13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
Lucía Sanromán, juror
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
13th National Juried Exhibition
Much In Little, 2018
Mixed Media
Prom Queen Taylor, 2017
Guache on Paper
Boundaries #16
acrylic & ink on canvas
Rio Bravo, 2018
Woodcut
Fatigue, 2018
Oil on Panel
The Fraktur Antiqua Dispute (with mathematical chart), 2016
Intaglio etching on copper
Orange Hasta, 2017
woven cotton
Benicia Palms, 2017
oil on canvas
Scene in a Library 3-A (after Talbot), 2018
ultrachrome inkjet print
Ivanpah Thermal Solar Plant. CA. (35,34.1816N 115,27.9056W), 2018
Archival Inkjet Print
Means to an End, 2016
oil on paper
Pratt Alexander Gibson, 2018
Digital and graphite pencil drawing
rcrcrcrwwwww, 2018
photography
Reconstruction of Measurement, 2017
video
Hide and Seek, 2017
oil on canvas
A-WASH, 2017
Acrylic
Site 38, 2018
Image transfer on adobe, scanned adobe object, inkjet print
**Juror’s Award**
Absence, 2017
acrylic, graphite, maps, printed paper, wood, ink
Incantation 3, 2017
digital print and silkscreen on panel
Snow Drawings-Briancon, France, 2014
Video
Gallery, 2017
Acrylic on Canvas
Mesh, 2017
Digital print, foil, laser etching, and collage
Jerry, 2017
oil on aluminum
Oranges, 2018
Oil on wood
Pitcher #3, inside-out view, 2017
ceramics
Everted Sanctuaries V, 2017
Video
Stray, 2017
Video
Short Ribs, 2017
oil on canvas
Why So Foreign Why So Strange, 2015
digital photograph
**Juror’s Award**
Insertions into economical circuits, 2018
digital photography and vynil text
Untitled, 2018
oil on canvas
**Juror’s Award**
Diamond, 2012
color pencil on paper
The ambassador Earl Stevens AKA E 40, 2018
iPad Pro/procreate/ Apple Pencil
I guess I owe you for most everything, 2018
Acrylic on Panel
The Persistence of Ruin 10, 2017
Inktense & Prismacolor Pencil on layers of Mylar & Plexiglas
Decondrawing, 2015
drawing on woven paper strips
Untitled, 2018
Porcelain, underglaze
Sheet 1, 2015
Beaded Sheet with Tide Logo over Object
Common cross, from rearranging furniture series, 2017
Wooden chairs
#selfiesuit_departure V2, 2017
Video
Scene, 2018
Graphite, and acrylic on panel
Transparency, 2018
Ink, Acrylic, Graphite, Charcoal, on Birch panel
Wallflowers, 2017
oil on canvas
CONTINUOUS DREAMS, 2016
clay, wax thread, iron
Believe Me, Oh, Believe Me, 2017
Video
Pigeon Orchid, 2017
Yarn, wool, wire, sisal, paracord, bamboo, eucalyptus branch
Septarian Moon, 2017
Ink On Paper
Axis Gallery is pleased to have Lucía Sanromán, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Director of Visual Arts, as juror for the 13th National Juried Exhibition.
For 13 years, Axis Gallery’s National Juried Exhibition has provided greater visibility for artists throughout the United States. In the age of Trump, when arts and culture are under constant and consistent attack in a way only paralleled by the Culture Wars of the 1990s, this alone should give us hope. But there is more, an artist-run cooperative in operation for 35 years now, Axis Gallery itself provides an example for a way of doing things—through collective support rather than individual gain—that is counter to the current national sentiment where competition, opposition, and racial politics are used to manage the population by appealing to our base instincts through social media. Like everyone else, artists and artisans of all kinds working throughout the United States are coming to terms with a new reality that at least shocks, and often feels alienating and violent. Indeed, of the over 1,200 artists who submitted artworks to this competition, many reflect on the current political climate directly by, proposing paintings, photography and video with overtly political content, in a natural reaction to a triggering and sometimes chilling news cycle.
Given this, the prevalence of work with political content indicated that my role was not to utilize the jurying process to describe a political theme, or to attempt to create an exhibition with a thematic focus, but rather, to remain sensitive and open to the quality of the work itself, and in this way allow for a narrative to emerge from the process itself that might point to what may not be obvious in the current cultural climate. The final selection of 47 artworks is diverse. Included are pieces that address this moment, such as Jenny Wu’s humorous appropriation of footage of the former Apprentice host and current President of the United States repeating “Believe me, oh, believe me” over and over, with the opposite effect; or Peter Hassen ‘s altered photographs with text that addresses landscape as contested territory; or Miguel Monroy Melgoza’s interventionist performance that tracks the movement of money in various licit and illicit scenarios. A broad variety of media caught my attention, included for the first time in an Axis competition, video work, like Susi Lopera’s humorous animated short. Also notable are many pieces made in traditional media such as Pamela Mooney’s quiet portrait of a swimmer, or Elizabeth Zunino’s intricate ink on paper drawing—an image reminiscent of 19th Century Arts and Crafts tradition but with an unexpected element that points to something more disturbing. Also present is an astonishingly intricate tapestry by Steven Donegan, where the shadow of photography is strongly felt. In general, the mimetic mechanics of the photograph have given way to augmented reality of digital media with works by David Gardner—a post-industrial landscape created using digital tools—and even a work created on the iPad by Kevin Pride that reflect the street culture of hip-hop and the pop visual fluency of the post-Internet generation.
As a group, the pieces do not openly mount an offense against the vitriol and hatred that is now encouraged in American public life, but they do give evidence of more connected and hopeful ways being in the world, where the creation of art is itself a form of resistance. Enmeshed in the quotidianity of making, the artists in this 13th edition beautifully inhabit the in-between space of communication.
Lucía Sanromán
Lucía Sanromán joined Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as Director of Visual Arts in October 2015. Over the course of her career, she has curated groundbreaking exhibitions throughout the United States, Mexico, and Latin America. Recent projects at YBCA include, among others, Tania Bruguera: Talking to Power / Hablándole al Poder (2017) (co-curated with Susie Kantor, curatorial associate at YBCA), and the upcoming Futurefarmers: Out of Place, in Place opening on April 20, 2018.