Divergence, an Exhibition Featuring the Works of Shaunte Gates and Njena Surae Jarvis Curated by Martha Jackson Jarvis
Washington, DC, August 21, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Opening September 6, 2014, the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery presents Divergence, curated by guest curator and renowned artist Martha Jackson Jarvis, featuring artists Shaunté Gates and Njena Surae Jarvis.
The works of Shaunté Gates and Njena Surae Jarvis explores the body as metaphor, challenging the torpid qualities of painting and sculpture with a sense of didactic theater and enigmatic forms. Their works command and redefine space with mysterious pairings of disparate forms and malign compositions. There is a non-‐static reconfiguration, reconstruction and reinvention that occurs simultaneously that both disturbs and stimulates.
"...I'm thinking in this age of technology how we are becoming more connected in ways via internet, and media, that compromise our true connections with one another, both spiritual and physical." -‐ Shaunté Gates "As an artist who works in a variety of media, I dispute the chasm between the realm of memory and the realm of experience. My work generates diverse meanings as a result, associations and meanings collide and intertwine. Space becomes time and language becomes image." -‐ Njena Surae Jarvis
Shaunte Gates and Njena Surae Jarvis, Divergence Artists
Both artists in their practice engages multiple forms of media; performance, video, and numerous materials to create socio-‐dynamic environments frozen in time and space. Each artist evokes the feeling and connotation of a sagacious still from a futuristic movie set or film clip. These young energetic artists, Njena Surae Jarvis and Shaunté Gates provide us a non-‐linear transfixing glimpse of immortality and intrinsic momento mori.
We, as viewers, are made part of this ever-‐changing matrix that remains haunting, unknowable, and in a state of flux. We are never given entirety or convenient answers; rather, we are forced to discern, to distill, and, diverge from orthodoxy and conventional expectations, to complete the imaginative narrative unfolding before us. Divergence presents a complex forum and exacting commentary on contemporary life, challenging us to expand our vision and courageously walk life’s knife-‐edge, to perceive and find meaning in the gaps and unexplored places that connect us one to another.
Divergence will be open from September 6 - October 25th, 2014. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, September 12th, 7-9pm, as well as the Curator and Artists' Talk on Thursday, October 16th at 6:30pm.