// By: Steff Fink
Wed 15 June, 2022
Painting, in general, the works that we see when we go to a museum, to an exhibition, exist as a series of samples. Pieces of the outside world, glimpses of inner worlds, fragments of sensations, ideas, philosophies, histories of art, of us… of what we consider important, unimportant, of what we want and what we can imagine.
Liquid Frictions is a fully digital exhibition in collaboration with the Italian architect, Riccardo Fornoni, bringing together the work of 15 artists from around the world. Ancient ruins, traditional architectural forms, and contemporary sensibilities where artists present their gaze into the past and the future, reflections on the factors that continually shape our personal and collective understanding of how we live within the parameters of history, and how that has informed the creation of our contemporary narratives.
All work exists within a fluid state, an explosion of the multiple, where a set of reflections, concerns, relationships and experiences are revealed so that they continue to exist and develop through us, in our minds and imaginations. The works of Liquid Frictions present us with scenes in the context of public and private spaces, popular culture and social media, as well as the representation of women in painting, androgyny, religious iconography, psychological landscapes, healing bodies of water, organic temples and indefinite voids by the figurative theme.
The exhibition deals with what it means to engage with painting today, along with the idea of painting as a tool of inquiry, a set of questions, a means of sampling the world around us, as well as a vehicle from which to you can experience many realities and dimensions.
The difference between the painting of today and that of the past is that the painting of today is in a unique position to respond to the legacies that have developed up to this specific point, and can do so, not only for the sake of novelty or originality. . , but to capture what was left unsaid, marginalized or even silenced.
We are also at a specific historical and technological point where we have access to countless new and instant resources, but are tragically endangering the vital resources we need not only to thrive but to ensure our future existence as a species. We live in a time where conflict is a constant, information wars are a reality, and we still face the consequences of old, divisive and hegemonic norms, standards and ideals.
Liquid Frictions artists are part of generations that experience, process and respond to these issues directly or indirectly, but all are grappling with questions and creating direct and speculative works that reflect their realities, what they are experiencing, what they have been through or might happen in relation to the ongoing events unfolding in our world.
Through the creation of worlds, the artists challenge vision beyond the rational, thus transcending logic along with the limitations of conventional language. From this perspective, the works within Liquid Frictions sample, at the same time as they bleed, the imaginary, the psychological, as well as what has been experienced and found today. The exhibition offers counter-voices and alternative points of view beyond a self-revering fine art sphere, as the artists offer a variety of ideas about fantastical dimensions, emotional experiences, complex histories, as well as social realities and mythologies.
Visit the digital exhibition at ambarquijano.com/liquid-frictions
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