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Vol. 2

RICE

THE CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE CELEBRATING EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

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RICE

THE CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE CELEBRATING EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

Vol. 2

Created in Barcelona in 2020, RICE Initiative is an independent curatorial platform with the mission of creating opportunities of visibility, exposure and sales for underrepresented artists, more specifically women, members of the LGTBQ community and racialized persons. www.rice-initiative.com

(Cover) Jenna Gribbon Garden Weed, 2020 Oil on Linen 60.96 x 76.20 cm Photography By Cary Whittier Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

(Left) Jenna Gribbon The Artist Eroticized (Alina), 2020 Oil on Linen 91.44 x 121.92 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Max, 2017

Copyright artists, authors, RICE Initiative 2020. All Rights Reserved. RICE · The Contemporary Art Magazine Celebrating Equality & Inclusion is produced and published by RICE Initiative in Barcelona, Spain. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, digitally or manually, including photocopying, recording, online publishing, or otherwise without prior written permission from the publisher. All images have been provided by the artists. RICE · The Contemporary Art Magazine Celebrating Equality & Inclusion · Vol. 2

11.01.2021 8

Daniela Zamora · Editor in chief, graphic design and writer Tyler Bilschic · Editor Sophie Obermeyr· Writer Sandra Nanette Skriver · Guest journalist PORTRAYALS OF FLESH open call jury panel: Daniela Zamora · RICE Initiative founder & director Mia Raičević · Chief Curator ISSN: 2696-452X RICE (Barcelona)

RICE Initiative

rice-initiative.com info@rice-initiative.com

Vol. 2 PORTRAYALS

OF FLESH

江峰 Jiang Feng NDA Photography Sara Arruga Elena Korneeva Kiran Dayal AKOV Danny Frede

| | | | | | |

12 16 22 28 36 40 54 58 60 64 66 70 74 80 84 86 90

Special Guest Interviews & Other Contents Jenna Gribbon | 44 On Marina Abramović | 78

PORTRAYALS

of flesh

Open Call By the Numbers

PORTRAYALS OF FLESH was the second open call launched by RICE Initiative. Candidates had the opportunity to be selected by a jury panel to be part of the short-list—whose work is featured in this Magazine-–and to be exhibited at MUTUO art gallery in Barcelona, Spain, at the beginning of 2021. The selection process followed a minimum quota system whereby at least 70% of selected artists were to be women or members of the LGTBQ community or racialized persons, and no more than 30% of selected artists were to be cisgender males. RICE’s objective doing this is to reverse the current state of favoritism towards the traditionally privileged in mainstream contemporary art, by exercising positive discrimination while still leaving room for male artists and curators to be a part of this initiative. We are happy to report these great statistics of participation! RICE founder & director, Daniela Zamora

Candidates

non-gendered

69%

women

30% men

( of which, 98% ) cisgender white men

of various ethnicities and sexual orientations

Shortlisted Artists

Exhibiting Artists

1 1

71%

women and non-gendered*

29% men*

91%

women*

men*

*of various ethnicities and sexual orientations

countries

Wooden Skins of Our Times

Lisa McCleary

â€œThrough the medium of oil paint, this series approaches portraiture and the tactile sense, while referencing elements of neoclassical and surrealist painting. I utilize the tradition of the clay bust in art history and conflate it with the skin surface to create anthropomorphic sculptural beings. My practice considers notions of affected flesh, scar tissue and tattoos to interrogate the relationship between pain, desire and ownership. I focus on the tattoo as a temporal marker on the body and a signifier of identity and the alternative. My interests lie with the concept of markmaking, both in painting and on the flesh. I am drawn towards imagery that is both attractive and repulsive, the seductive surface of the paintings and invisible brushstrokes contrast the unsettling imagery of manipulated flesh. This series of 12

New York, USA

www.lisamccleary.com

work stems from my longstanding investigation of painting as a form, which can access deep psychological states while negotiating notions of desire. I explore mediated corporeality, at turns rendering the body into an abject and sensuous sculpture filtered through myriad screens. I employ illusionistic oil painting techniques to render tactile sculptural imagery on a flat wooden surface; to mirror the way we receive images on the screen. While there may be representations of touch, there may actually be nothing to feel.â€? Text by the artist

(Previous page) Lisa McCleary Valkyrie, 2019 Oil on panel 40.5 x 50.5 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Lisa McCleary Your Grace, 2019 Oil on panel 40.5 x 50.5 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Tortured Portraits of Social & Political Condemnation

Francesco Petruccelli

“Vandalism and iconoclasm are paradoxical ways to find new meanings in artworks. I grew up in Italy, surrounded by innumerable instances of cultural exuberance – in the form of architecture, sculptures and paintings – none of which was able to mirror actual social problems and urgent moral dilemmas. It was important for me to demolish the distant gaze of those portraits and the absurd postures of those statues in order to find a relationship between my past and my present. And, if I cannot find a valid connection to my cultural heritage, I feel the need to hurt it, burn it, censor it. Yet the torture that my artworks have to undergo has a kind of shamanic function as 16

Berlin, Germany

www.francescopetruccelli.com

well. The process of destruction can reveal hidden identities, connections with aspects of the soul that can only become visible by a laceration of the epidermis of individuality. My portraits disclose the inconsistencies of social and political masquerade. During a residency in Donbass I injured the face of the President of Ukraine and also that of the President of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. I only wanted to devaluate their nationalistic orientations. But soon after, one of them actually died, as if by an act of voodoo.” Text by the artist

Francesco Petruccelli Untitled, 2019 Concrete, pigment and metal 45 x 60 x 18 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Francesco Petruccelli Untitled, 2019 Concrete and pigment 37 x 48 x 10 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

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Francesco Petruccelli Untitled, 2019 Concrete 35 x 60 x 12 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Francesco Petruccelli Untitled, 2019 Concrete 35 x 60 x 12 cm

Francesco Petruccelli Untitled Concrete and pigment 35 x 42 x 15 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

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Francesco Petruccelli Untitled Concrete and pigment 35 x 42 x 15 cm

An Ode to the Beauty of Flesh

Juliet Romeo

â€œI have never felt uncomfortable with my flesh like I have felt uncomfortable in my own skin. The lens in which we frame our thoughts intrinsically controls the way we think about ourselves and our place in the world. Our definitions, experiences, and consciousness about the individual self and how it exists continues reforming as boundaries between public and private also change. While culture and society are evolving, women and

20 22

Orlando, USA

www.julietromeoartist.com

marginalized groups are working to be empowered in themselves, rather than being objectified and simply looked at. Although it is the flesh that makes up our bodies, when I consider flesh, it exists outside the cultural restrictions normally placed upon the body. I find empowerment in flesh simply because it exists as it is. It triggers the primal brain as it strikes up the senses. I can feel it fuzzy under my fingertips, soft and doughy,

Juliet Romeo Social Isolation, Lisa Bored at Home 2, 2020 Photograph 45 x 30 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

made of muscle and fat, laden with the scent of hormones. Flesh is voluptuous and decadent, dimples under pressure, wrinkles when you move, and becomes red when scratched. Flesh is meaty and powerful, giving us means of movement and nutrition. As a female artist fascinated by the senses and the notion of being ‘human animal’, I embrace photography and the body, incorporating traditional portraiture techniques

with new, contemporary concepts. Photography offers opportunities to explore my perceptions, relationships with myself and those around me, while still confronting the fluidity and uniqueness of these perceptions.” Text by the artist

Juliet Romeo Social Isolation, Sassy in Her Favorite Place 1, 2020 Photograph 37 x 27 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Juliet Romeo Social Isolation, Sassy in Her Favorite Place 2, 2020 Photograph 37 x 27 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Juliet Romeo Social Isolation, Lisa Bored at Home 1, 2020 Photograph 45 x 30 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Reimagined Treasures of the Past

Katia Lifshin

â€œIn my current series of works, I use old monochromatic photographs as my guide and inspiration. Photography is one of the means to save and treasure a memory, memory on the other hand is ambiguous and deceptive, it constantly transforms and takes new shapes. Relying on photography to capture a moment creates a fragmented piece of it, open for interpretation. I use this opening to create new meaning for the old photographs, and recast them as colorful oil paintings. I collect the 20 28

Tel Aviv, Israel

www.katialifshin.weebly.com

photos from flea markets and old family albums, usually with little or no information about the people I paint. I enjoy imagining, or reinventing who they are, and often I will modify details in the photographs to match my own narrative, intertwining the vintage scenes with my own experiences and emotions.â€? Text by the artist

Louise Campion Dynamics 5, 2019 Oil on canvas 92 x 123 cm

Katia Lifshin Sisters, 2020 Oil on canvas 90 x 130 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Katia Lifshin Blue Girl, 2020 Pastel on paper 17 x 22 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Katia Lifshin Redhead, 2020 Pastel on paper 14 x 16 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Katia Lifshin Woman with glasses, 2020 Pastel on paper 18 x 26 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Katia Lifshin Playful, 2020 Pastel on paper 20 x 30 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Katia Lifshin A Boy And A Sheep, 2020 Oil on mdf board 40 x 40 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

We Are Looking For Collaborators If you see yourself reflected in our philosophy or you like our mission and the simple idea of collaborating with a platform that (we believe) will grow like rice, tickles you, we invite you to contact us through info@rice-initiative.com:

preferably related to art or the creative industry in general.

• Tell us a bit about yourself.

Still not convinced?

• How would you like to collaborate with us?

As a RICE Initiative collaborator you could:

• Briefly describe what your professional profile is.

• Make a difference at the social level, actively working to reverse the exclusion and discrimination of women and minority groups in the art world.

If you’re interested in collaborating as a curator, send us a pdf with images and texts of a couple of projects that you’ve developed so far. Or if, on the other hand, you would like to collaborate only writing for RICE Mag, send us a couple of examples of articles, essays or interviews that you’ve written,

And well, if you are not a curator or a writer, it’s okay too, follow your heart and write to us anyway, we’ll be happy to hear from you!

• But if that were not enough, you could also have press access to exhibitions and art fairs in your city. • As well as to have the opportunity to interview interesting artists and other creatives.

The Simple Exuberance of Naked Men

Daniela Torres

â€œLiving in Berlin for a decade has strongly influenced my values and philosophy, hence the personal commentary on society through my interests, themes and style. I use photography as an analysis and reflection of my inner self. In several ongoing photo series, I am looking for answers to intimate questions. I celebrate 20 36

Berlin, Germany

www.danielatorres.net

femininity, nudity and vulnerability, drawing inspiration from my own experiences as a woman, blending my cultural heritage and the constant influence of a new environment.â€? Text by the artist

Daniela Torres Binks at Sunset / Athens, 2018 Fine art print on Tecco 230g with white wooden frame 60 x 80 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

(Previous page) Daniela Torres Dean / Carrara-Italy, 2016 Fine art print on Tecco 230g with white wooden frame 60 x 80 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Daniela Torres Julian / Carrara-Italy, 2016 Fine art print on Tecco 230g with white wooden frame 60 x 80 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Inner Turmoils Melting Before Your Eyes

Sandra Hickey

â€œI find people to be a very interesting subject matter to paint, wither it is a portrait or the figurative form as the main focus, it has always been intriguing to me. My main focus at present is the female form. We live in a culture that is saturated with images of what the ideal body and life should look like, both on social media and mainstream media. Influencers portray a life so unrealistic and unattainable with doctored imagery. It creates an unhealthy expectation of ourselves which in turn can have a negative impact on our mental health. The 20 40

Cork, Ireland

www.sandrahickey.info

female form, in particular, is hit with a double standard of beauty. Never allowed to show ageing yet for men it is deemed as a distinguishing feature. In my abstracts, I distort the human features not to make it more beautiful but to symbolize the inner turmoil of the mind and how anxiety, depression and life pressures manifest themselves in our mind.â€? Text by the artist

Sandra Hickey Alone With My Thoughts, 2020 Oil on canvas 51 x 61 x 1.7 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

42 36

Sandra Hickey Tripple, 2020 Oil on canvas 51 x 61 x 1.7 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Sandra Hickey Torn in Two, 2020 Oil on canvas 61 x 46 x 1.7 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

JENNA GRIBBON

Magnetic Strokes of Intimacy

Jenna Gribbon

www.fredericksfreisergallery.com/artists/jenna-gribbon

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, artist Jenna Gribbon is now based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is mesmerizing, paintings teeming with details and mind-bending layers, it has been exhibited in galleries all over the world, with a recent solo show at GNYP Gallery in Berlin. She usually paints her friends, her son and her fiancé, singer Mackenzie Scott––often portraying very intimate moments of her life, sometimes overtly sexual, always looking at her subjects with kind and curious eyes, almost making the viewer feel the vibrating love from the strokes of her brush. (Previous page) Jenna Gribbon Lunch on the grass, a recurring dream, 2020 Oil on Linen 76.20 x 60.96 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

# 46

New York, USA

Struggling in her early career as an artist, her first jobs included cocktail waitressing in a strip club and assisting at Jeff Koons’s studio. After some detours, becoming a mother and closing down the Oracle Club (a creative space she founded with her partner at the time) Gribbon decided to reinvest herself in art, enrolling in the MFA program at Hunter College: a decision that proved to be a great point of inflection in her career and coincided with a big change in her personal life—both of which are mirrored in her work from that time.

Jenna Gribbon Wholesome Sunday Fuck, 2020 Oil on Linen Louise Campion 22.86 x 30.48 cm Dynamics 7, 2020 Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY Oil on canvas 91.5 x 122 cm

Special Interview with

Jenna Gribbon conducted by RICE collaborator Sophie Obermeyr and RICE Founder, Daniela Zamora

“I’m 41 years old. Basically, since I was a child I wanted to be an artist. I don’t even think I knew that it was something that living people still did… But when I found out that it was something that existed, I knew that that’s what I wanted to do. I believe in art and I believe in love and kindness. I really believe in the process of making things, the magic of making things, and materializing your thoughts in some kind of external form that can be shared with other people.” What is it about portraits that fascinates you so much?

Uhm, I’ve always been drawn to drawing and painting people since I was a child. And I think, I don’t exactly know why, except that I am fascinated by what you can communicate by depicting a person’s kind of countenance and expression. There is just a whole world in a person. When you paint someone you can kind of move in on aspects of who they are in a way that has a narrative quality to it. It comes through in painting in a way that it doesn’t in a photograph. So what is your creative process like? We’ve read in other interviews that most of your work is based on photos you take, do you carry a camera everywhere you go?

Yes, I take a lot of photos. I kind of consider my phone a sketchbook, you know, I am capturing little ideas. A lot of times when I have a photograph I don’t even exactly know what it is # 48

in the photo that I am drawn to until I paint it. And then when I paint it, a lot of times for me, more of the narrative comes out where I have the time to sort of concentrate on other layers of meaning of the image. And in painting, through choice of palette and what details you emphasize, you can really construct a narrative around a person. That’s just a very intriguing way to tell a story. How do you deal with creative blocks?

Creative blocks, yeah… a few things. I think the main thing is if there’s a block it’s usually just my mind and spirit telling me that it’s time to take a break and step back from the creative process and maybe spend some time taking in rather than putting out. So I’ll often watch a really good film or something. A lot of times, if I watch a really good film I get a lot of ideas. I just love doing that. Otherwise, I just step away from the studio and spend some time living my life and Louise the next thing I know, after a few days, theCampion ideas Dynamics 7, 2020 start coming again. Oil on canvas 91.5 x 122 cm

Jenna Gribbon The Artist Eroticized (Haley), 2020 Oil on Linen 121.92 x 182.88 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

# 49

“I think that there is so much value to the beauty of intimate human relation. It’s something that works really well in painting, and I think that intimacy can be really hard to communicate in other mediums.”

Jenna Gribbon The Artist Eroticized (Robin), 2020 Oil on Linen 91.44 x 121.92 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

What inspires your very descriptive titles? Do you feel they are part of the work or that they need to be there to complete the meaning of the work? Or what is your intention?

I do feel that the titles of my work are really important. It’s one thing that I like about Instagram you can kind of encounter the image and the title together and a lot of times in a gallery setting, people don’t know to look at the title or they just don’t bother to, because, you know, you have to go and get the list of works and kind of make the effort to read the title. But for me, the titles are really important and they’re a great opportunity to give the viewer a clue about a meaning that they wouldn’t have known about without the title. It’s a kind of way to direct the experience of the viewer. Your work is so personal, is it hard for you to let go of the artworks you create and share such intimate parts of your life with your audience?

# 42 50

Louise Campion Dynamics 7, 2020 Oil on canvas 91.5 x 122 cm

“You have to tune out other people’s opinions and how things are received and whether or not the work seems to be going anywhere. And you just keep making the work and keep thinking about what you’re doing and keep being really intentional and eventually, in some form or other that will pay off.”

I mean, it can be hard to let them go. But I had so many years when I was painting and nobody was interested in buying the work and I would sort of just be drowning in my own work in my studio. So now I always appreciate that they have places to go and that they have these other lives after my studio. I think that outweighs any desire to hang on to them. And as far as putting my intimate life on display goes… it was something that, in the beginning, when I first started working with these kind of intimate themes, it was hard, I felt really exposed. But I think that there is so much value to the beauty of intimate human relation. It’s something that works really well in painting, and I think that intimacy can be really hard to communicate in other mediums. We’re in this world where we are very voyeuristic. We’re always looking into people’s lives, and seeing aspects of people’s lives, but what you don’t necessarily see through those windows that people provide, are intimate moments. So I think it’s important to remind people that that’s where so much of the beauty is of human experience. # 51

Jenna Gribbon Yard Squint, 2020 Oil on Linen 76.20 x 60.96 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

Jenna Gribbon Watching her give/gives me pleasure, 2020 Oil on Linen 30.48 x 22.86 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

How was your journey to becoming an artist and what is the best piece of advice you received on your journey as an artist?

So my journey of being an artist was a long one. I’ve been working in art, I mean, I had a dedicated studio practice for more than 20 years now and I was almost 40 before people really started to take notice of my work. In terms of advice I’ve been given, I don’t know, I think the thing that has been reiterated to me from other artists a lot of times is that the most important thing is to make the work and I think that’s so true. You have to tune out other people’s opinions and how things are received and whether or not the work seems to be going anywhere. And you just keep making the work

and keep thinking about what you’re doing and keep being really intentional and eventually, in some form or other that will pay off. I always try to tell younger artists to bet on yourself. Never bet against yourself. Invest your time and resources in your own work. It requires a lot of sacrifices sometimes and it can be scary. You might face moments of financial insecurity, but I will always try to bet on myself and not get stuck in a place of making someone else’s dream come true and spending your life that way if that’s not what you want to do. If what you want to do is put your own work out there, then you have to take some risks and invest in yourself and always be conscious that you’re doing that.

Analogue Streams of Passion

anni.analogue Berlin, Germany

IG: @anni.analogue

â€œMy current artistic work focuses on nude photography, for the beauty of it and for the message behind. I grew up with my mother from former East Berlin, who taught me nudity was all normal and natural, nothing to be ashamed of. Early enough, I had to learn that not everybody had such an open-minded attitude towards our own naked bodies. I was looking for a sense of naturality, joy in experimentation and body-

positivity. Growing up, parallel to the vast development of technology, I had access to digital devices since I can remember. Exploring the analogue technique in a digital world made me realize that I preferred the possibility to embrace single moments in a more aware and dedicated way. I aim to take unique captures with character, captures with flaws. Where randomness meets magic.

anni.analogue Tangled, 2020 Analogue black and white photograph on Ilford B/W-paper 75 x 50 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Thus Thus far,far, I have I have drawn drawn thethe models models from from mymy body bodypositivity positivityand andmake makesociety societyfeelfeelun-unpool pool of of close close relationships. relationships. In In mymy experience, experience, it it ashamed ashamedof ofnudity, nudity,ourourpurest purestform formof of is always is always a challenge a challenge forfor everybody everybody involved involved to to existence.â€? existence.â€? accommodate accommodateto tothethevery verynew newsituation. situation. Text Text byby thethe artist artist Though, Though, when when thethe photos photos eventually eventually drop drop in in fresh freshfrom fromthethelab, lab,thethefeeling feelingof ofdelight delightis is always always formidable. formidable. Having Having been been exposed exposed and and captured captured in in thethe most most natural natural vulnerability, vulnerability, one one might might recognize recognize and and appreciate appreciate consequential consequential benefits benefits at at length. length. I aim I aim to to help help contribute contribute to to

anni.analogue Shades, 2020 Analogue black and white photograph on Ilford B/W-paper 75 x 50 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

anni.analogue Contours, 2020 Analogue black and white photograph on Ilford B/W-paper 75 x 50 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

A Silent Selfie

Alisa Lapkovskaya

â€œCurrently, I am exploring abstraction and the portrait genre. Colors were always my main inspiration and the language I speak. Sometimes I give them a form, other times I let them talk themselves. I like experimenting with nonconventional materials because they carry a story within. I put them in a dialogue with my paintings to split open their meaning. In my works, I talk about my nomadic life, 58

Valencia, Spain

IG: @lapkovskayaalisa

my practice as a young artist, and personal experiences such as the process of becoming an adult, breakup, or the perception of my body. I talk about turbulences and television interferences inside my head. My work expresses the search for questions, silence, protest.â€? Text by the artist

Alisa Lapkovskaya Selfie, 2020 Oil on canvas 45 x 55 cm - See availability @ricegallery.art

Retro-LEGO® Dreams

Kyle Yip

“The following body of work are exact replicas of visual art conceived and produced during the rapid-eye movement state of my dreams. While the purpose of dreams are not completely understood, psychoanalysts believe they are the manifestations of our deepest desires and fears. They are the direct expression of imagination and utilize the most efficient language of symbolism and mythological archetypes. For centuries, religions have devoted their entire practice to the study of consciousness. Three of the four branches of Buddhism, Zen and Advaita Vedānta sect of Hinduism for example maintain that a separate self independent from the vast cosmos is essentially an illusory notion. The Mandukya Upanishad section of the Vedānta scriptures in particular describe a dream as one of three states the soul experiences during its lifetime, the other two 60

Toronto, Canada

www.kyleyip.com

being the waking and sleep state. In Gestalt therapy, German-Jewish psychiatrist Fritz Perls describes dreams as projections of the parts of ourselves that have been neglected, rejected, or suppressed. Carl Jung added that every person in the dream may represent an aspect of the dreamer, which he called the existential approach to dreams. Perls went to far as to say that even inanimate objects in the dream may represent aspects of the dreamer. Through association, the dreamer would be asked to imagine being an object in the dream and describe its characteristics, bringing into awareness the more disaffected aspects of the dreamer's personality.” Text by the artist

Kyle Yip Yin/Yang, 2018 Acrylic, aluminum, found images and two-component epoxy on wood panel 91.44 x 91.44 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Kyle Yip Police Foundations, 2019 Acrylic, aluminum, found images and two-component epoxy on wood panel 91.44 x 91.44 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Kyle Yip Housewife, 2017 Acrylic, aluminum, found images and two-component epoxy on wood panel 91.44 x 91.44 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

A Woven Moment

Piotr Pandyra

â€œAs far as I can remember I have always been interested in fabric and its unlimited possibilities. In the first stage of my artistic experiences, I focused my attention mainly on designing clothes and technological realization of the project. Clothes and fabric are the material grown together with the human body and its everyday rituals. In the first place, I've been fascinated by the intimacy of the projects I've been working on. The whole process of creation of the outfit is a meeting with another human and his or her individual expectations, experiences and emotions. In my art practice, I try to break traditional methods and create paying attention particularly to formal variety and each of the following projects becomes for me a separate 64

Kasinka Mala, Poland FB: @piotr.pandyra

ideological and technological task. I've exchanged classical drawing tools for untypical ones such as a needle and a sewing machine. Background for drawings has also been changed. The traditional paper has been replaced by untraditional backgrounds such as haberdashery, nets, glass fibre and so on. In the world of the constant need for the novelty and originality for me, everyday life reality becomes an inspiration. I'm interested in a human being, his or her condition, emotional and physical efforts with reality. In my works, I use records, notes, history of art, fragments of realityâ€Śâ€? Text by the artist

Piotr Pandyra Self-portrait With Mannequin, 2019 Hand-controlled machine embroidery on linen fabric 103 x 70 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Healing Portraits of Discrimi· Nation 江峰 Jiang Feng

New Taipei City, Taiwan

www.jiangfeng-mine.com

“The fundamental inspiration for my work is love, its beauty and complexity, while thematically, my work revolves around questions of gender, sexuality, sex, and race. Further, as an interdisciplinary artist, I turn to the tools offered by multiple media to enrich and deepen my works. I create artwork as a process for 66

healing and questioning. Setting out to disrupt, I always want to create something different from what people have seen before by challenging social norms and our perceptions of them. I am trying to gather energy to create a healing space for people who endure discrimination.

江峰 Jiang Feng U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國, 2019 Phhotography 35.56 x 27.94 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

My process as an artist and creator is that I always wait to be inspired in/by life. I am always looking for new and innovative elements. Moreover, I draw on theory from academic and non-academic works and think hard because I expect myself to be not only an artist but also a thinker.

The ideology of my works is "Familyunfriendly." Text by the artist

江峰 Jiang Feng U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國, 2019 Phhotography 27.94 x 35.56 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

江峰 Jiang Feng U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國, 2019 Phhotography 35.56 x 27.94 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Un Expected Scattered Bodies NDA Photography

â€œHUMANOPOLIS is a photographic project that aims to humanize the city, recovering the initial destination for which is was built and to make the citizen see that it is at his service and that he has to feel it what way. Humanopolis, shows the interconnection of man with the city, uses the metamorphosis of the body with the landscape of the city, intervenes in public space. The naked body of a man as a symbol stripped of all sexual, economic, racial, political and social conditions. The images recreate, reconstruct the city through the intervention of the naked body with the urban space. Man 70

merges with space and matter with form. Crossing the skin as a human boundary and crossing the surface as an urban boundary. The limits of the body with the limits of the city to create a mind without limits and an open city. Our physical space with our mental space, from the intimate to the public, from the interior to the exterior. Body and space, skin and stone. Terms like origin, growth and evolution are common between man and the city. The sociocultural changes in the cities reflect the historical values of the territory, the identity. People have to recognize their individuality but

San Sebastian, Spain

www.nda-photo.com

NDA Photography Humanopolis 2, 2017 Digital photography on white wood and methacrylate molding 100 x 83 x 5 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

at the same time their condition of globality by integrating themselves into the public space. Man occupies the urban soil, and in this way, we give meaning to the space, one needs the other, the vulnerability of the body that merges and projects itself with its environment. A body doesn´t make sense either. The city is proposed as a product of man´s need, constituting his means of expression. Man grows and the city with him according to its needs. Architecture as an urban expression and the body as a human expression Public spaces, spaces of identity. There has

always been an analogy between the constitution and structure of the city and of the man, a city must have a head as well as nerve centers, must be able to breathe widely and have an adequate arterial system. The brain and the heart as fundamental parts of the urban fabric would be represented by the cultural centre and the public square. The city as a product of its society, a reflection of the man who generates it.” Text by the artist

NDA Photography Humanopolis 3, 2017 Digital photography on white wood and methacrylate molding 100 x 83 x 5 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

NDA Photography Humanopolis 4, 2017 Digital photography on white wood and methacrylate molding 100 x 83 x 5 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Lost Movements of Raw Flesh

Sara Arruga

Barcelona, Spain

www.einesymphonie.com

â€œAt a young age I realized music evoked moving and still images in my mind. I always find myself in a state of trance while playing music and taking photos. When I collaborate with people such as dancers, musicians and artists, I look for how their world inspires me to translate it into music videos or portraits. As such, every collaboration requires different compositions, colors, materials and cameras to be used, this is why the main core of my creative process is to experiment and follow my 74

intuition. In my non-collaborative work, as a photographer I look for a meditative and contemplative state, which is similar to my process with creating music. For both processes, analogue photography is by far my favorite medium, due to how the different developing techniques, types of film and cameras can influence the work.â€? Text by the artist

Sara Arruga Lost Movement I, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Sara Arruga Lost Movement IX, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm

Sara Arruga Lost Movement III, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm

Sara Arruga Lost Movement II, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm

Sara Arruga Lost Movement V, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm

(Far left) Sara Arruga Lost Movement X, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm Sara Arruga Lost Movement VI, 2019 Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fiber (200 g/m²) 59.4 x 42 cm

Mini-feature

Marina Abramovic´ the ‘Grandmother of Performance Art’ By guest journalist Sandra N. Skriver

I can still hear the compressed graphite of my pencil against the soft notebook paper. An invading sound, nagging, high-pitched in a dusty way. There are so few of us though, making it difficult for me to annoy anyone, together-butevenly-spread-apart (I’m looking at you, Covid19) in a room inside ‘La Filmoteca’ in Valencia, Spain–one of the venues of this year’s 35th edition of La Mostra, showcasing Mediterranean films for a good week or so. This year with an honorary focus on Marina Abramović. So, we sit here together in all of our glorious apartness watching a… A performance? A story? A lesson? A Confession (2010)? Exactly 60 minutes. One full hour, one excruciatingly silent painful hour, Abramović (b. 1946), the legend, the pioneer (some, herself included, prefer the term ‘grandmother’) of performance art sits completely still in front of a mildmannered donkey, her priest, whilst her slightly martyr-like yet bold confessions slowly run in subtexts underneath as a monologue. First you fight against the whole thing as doubts go through you–but soon you give in, letting your discomfort flow out into the velvet-clad cinema seat. # 78

Exactly 60 minutes. One full hour, Marina sits completely still for us albeit also for herself. Marina lives not for but because of the audience. It’s her air, her veins, her oh-so-pounding heart hidden inside a fierce and chill-as-fuck fleshmade cover. This is why this specific performance is even more significant to me than others of her making. Because this time she’s with us, without filters or absurd theatre-inspired extremes. She’s still using herself as the exposed object, but this time she’s forcing the spectator gently yet so quietly aggressive to become one with her, to join her. In her silence and in her static and patient suffering. The weather-beaten term ‘suffering artist’, this

rusty-pinned self-sacrificially forged medal we adorn ourselves or others with looks nothing but decadent and shiny on Marina. Many contribute/attribute/connect/account/link/regard ? her wildly popular exhibition The Artist Is Present at MoMA in 2010, filling up numerous rooms of New York’s infamous art institution, to/with her long-awaited recognition as a ‘real’ artist, not just some “crazy woman in need of institutionalization” as she shares (in my paraphrasing memory) in the documentary from 2012 taking name after the exhibition. In some ways, Marina represents the ugly and twisted real-life fairytale of an artist’s struggle for recognition, finally coming to a happy end at

MoMA in 2010, 37 years after her first public performance Rhythm 10 in 1973 in Edinburg. In this performance, she would play ‘the Russian game’ where fast knife jabs are aimed between the splayed fingers of the player’s hand. She had brought with her 20 knives and every time she cut herself she would pick up a new knife. After 20 times cutting herself, she then replayed the recording of her recent ‘game’, starting all over, trying to exactly recreate her previous accidents. “Once you enter into the performance state you can push your body to do things you absolutely could never normally do”, she would later say about her revelations on the consciousness of the performer. Abramović is as stubborn, as unapologetic and as enduring as few. Always, and seemingly without regret, on a quest to learn about–and often challenge–the complex relationship between artist and audience, forcing us and herself to interact physically, emotionally or intellectually (or all of the above) with her performances. Forcing us to relate to pain and blood and discomfort whilst she explores the physical limits of her own body. By using and exposing herself she lovingly and caringly teaches us lessons, again and again, relentlessly trying to make us understand more about ourselves in the context of others. She is the self-sacrificing mother to us all. Whether or not we choose to accept that–and her. For more info on lamostradevalencia.com

Mostra

visit

Marina Abramović Confessions, 2010 Courtesy of La Mostra de Valencia

# 79

On Modern Standards & Antique Techniques Elena Korneeva

“Throughout history, humanity has had a perception of the ideal body. But in today’s world full of aggressive marketing, celebrities, idols and bloggers culture it’s very easy to forget that this “ideal” is just an image and not everybody can, and, moreover, nobody should follow it. Nowadays every person can post a photo and receive words of admiration, adoration, envy or hatred in response. Of course, everyone wants to be socially approved. And everyone wants it so passionately that becomes afraid to admit that beauty doesn’t lie in meeting certain standards, instead, beauty lies in diversity. And it’s understandable, although it’s not a secret that there are “so 20 80

Moscow, Russia IG: @kornekok

many men, so many minds”. But the idea that looking in a certain way you will be liked by everybody at once is very tempting. And nevertheless, it’s not true and even very harmful, because the downside of striving for a standard is a deep rejection of your unique features, shame and anger towards yourself and other people. Therefore, my friends and I undressed in order to show who we are and to capture the uniqueness of shapes and lines that makes every person exceptionally beautiful. We are standing to say: don’t be shy, we’re all different, and we’re all ideal.

(Detail) Elena Korneeva The Body Party, 2020 Sgraffito on canvas Hexaptych 180 x 120 cm

The Body Party collection includes 6 artworks made from challenging materials (plaster, pigments). They all serve the purpose of communicating my thoughts. All bodies are beautiful. All genders are valid. People are free to be who they want to be. A woman’s body which plays a pivotal role in the feminist discourse is at the core here. But some of my male friends who share pro-feminist

views are also involved. It has never been more crucial to talk about human rights, equality and freedom of expression. Especially nowadays when often times even the law is against us. That’s why this collection is my manifesto where people are vulnerable and seen as they are.” Text by the artist 81

Elena Korneeva The Body Party, 2020 Sgraffito on canvas Hexaptych 180 x 120 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Segments of Empowerment

Kiran Dayal

“I situate symbolism as my tool and create a range of work that varies in material, eg. clay, and paper. The ability to communicate and communication itself has been central to my practice and while traversing to be able to do so, I found my inclination towards symbolism and community engagement. I create Mixed media Paintings, Drawings, as well as 2D and 3D clay-works, explore textures & mediums. I decipher from past text and data available on the subject matter and sometimes let the personal experiences take the lead. As a brown Indian girl bought up in a Hindu family, I explore the self as a woman in a patriarchal

New Delhi, India

IG: @krandayal

setting. My work has majorly been a medium to my catharsis, gateway to exploration, rebellion & empowerment. My work explores and reiterates the need for inclusivity and coexistence, tolerance, equality, and ideas of posthumanism in existing times. Narrations address one’s socio-cultural ‘being and becoming’, against the dogmas and hypocrisies that societies resort to. Through my work, I have reclaimed what is rightfully mine, that is, the freedom to choose otherwise.” Text by the artist

Kiran Dayal Restoration of Self-Worth I, 2018 Oil pastel, paper, tape and acrylic on paper 56 x 84 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Explorations of Infinite Physical Insecurities

AKOV

â€œAfter having suffered bulimia for 10 years, I use my experience as a trigger to cross other subjectivities and reflect on daily practices, producing artworks that start from becoming aware of the dialogues and frequent attitudes in society, which go through entire generations and cause rejection and its normalization. Productions in which the sense of modeling, plasticity, emptiness, and the power of the other are present in order to include or exclude attributes. 86

Quito, Ecuador

IG: @anakarinaov

I have mainly explored the fields of sculpture, archive, photography and artistic objects, focusing my research on different problems that we face, which make up and build identity, addressing the body, serial production and standards of beauty, all through my body and other people's bodies, as ways to question these social conventions.â€? Text by the artist

AKOV Alteridad, 2020 Wooden board and laser engraved pieces, glued on magnet sheets 100 x 100 x 1 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

AKOV Es lo que es, 2020 Series of 4 sculptures â€“ Spray paint on fiberglass 29 x 31 x 26 cm

AKOV PrĂŠdicas, 2020 Series of 16 intervened photographs and interspersed with 7 mirrors - Printing on photographic paper, and mirrors glued on wooden support 29 x 31 x 26 cm

Young, Hungry & Spotless

Danny Frede

“I have always worked in projects. That is why also my art has always the same themes but is not fixed to one medium. For my photographic works I make sure that they are technically perfect. High resolution and merciless. No filters, no retouching, no excuses. Every hair and all pores should be visible. At best, the photographs are finally so well 90

arranged that you forget exactly that. Instagram has made photography “square” again and made us more “digital”. I want to take photos that don't get hearts and likes, but at best get banned.” Text by the artist

Cologne, Germany

www.dannyfre.de

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Denny, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Max, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

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Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Marvin, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Andre, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Niklas, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

Danny Frede Young Man & Slaughtered Animals - Pawel, 2017 Print on dibond, limited edition of 10 100 x 100 cm See availability @ricegallery.art

(Back cover) Jenna Gribbon Yard Squint, 2020 Oil on Linen 76.20 x 60.96 cm Courtesy of the Artist and Fredericks & Freiser, NY

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Vol. 2

RICE

THE CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE CELEBRATING EQUALITY AND INCLUSION