Fairs
THE ARMORY SHOW 2024
Praxis presents: Simonette Quamina
Date and place
Place: New York
Start Date: September 05 2024
End Date: September 08 2024
Description
Simonette Quamina : The Armory Show 2024
Booth S12 | SOLO Section
Praxis is pleased to debut at The Armory Show with a solo presentation by artist Simonette Quamina (b. 1982).
The Praxis booth immerses visitors in the captivating world of Simonette Quamina’s large-scale collages, where her intersectionality and multicultural background come to life. Raised in Canada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the United States, the artist’s diverse background is expressed through a vibrant Caribbean visual language. The pieces that adorn the walls and hang from the ceiling create a labyrinthine atmosphere, reflecting the borderless nature of her collages and the Caribbean archipelago. The relief-like arrangement of the layered printing techniques extends beyond the margins of each work, forming a landscape-like composition. This effect is accentuated by the diversity of collage and printmaking techniques employed, such as woodcut, chine-collé and collagraph.
Quamina’s collages address the displacement and adaptation experienced by the inhabitants of the Global South due to the political assertiveness of the Global North. The compositions are autobiographical, reflecting the artist’s ancestral memory and exploring notions of belonging through complex scenes of hybrid domestic and outdoor spaces she may have inhabited throughout her migratory journey. Her approach is grounded in history, community and personal experiences, drawing inspiration from the social and political factors affecting her family history, while remaining open enough to resonate with others who share similar backgrounds.
The characteristic monochromatic dark gray tones both conceal and reveal intimate narratives, forcing the viewer to question the surreal nature of the figures. In her evocative images, faces are often obscured or absent, suggesting abstract and reconfigured memories that Quamina attempts to reconstruct. Her collages also transcend the boundaries of paper. In works such as Catch a Pacu, Buss he Back and Salt Um (2024), tree leaves are detached from their geometric base.
Praxis is honored to present previously unpublished works by Quamina, developed during 2023 and 2024. Most of these works will subsequently travel to Vermont, to the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, for “The Noise of Us,” a group exhibition by Felipe Baeza, Ori Gersht, Maika’i Tubbs and Simonette Quamina.
Last year, Quamina was nominated by Alvaro Barrington for the Artist-to-Artist section of Frieze London.
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More Information
Simonette Quamina was born in Ontario, Canada in 1982 and spent her childhood between South America, the Caribbean and New York. Her diverse upbringing is constantly woven into the narratives of her large-scale drawings, prints and collages.
She received a BFA from the City College of New York and an MFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has been a recipient of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program in New York, the 2017-2018 Provincetown Fine Arts Works Center Residency, the 2017 Salem Art Works Fellowship and was nominated for the prestigious 2020 Queen Sonja Print Award.
She is currently one of the resident artists at the Dieu Donné Workspace residency.
Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. It has been acquired for private and public collections, including the Fleet Library and the North Dakota Museum of Art. Her most recent group exhibitions include Estamos Bien – LA TRIENAL 20/21 at El Museo del Barrio in New York, Mirror Inflection at the Shanghai Hongqiao Contemporary Art Museum in China, Artist I steal from at Gallerie Thaddaeus Ropac in London and the solo exhibitions Canboulay at Smack Mellon in New York and The Night Gardener at Pace University Gallery. In 2023, his first solo exhibition I Left A Piece of My Story In A Green Glass Bottle Of Hope, opened at Praxis New York. That same year, Alvaro Barrington nominated her for the Artist-to-Artist section of Frieze London. Her upcoming exhibitions include the group show The Noise of Us, at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, in which she will be joined by artists Felipe Baeza, Ori Gersht and Maika’i Tubbs.
She has active workshops in New York and Providence, and is an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.