A Power Couple, 2019 mixed media and black glitter on heavy prepared paper 5’x’6 each, diptych 5’x12′ total Courtesy of the artist
Gallery hours: Wed-Sun, 2-6pm or by appointment
COVID-19 Restrictions: Visitors must wear masks
September 25th – November 28th
Click Here to Watch Between Reveries: A Conversation Between Christian Curiel and Titus Kaphar >
NXTHVN is thrilled to announce the opening of the first solo exhibition in its gallery titled, Christian Curiel: Between Reveries, organized by Kalia Brooks and Victoria McCraven. The exhibition features the artwork of New Haven and Miami based artist, Christian Curiel who creates open-ended, narrative paintings that at first seem to depict banal events, yet upon closer examination – abnormal actions, elements, or characters emerge.
Inspired by magic realism and the current human condition, Curiel’s work mixes the real and unreal aspects of dream states as reflections on Latin American cultural and literary references, as well as elements of ritual, mystery, and symbolism. The works are a collision of themes related to migration, immigration, belonging and identity placed within the complex, highly emotional coded world of youth. His work evokes a dreamlike-state that represents the confusion and fragility of coming of age as the embodiment of the struggle for identity and a sense of belonging. The work also explores the influence memories and dreams have on the construction of identity.
His practice involves a constant search for imagery whether found, staged or researched. Curiel spends a lot of time looking at art history as well as fashion magazines, newspapers and various media for gestures in figures that convey a sense of transitioning. Curiel is also interested in figures in a place of self-awareness. Since his work often portrays scenes with open-ended narratives, he tends to work on various paintings and drawings at once, building a body of work that communicates with each other. His work reflects both the environmental surroundings as well as the socio-political temperatures that inform the human experience.
Curiel’s works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums in the U.S. and abroad: Fondation Cartier in Paris, France, The Bass Museum, MOCA, The Pérez Art Museum in Miami, FL., The Americas Society, El Museo Del Barrio, and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, NY. Collections include: Fondation Cartier, Pérez Art Museum, Dean Valentine, Hort Family, Jeanna Bullock, and Jean-Pierre Lehmann to name a few.
ABOUT THE CURATORS:
Kalia Brooks, PhD, is the Director of Programs and Exhibitions at NXTHVN. She is responsible for the design and delivery of curatorial exhibitions, public programs, artist projects, community engagement initiatives and the learning environment for the fellowship and apprenticeship programs. Her academic research covers art from the nineteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on emergent technologies and African American, trans-Atlantic and diasporic cultures of the Americas. Brooks Nelson holds a PhD in Aesthetics and Art Theory from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). She is co editor of Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History (Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK, 2019). She has served as a consulting curator with the City of New York through the Department of Cultural Affairs and is currently an ex-officio trustee on the Board of the Museum of the City of New York.
Victoria McCraven is the Programs Manager at NXTHVN. She is passionate about expanding historical narratives through the visual arts and creating community-based dialogue. Victoria earned her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, majoring in Geography and minoring in Art History. While at Dartmouth, she worked at the Hood Museum of Art where she curated the exhibition Black Bodies on the Cross which included works by Romare Bearden, Kara Walker, and Ashley Bryan. In 2019, Victoria was selected as a U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Postgraduate Grantee to complete her master’s degree in History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Previously, Victoria was the 2020-2021 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she worked on curatorial, education, and audience development projects across the museum.
SUPPORT
NXTHVN is deeply grateful for the support of its funding partners. Support for NXTHVN’s Curatorial Fellowships is provided in part by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each year, three Studio Fellowships are supported by the TOY family in memory of Yves (1988–2011). NXTHVN’s programs are made possible by generous support from Burger Collection; Hong Kong, Berger Family Foundation, the City of New Haven, Ford Foundation, Gagosian, the J.P. Fletcher Foundation, and Stonesthrow Fund.
Additional support was generously provided by Arison Arts Foundation, Avangrid Foundation, the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, the RISC Foundation, Inc., Sean and Nancy Cotton, the State of Connecticut, The Laluyaux Foundation, Ellen Susman, and TIDES Foundation.
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