NEW YORK, NY.- UniX Gallery is presenting Around the World in 24 Days, a group exhibition featuring Emilie Picard, Ruben Rodrigo, Afia Prempeh, So Lee, C. Michael Norton, Flavia Junquiera, Maria Petrovskaya and Llewellyn Xavier. The show opened on February 23, and is on view through March 18, 2023.
The title of the exhibition is suggestive of an adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours), by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. The show and its title reflect the new phenomena of the contemporary art world – its dynamic multiculturalism and non-stop rapid successive movement of art and art-related events around the world. Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, London, and Basel, - it’s only a short list of the main art fair centers and exhibition forums sprouting around the world. This trend highlights a generally growing multinationalism and cultural cross-pollination of the main megalopolises in contemporary society.
Art has become a shining beacon bringing to light different cultures, subcultures, often marginalized groups, and overlooked histories. Artists in this group show hail from South Korea, France, Spain, Brazil, Santa Lucia, Ghana, the US, and Russia. This exhibition emphasizes both the international focus of the gallery program and new dimensions, depth, and geographic outreach of contemporary art at large.
Ruben Rodrigo’s works are manifestations of his interests in the sublime, time, chance, color, and the Taoist ideas of emptiness. His painting series Ostinato is a suite of 54 works of identical dimensions, (grouped into 27 diptychs) that he started weekly for a year. Each has a title that is the date on which he commenced the work.
Emilie Picard creates complex narratives, blending figuration, abstraction, deep psychological undercurrents and art historical references, ranging from Abstract Expressionism to early Italian Renaissance frescoes. Picard’s unique talent is creating works that are both playful and light, yet somber and deep.
Afia Prempeh draws on art historical, political, personal, and national references. She creates dense figurative compositions that, precise in style, nonetheless conjure the complexity of contemporary experience. Her poignant view on life shows a multifaceted perspective through the lens of Ghanaian history and connects its past, present, and future.
Flavia Junquiera’s work is a reflection on time, history, and the fleeting essence of human life. Her decade-long interest in meticulous site-specific installations of inflatable balloons and the visual documentation of various historical settings ranges from ravaged buildings in Ukraine to opulent palaces in Europe and Brazil.
Llewellyn Xavier’s multifaceted artistic practice is defined by his Caribbean cultural heritage, Western art education, and life experiences that took him from Santa Lucia to England to a Cistercian monastery near Montreal, Boston, and back to the Caribbean. His works reflect this complex trajectory informed by American Abstract Expressionism and the bright light and colors of his native country. His carefully constructed painterly surfaces shimmer like the ocean in the Caribbean and bring a ray of sunshine to viewers across the world.
Maria Petrovskaya is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture and painting. In her practice, she explores the human body, color, and the intersection of 3D and 2D worlds. Painting and sculpture become closely intertwined, as the color in her works plays a crucial role in understanding and highlighting the form and emotions captured in spontaneous clay sculptures. Many of her works are based on automatism and the Dada movement.
So Lee is a Brooklyn-based, South Korea-born artist. Her paintings are focused on the visual and psychological exploration of childhood and domestic environments. Lee’s work offers a non-saccharine approach to childhood representation. Heightened vulnerability and unprotected exposure to the complex world of adults and to the often-cruel peer-to-peer dynamic invariably create psychological and physical tensions that are reflected in her work.
C. Michael Norton’s paintings thrive on a balance between vibrancy and neutrality; between the organic and the geometric. Color and chance play crucial roles in his painterly compositions, and his works range from sculpture to figurative paintings and abstractions.
