Catastrophe is the theme of Manifestation internationale d’art de Québec, Manif d’art 5, Québec City’s upcoming art biennial. But the city-wide exhibit is definitely a boon to Atlanta artists Sarah Emerson and Katherine Taylor. Curator Sylvie Fortin, the editor-in-chief of the Atlanta-based Art Papers magazine, has included them in the city-wide event, which runs May 1-June 15.
"Swarm" by Sarah Emerson
Fortin intends to explore catastrophe in its various manifestations, from catalcysmic events to subtler “shadow of the permanent threat of catastrophe.” These artists, both trained in Atlanta, fit the bill. Emerson creates a world whose Bambi innocence belies the strange doings that take place therein. Taylor often limns a landscape laid waste by weather — Atlanta’s floods in her most recent work. Her paintings are sourced from newspaper or television images, which often neutralize the emotional impact of their subject. You might say she depicts the banality of natural disaster.
Emerson, 36, will contribute a site-specific silhouette tableau on windows of the Museum of Civilization as well as a temporary mural, location yet to be determined, that reprises the locusts that swarmed in her discomfiting recent show at her Atlanta gallery, Whitespace.
Both artists consider Manif an important opportunity. “Sylvie’s been really supportive,” Emerson says. “She encouraged me to stretch.”
Although she has shown abroad, Emerson says this her most important show thus far because she will be exhibiting in the context of internationally recognized artists. Taylor, who is represented by Marcia Wood Gallery, is also excited by the prospect of a new platform. An artist who tends to lose herself in her work, the 44-year-old painter says, “It’s also made me think about my work differently, to think about its value outside of the studio.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment