Canopy Studio, 508 W. 26th St. #6E

January 16-18

Opening

Thursday, January 16, 6-8 pm

Closing

Saturday, January 18, 1-3 pm

Personal Effects can be everyday items (like tools, books, heirlooms) but they can also be ineffable experiences.

“Objects become symbols when they are loaded with memories. Humans make their world through objects, leaving them behind after death in the form of grave goods found in prehistoric tombs; now we accumulate them in drawers and on shelves, we buy them, we wear them. As artists, we make them. Artworks are things that are haunted by thinking, inflected by bodily sensations. They are situated in complex webs of other artworks, lineages, historical narratives. The artists in my cohort have put together a diverse and exciting array of artworks that invite us to think about Personal Effects in the world and in the mind.”
-Jennifer Coates

The artists in this show use painting, drawing, and installation to meditate on the emotional and symbolic weight carried by personal effects. What does it mean to possess something, to be shaped by it, to imbue it with meaning?

Brittany Baldwin’s paintings use gestures to visually embody the transformative power of movement, creating dynamic abstractions in vivid hues.
Laura Williams’ labor intensive drawings trace the delicate balance between randomness and order as fragments of the world come together to form invisible connections and tell stories larger than themselves.
Laura Hainke’s paintings examine how personal memories and bodily experiences shape subconscious narratives, blending the mythical and the corporeal to reveal the profound, personal impact of our connection to land and story.
Michele Montalbano paints invented landscapes that highlight the beauty and vulnerability of the natural world, which serves as a personal space for meditative introspection.
Caitlin Reid paints surreal still lifes that meditate on the mundane - they are influenced by the history of art and modern technology.
Avital Zemel uses the concept of home and belonging to create assemblages and paintings of junk in domestic spheres.
Keerim Kim’s paintings explore the concept of home through her experiences as a migrant, drawing on nature to reflect on security, transformation, and adaptation.
Mary Grace Wolnski explores the intimate relationship between the body, religion and the natural world. She paints the raw and loving wrestling of intestines, the Divine and the muddy, electric earth personified.
Isabel Sorrells combines figurative and floral imagery, blurring the lines between human flesh and botanical forms in an exploration of violence, transformation, and survival strategies in the natural world.
Melanese Reid’s work is one of “self” evaluation through the interrogation of epigenetic inheritance via her own intersectionality as a person of color, an immigrant, and a woman.

Together, the artists in Personal Effects present a multifaceted examination of how our relationships with things are intricately tied to our stories.