The Invisible Cities
dal 2/6/2015 al 19/6/2015
Segnalato da
2/6/2015
The Invisible Cities
Bosi Contemporary, New York
While Inas Al-soqi's collages and prints interpret the urban landscape in a surreal and metaphoric sense, Patrice Aphrodite Helmar's photographs reflect the actual urban reality.
Curated by: Giulia Trabaldo Togna
BOSI Contemporary is pleased to present, The Invisible Cities, a two-person show curated
by Giulia Trabaldo Togna featuring works by Inas Al-soqi and Patrice Aphrodite Helmar.
This exhibition, inspired by the homonymous book by Italo Calvino, presents a
conversation between the works, aiming to visually interpret the essence of urban life as
described by Calvino. Through the collection of tales about imaginary cities, the book
creates a surreal world in which the people and the urban landscape merge together to
create a concert of impossible skylines and lives whilst addressing issues related to the
development of the contemporary city.
While Al-soqi’s collages and prints interpret the urban landscape in a surreal and
metaphoric sense, Helmar’s photographs reflect the actual urban reality.
The juxtaposition of these two bodies of work creates a visual dichotomy between the
idealized conceptualization of life in the city and the documentation of daily encounters
with its inhabitants.
The exhibition reintroduces concerns about the urban environment once explored by
Calvino’s work thirty years ago by bringing back issues of architectural development and
generating a new dialogue between literature, art, and urbanism.
Inas Al-soqi (b. 1987, Romania) is a Brooklyn based artist working in woodblock
printmaking, oil painting, collage, and drawing. Having immigrated to America as a
teenager, her experiences as a child living in Kuwait and Romania heavily influence her
artistic practice. Since moving to New York, she has used collage as a narrative tool. In the
exhibited works Al-Soqi uses the vibrant patterns of Eastern culture to investigate a new
understanding of class and nobility.
Patrice Aphrodite Helmar(b. 1981, Juneau, Alaska) is a photographer and filmmaker
who lives and works in New York City. Patrice’s sentimental and emotional approach to life
drives the tone of her work. Class, sexuality, and addiction form the core of her films and
photographs, which are most often concerned with the lives and stories of other people.
Helmar's most recent work is on display at the Anchorage Museum in the Alaska Biennial.
In 2014, she was a finalist in the New York Photo Festival, and a finalist for the Gordon
Parks Prize.
Image: Patrice Aphrodite Helmar, Drummer Boys off 5th Avenue, 2013
Opening: Wednesday, June 3, 6 – 9 pm
BOSI Contemporary
48 Orchard Street, (Between Grand & Hester)
New York
Hours: Tue - Sat 11am to 7pm