About the Exhibition
Axis Gallery is proud to present In Limbo, our 18th National Juried Exhibition featuring juror Emily Zaiden. From her essay about the exhibition:
"This year, as we come further out of the black hole expanse of pandemic time, life for many of us is still very much about reassessment. We entered a new mode as restrictions and the public health emergency ended, following years of unclarity, inconsistency, and flux. We are that much closer to a new normal, and we even have a bit of distance now to examine what we experienced. Much of the work here reflects and addresses the sense of re-emergence that has characterized our lives over the past year. Hesitancy, fear, sadness, instability, and loss also flow throughout. Wrapped up amongst all of this, there are beams of hope for renewal.
[...] These artists succeed in making us question the survival of beauty in an era of destruction, division, violence, and death. Some works stem from the shock and anger we have felt countless times over the last few years. Others help us see and seek the beauty that exists in life and in our world. Abundant jolts of color characterize many of these works. These pieces, even when they capture the tragic, are ultimately optimistic and energetic because they are inherently constructive acts. Abstractions and still life overflow with light and vitality. There is a skilled and nuanced attentiveness to detail, composition, and structure across media. They all remind us that beauty is a fragile and fleeting force and thankfully, they remain dedicated to its depiction."
About the Juror
Emily Zaiden is director and curator of the Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, where she has organized over seventy contemporary art, craft, and design exhibitions for the Center and partner museum venues since 2010. Zaiden oversees public programs, a K-12 education initiative, and digital projects, including the development of an online Craft Video Dictionary for Craft in America. She publishes catalogs, essays, and articles for journals and books including Archives of American Art Journal, American Tapestry Alliance, Metalsmith, Ettore Sottsass: Architect and Designer and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood (2022). She has served as juror and lectured widely. Zaiden has an M.A. from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and has focused on craft processes, functional design, cultural art, and craft from a historical lens throughout her work. She was Research Associate to the Decorative Arts and Design department at LACMA and research editor for Architectural Digest prior to joining Craft in America.
