwork is a mix of Abstract Expressionism and his own creation of cartoon-like figures that resemble the 60’s and 70’s. The creative process is all intuitive with no preliminary plan or penciling. The artwork consists of different mediums and done on various objects other than canvas. The artwork is created with oil pastel, acrylic, graffiti markers, inks and sometimes a combination of all of them within the same art piece.
The Lounging Around in Strange, Yet Oddly Comfortable Positions
Our number one goal these days is to get comfy. In a cozy space, this bright painting brings well-needed life and vibrance. Viewing the piece takes us right back to our childhood –– spread out like a starfish on the ground, rolling matchbox cars on the linoleum, drawing shapes into the thick shag carpet of our grandparent’s house. Now, as you try desperately to get comfy in your 300SF apartment, you find yourself reverting back to those early years. Everywhere in your home is a new territory to lounge, from the empty bathtub to the kitchen floor. Like the figures in Hali Nelson’s piece, we’ll take any attempt to change things up –– feet up on the wall, head facing down, sprawled across the IKEA rug, perched on top of the couch arms for a new perspective.
Hali Nelson is an artist based in New York City working in a range of mediums, including oil painting, drawing, printmaking, and embroidery. She graduated from Harvard University in 2017 with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Her work explores the emotional and psychological connection between the body and the space it occupies, both within an image and in the way her work is experienced by the viewer. In this exploration, she is concerned with 'in-between-ness': pushing the ways in which figures, objects, and environments oscillate between various states of existence.
Bringing it Together
On curating the collection:
As we ramp up each new week of curated selections, I wanted to walk you through what I consider when bringing a collection together. This will cover the basics for all collectors, both experience and new to the game, as we discuss what we can consider when viewing art.
This week, with our cozy home theme, I purposefully selected a group of pieces connected by their bright color and direct subject matter. But, there are more subtle notes connecting them as well! I’m excited to share this week’s perspective and let you in on our process!
Color:
Though we might not think about it, as collectors we are often put-off by adding a strong, bright color to our wall. It can feel like too bold of a choice, like trying on a new style we aren’t sure of. But, this week’s collection is here to say: Nay, add those colors in all their glory! It’s ok for your house to be bright! It’s ok for your house to feel eclectic and vibrant! Each piece in this collection highlights the simple joy of color and what that brings to your space. Now embrace those greens, yellows, reds, and, by contrast, the stark black and white!
Mood:
As we’ve talked about in this post, we want to bring joy to our everyday life. These colors bring that much needed pop of joy and brightness to our seemingly endless days. In the midst of a very rainy spring here on the East Coast, in tandem with the underlying dread of COVID-19, artwork brings brightness to our days, a welcome moment of levity. As we’ve highlighted in each work this week, we are reminded to take pleasure in the simple, the small, the mundane, and the ease of the familiar.
Materials:
As in our selection from last week, we see a range of materials and artistic approaches. However, in respect to the brightness of color, we aren’t surprised to find many of the pieces utilizing oil paints for their vibrancy. Oil pants are hands-down one of the best materials for creating brightness and complexity of color. This is also why it’s such a well used material and one most fans of art are familiar with. The oil within the pigment allows the light to enter into the pigment layers, coaxing the light rays to bounce throughout the pigment, from layer to layer, and illuminating the colors from within.
Size and scale:
This week, I chose works ranging from small to large and everything in between. Just like our homes, one size and style does not fit all. Each piece’s scale is perfect for highlighting its subject matter –– from cozy bodies laying together to the enveloping joy of big ole pajamas. Hali’s intimate scale emphasizes the childhood memories while Matia’s oversized pajamas remind us of the current state of overindulged comfort.
Subject matter:
As we’ve discussed, this week I focused on bringing together works of art that remind us to enjoy the simple pleasures of life at home. The humor of Igor’s still-life cucumbers to D’elia’s perfect deception of all of us lounging right now, metaphorical cigarette in hand. To remember the joy of home, we sometimes have to spruce up our world. Take in new pieces that let you view what you have around you through a new lens and rediscover your home.
With these new viewing tools in hand, happy collecting!
Curated by Mel Reese
Zhuzh by Emily Berge
Virtual installations courtesy of ArtPlacer