Fredric Snitzer Gallery is proud to present avalanches volcanoes asteroids floods by assume vivid astro focus, a “quasi-retrospective” featuring paintings, newly commissioned printed rugs, and “home movie” videos of never-before-seen imagery from the artists’ archives.
Founded in New York City in 2001 by Eli Sudbrack (b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1968) and joined by Christophe Hamaide-Pierson (b. Paris, France, 1973) in 2005, assume vivid astro focus collaborates with musicians, designers, dancers, and other artists to create a sense of exuberance and optimism, while critically exploring the politics of free speech, equal rights, and freedom of expression. avaf works in a vast array of media–painting, drawing, installations, video, sculpture, neons, wallpaper, and decals–to produce large-scale works that push the experiential possibilities of art.
avalanches volcanoes asteroids floods uses theavaf acronym, a play on words often utilized by the artists to refer to our collective anxiety regarding natural disasters (particularly sensitive in California and Brazil at the moment) and the general uncertainty of the times, politically, economically, and socially. avaf’ s body of work absorbs, reinterprets, and re-imagines diverse influences from art history, fashion, popular culture, music, politics, and current events. For this exhibition, the artists drew from a range of particular sources including Henri Matisse and Sonia Delaunay; pixação (a style of street tagging common in Brazil); internet star Inês Brazil; New York in the late 70’s; fetish spandex culture; Alexander Calder’s Circus ; Murano glass chandeliers; Grace Jones; Franz West’s Auditorium ; and Bedouin tents.
While the images selected for the rugs have no chronological order, nor do they follow a specific pattern, they tend to break down two categories: 1) abstraction and color and 2) subjects related to LGBTQ politics. At times exaggerated, raunchy, and scatological, the exhibition is not solely a look back at past work, but a reaction to the recent homophobic killings in Orlando, Florida – a devastating reminder of the ongoing struggle of the LGBTQ community to achieve equal rights and freedoms. While these topics have been recurrent themes from the beginning of avaf’s collaboration, both Sudbrack and Hamaide – Pierson felt compelled to take a stronger stand at this critical moment. Hamaide – Pierson recalls,“I think that our selection of images and the intended exhibition could be described quoting Larry Kramer’s text in Esquire: Happy. Frightened. Worried. Hopeful.”
avaf has also been the subject of major exhibitions and public art projects around the world. These include Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Santa Barbara, USA (2016); Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany (2016); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA (2015); The Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami, USA (2013); The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2009); São Paulo Bienal, São Paulo, Brazil (2008); Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tokyo, Japan (2007); 1st Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece (2007); The Geffen Contemporary (MoCA), Los Angeles, USA (2005); The Whitney Biennial, New York, USA (2004); among others.
The rugs were originally commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara for the exhibition assume vivid astro focus: avalanches volcanoes asteroids flood that took place from August 14 – December 31, 2016.
Some of the content in this exhibition may not be appropriate for all audiences as it contains adult material.
Fredric Snitzer Gallery
1540 NE Miami Court
Miami, FL 33132
(305) 448 – 8976
www.snitzer.com
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