Summer Preview 2022

2022 @ Blue Sky Gallery – Preview of Summer Exhibitions

June 4 - July 2

Luis Manuel Diaz: El Césped del Otro Lado (The Grass on the Other Side)

Luis Manuel Diaz, is interested in themes of immigration, citizenship and care. Diaz draws from personal and communal history, his practice examining the post-migration consciousness. This project considers the experience of post-migration – who and what is left behind; how does one adapt to a new way of life yet hold on to what once was; what does “home” mean to those who move about? Luis Manuel Diaz was born in Michoacan, Mexico. Diaz holds a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design and was recently awarded the Magnum Foundation’s US Dispatches Grant.

Ian van Coller: Naturalists of the Long Now

In this exhibition of photographs, Ian Van Coller breaks down barriers between art and data to offer a dialogue between text and image, landscape and viewer, expert and novice, and past, present, future. With the current Climate Change crisis on our minds and in our midst, the project aspires to help viewers understand the long-term impact of this change on generations to come. Ian van Coller was born in 1970, in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in the country during a time of great political turmoil. His work has addressed complex cultural issues of both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. van Coller’s most recent work focuses on environmental issues related to climate change and deep time.

July 9 - 30

Kelli Connell: Double Life - 2 Decades

Kelli Connell’s work investigates sexuality, gender, identity and photographer / sitter relationships. In this multi-year project, the Chicago-based artist opens up new dialogues about women and aging. By combining multiple images of the same model in each image, the dualities of the self are defined through body language and clothing. Connell received her MFA in photography from Texas Woman’s University, and her BFA in both photography and visual art studies from the University of North Texas. She is a recent recipient of a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography.

Jennifer Georgescu: Mother Series

Jennifer Georgescu's Mother Series communicates how the artist grapples with the loss of sense of self as she grows into motherhood, and the complicated relationship to her own mortality. In her own words, Georgescu says, “Motherhood is precious and raw; wonderful and dark.” Jennifer Georgescu’s work describes instinctual aspects of humanity correlating to and differing from societal structuring. With a background in painting and photographic arts, she utilizes digital technology to “paint” with reality. Her projects analyze dualisms in language, relationships, mythologies and control.

August 6 - 27

Jeremiah Ariaz: Louisiana Trail Riders

Jeremiah Ariaz examines Creole history and horse culture in Louisiana Trail Riders. Since 2014, Ariaz has been photographing various southwest Louisiana clubs’ weekend trail rides—the Crescent City Cowboys, Desperados, Buffalo Soldiers, and The Stepping In Style Riding Club, among other groups. Ariaz was raised in Kansas and is now a Professor of Art at Louisiana State University. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His artworks explore the West as both a physical space and a terrain for the imagination.

Yuyang Zhang: stupid little life

Chinese born, Portland-based emerging artist, Yuyang Zhang, shows a new collection of collages and a series of photographic diptychs which oscillate between found "formal constructions" and social commentary in a media- driven world in his exhibition entitled, stupid little life. Yuyang Zhang (he/him/his) (b.1993, Wuhan, China) is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Portland, Oregon. Through pop culture references and temporal iconography, his work investigates personal and cultural identities, and social and political issues.

September 3 - October 1

En Foco

This month we are treated to work that has come out of our Partnership with NYC-based En Foco which supports the work of emerging artists of color. After reviewing the 2021 En Foco Photography Fellows, Blue Sky’s exhibition committee chose Amarise Carreras and Spandita Malik to each receive a solo exhibition at Blue Sky.

Amarise Carreras

As a photo-based performance artist, in her work, Amarise Carreras highlights a collection of spiritually revential images that reveal a collaboration between Amarise’s bisabuela and the Boricua womxn that raised them, and considers Amarise’s own investigation of the Santeria religion.

Spandita Malik

Spandita Malik tackles the problematic misogynist culture of India and the very real state of domestic violence by bringing women together to find agency. Through an inherited language of embroidery and by inviting collaboration, barriers are broken, creative spaces become safe havens, and art becomes a way to redefine women’s destinies.

Upcoming ExhibitionsGuest UserMay 18, 2022