Artist Praxis

Looking back at a 50 years-long career, Rudy Vavra sets on to creating a new, large-scale, and multi-paneled installation that nostalgically links to his first artistic explorations as a 19-year old. For this yet-to-be-completed masterpiece, he collects materials from the grounds of his 30-acres property and ties them to supplies he first experimented with as a teen.

The rhythmic back-and-forth of the weaving process echoes interlaced moments of daydreaming and moments of heightened awareness where the past and present inter-are. The artist’s current and earlier selves are intertwined in this time-imbued piece that marks a significant milestone on the artist’s path.

Codex, 2021-ongoing

Baling twine, sisal, native grasses, cotton, horsehair, crochet fabric, camel hair, jute

108” x 80” / 274,3 x 203,2 cm

www.rudyvavra.com

www.instagram.com/rvavraartist

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Ashlynn Browning’s paintings undergo phases of completion and phases of renewal as the artist moves through life and reflects on the accuracy of what she has brought to life in her work. In her paintings, remnants of partly removed color grids and freshly applied nets of paint overlap and form hybrid shapes of organic and abstract-geometric appearance. Placed in front of a subdued or monochromatic background, these singular figures act as portraits of momentary states of mind and representations of an ever-changing sense of self.

A Light Shines in the Dark

Oil on panel

34” x 30” / 86,3 x 76,2 cm

www.ashlynnbrowning.com

www.instagram.com/browning19

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Susanne Ring’s large vessel-like female figure shows traces of serpent-shaped clay rings. In a similarly linear and cumulative way, the straps of a discarded cardigan meander through the pierced and hollow object. Our eyes spiral up and down the surface, following the many fragmented threads that invite and disrupt our course. Perforations enable breakthroughs, or so we think, as all we find is a gaping void.

BRAUT (BRIDE), 2021

Ceramic and textile

31.5” x 15.7” / 80 cm x 40 cm

www.susannering.net

www.instagram.com/susanne__ring

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Naive Melody is a woven paper and ink image in the size of a petate, a woven mat Fidencio Fifield-Perez used to sleep on as a child in Oaxaca, Mexico. The early memory of the mat’s imprint on the artist’s bare skin fueled a quiet and laborious process some 25 years later. Chasing the unforgettable, Fidencio Fifield-Perez manifests his visions through the obsessive and therapeutic handling of materials in the sacred and safe space of his studio. In the here and now emerges an object that is nuanced and multifaceted, grounded in matter and ambiguity, and signifying beyond the easily digestible.

Naive Melody, 2021

Paper and ink

43” x 36” / 109,2 x 91,4 cm

www.fidenciofperez.com

www.instagram.com/fidenciofperez

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

When Mary Herbert started shifting her focus from observational to imaginative drawing, she noticed that the early morning hours allowed for an enhanced intuitive approach to artmaking. Starting with a roughly abstract color composition made of flaked pastel dust on paper, she created a nocturnal dream-like coastal landscape, dotted with lush, glowing vegetation and ghost-like, ethereal figures. She let her image emerge over a couple of weeks, carefully allowing it to rest and breathe. Rather than looking, she appreciates the act of listening to the image, inviting it to hold space for enigmatic content derived from dreams, memories, and the silently witnessed.

The Body Remembers, 2021

soft pastel on paper

19.3” x 11” / 49 cm x 28 cm

www.mary-herbert.com

www.instagram.com/maryanneherb

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Angela Renee Shaffer discusses her ongoing photographic series “Good Mother” by focusing on two selected images that she places side by side in a diptych format. “Embrace” and “Safety” act as a reflection on her relationship with her 8-year old son and the concerns that come with motherhood. In a semester-long collaborative effort, they stage moments of tenderness and despair and learn to assert and respect each other’s boundaries on the way. As their entangled but distinct identities grow in autonomy and maturity, this project offers a vehicle for self-expression, dialogue, and connection.

"Embrace" and “Safety,” 2021

Digital archival prints

www.angelareneeshaffer.com

www.instagram.com/angtakesphotos

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

In an almost Herculean effort, María Vargas Aguilar takes on the important struggles of our times, such as genocide, climate crisis, and intergenerational trauma, and creates a painting that appears strikingly serene and beautiful. Despite the uplifting color washes, the frame-like plaster, plastic, and wood structures seem to act as a damper or a silencer of some sort. Questions of durability are posed, bringing up issues of pollution, survival, and legacy. María’s family history and the Guatemalan Dirty War linger in this painting, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

Untitled, 2021

Acrylic, oil, and plaster on canvas with plastic and wood frame

36" x 36" / 91,4 cm x 91,4 cm

www.mariaaguilar.net

www.instagram.com/aguilar_marias

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

In a performance that brings together years of academic research, family, and personal histories, Berlin-based Luiza Prado creates a detailed setting to make two different kinds of lace. In the making of the performance, the artist observes the materiality and the colors of the threads to make lace typical from Denmark and Brazil, the soil surrounding the gallery that hosts her exhibition, and the exposure of her own body as an immigrant living in Europe. Luiza's intricate creative process reveals the connections between past and present, seeking a decolonial perspective to knowledge and finding answers in the use of medicinal plants.

www.luiza-prado.com

www.instagram.com/luizap

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Captivated by the utmost beauty of a remembered landscape, Sean Noonan returns to his sublime vision in cyclical studio sessions, repeatedly adding layers of paint to the horizontally-oriented and intimately-sized picture plane. He works and reworks the sticky soil of the waxy surface while cultivating its raw and receptive quality. With gestural marks both eloquent and inquisitive, he wanders through the painting’s layers in playful exploration. The parallel processes of the painting’s journey and the recollection of the painter’s travel evoke a synergy of matter and thought. Retracing his memory through locally sourced and salvaged materials, he creates an object both fleshly sensual and suggestively abstract.

Where I wanted, 2021

Oil and wax on found wood

11" x 15" / 27,9 cm x 38,1 cm

https://www.pastthesun.com

www.instagram.com/past.the.sun

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis

Roaming through the land of her immediate surroundings with her daughter, Anna Adler spent the past year scavenging for the detritus of human existence. In her desire to reabsorb what has been abandoned or washed ashore on the Hudson River, she assembled fake nails and glass shards onto the plaster cast of her hand. The beloved object is cherished for its clumsiness, silliness, and absurdity. Her series “False Archeology” ponders on questions of identity and place while taking a humorous stance in which the inevitability of life and death are encountered with a smile.

Trash Hand aka Pandemic Mani, 2021

Pedi, plaster, vinyl glove, found 'nails'

9 x 4 x 3 inches / 22,9 x 10,2 x 7,6 cm

www.annavictoriaadler.com

www.instagram.com/carefulstranger

www.artistpraxis.com

www.instagram.com/artistpraxis