We Welcome You Here: CONVENE – Artist Talkback

Artist and philosopher Mx2 creates conceptual art inspired by the philosophy of Light and the duality of the human experience taking us on a journey of the mind to infinity. The Circle of Life is visually depicted with the body and art as universal, sacred and divine fueled by our dualism of darkness and light. The Artist paints the Persian words written by the Persian poet Rumi onto the body as the canvas bringing to life the inner character of the subject.

Since 2014, artist Sohani Holland has been facilitating “open-air art studios” for communal weaving. By building site-specific structures, she offers the public an opportunity to interact with the hand-weaving process, each other, and themselves. Using recycled silk and banana fibers from Nepal and India, hand-spun and hand-dyed by women’s co-ops in the same region, passers-by are invited to choose a color and add a piece of texture to complete the communal tapestry or fiber sculpture. These works have been created at art events, education workshops, and nonprofit programs throughout Southern California. Allowing the senses of sight and touch as the guide, spontaneity, and imagination is encouraged. There are no rules. Sohani received her Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, as well as a professional designation from FIDM in Apparel Manufacturing Management. For this show, Sohani has made a communal weaving table that includes poetic fragments created by the poet and performer Brian Sonia-Wallace, author of The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter (HarperCollins June 2020), based on their conversations about CONTACT, the Highways dance performance & sister project to the group art show CONVENE. IG: @sohanidesigns / @rentpoet

Dominic Gallelli was born and raised in Northern Virginia, and now lives in Los Angeles, California, in Silver Lake. He is a self-taught artist who is currently exploring ways to bloom new life into recycled materials while honoring the environment. He paints using flowers, tree roots, and herbs, and the canvases for his work span across media, whether it’s 1/1 custom clothing pieces, fashion runway, or fine art. www.gallelli.com / IG: @gallelliofficial

In addition to photography, Nick Malis writes and produces a television show in Los Angeles. He is also Pepi’s son. IG: @nickma

Colombian visual artist, Elcarebarbie, is best known for his satirical digital collages and street art. He is based in Los Angeles.” IG: @elcarebarbie

Vulva la Resistencia‘s artistic interventions can be found in the streets of Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Uruguay, and your neighborhood. IG: @vulvalaresistencia

Isaac Giménez is a PhD student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on Brazilian contemporary anti-poetry, or different poetics of and from the margins. In his art practice, Isaac is interested in exploring the connections between multilingualism, poetry, translation, and identity performance through the clash of literary traditions. IG: @isaac_gimgar

Patrícia Lino is a poet working at the intersections of word, video, image, and sound. She is Assistant Professor of literature at UCLA. She has published and presented several works in more than five countries. www.patricialino.com / IG: @patriciasmlino

Amanda Maciel Antunes is an interdisciplinary Brazilian artist based in Los Angeles since 2015. She focuses on durational site-specific performances and installations through interdisciplinary methods and research. Her work seeks a conversation between the extremes of selfhood and our interpretations of myths and memory, for their intentional and unintentional acts of erasure. www.amandamacielantunes.com / IG: @amandamacielantunes

Vladimir Manuel lives in Los Angeles.

Miguel Rodriguez (aka Silent Observers) is a Los Angeles based visual artist. Using still and time-lapse photography, the underlying theme of his work is the search for the unseen patterns and constant transformation hidden in plain sight. IG: @silent_observers + @auput

Martin Varona was born in San Fransisco, CA and grew up in Seattle, WA. He fell in love with photography at a young age and has always had an eye for detail. As he got older, he worked his way up from cheap digital cameras,  began to realize that his personal style of photography consisted of more focus on depth. Each of his photos needed to tell a story to transport the viewer to another place. His mission is to push the limits of reality in his photos, to create an almost euphoric dreamworld, dripping with with color. Be sure to follow him on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for updates and shoots! IG: @sillyfresh22