Exploring Selfhood Through Medium at Kohn Gallery, LA
By CRISTINA SAMPER
myselves, a group show of 27 artists and curated by Joshua Friedman, explores themes of selfhood and isolation during a time of worldwide seclusion. These emerging and established contemporary artists delve into their mediums as a form of expression, and in that, share their experience of what it means to be inspired by our current circumstances of restriction.
The myriad of styles, composition and color palettes, truly encompass our human ability to create and imagine; more importantly, when uncertainty is the only constant factor in our lives.
Among the selected artists we see Jesse Mockrin’s neoclassical paintings against dark backgrounds of intimate interactions, dialogue with Emily Mae Smith’s hyper realistic compositions; both encapsulating moments frozen in time.
Myselves is a wonderful exploration of how artists have taken upon the task of reflection on our current lives. How identity is intertwined with race, sexuality, gender, as well as politics which are all explored through their chosen mediums. In a time of everlasting change, and an increase in digitalisation, Kate Barbee, and Heidi Hahn use methodical painting materials to challenge that trend.
The exhibition highlights pieces by Oscar yi Hou, Moises Salazar, and Rafa Esparza whose work intends to identify, celebrate, and include the presence of queer brown men in society. Their main goal being to generate community and to bring a previously suppressed demographic to the center stage.
Meanwhile, we see Erin Riley, Sophia Narrett, and Jagdeep Raina working with materials such as cloth, yarn, wood, and even wax to create compositions where the materials become the mediums of dialogue in ideas of identity, companionship (and the lack thereof) in a digital age.
Our relationship with identity is a deeply personal affair that hits us all in different ways; although it’s a constant factor in the way we behave, see the world, and how the world sees us. The group show presents the viewer with such a variation of styles and mediums, that one can’t help but read into, analyse and empathise with the sentiment presented.