Unstructured Play

Katie Bell, Sofie Ramos, Estefania Velez Rodriguez and Joseph Dolinsky

Curated by Emmaline Payette and Paula Pino

January 7 - February 11, 2023

Press:

Yale University Radio, Brainard Carey.

MutualArt, “Unstructured Play”

unstructured play is an elemental part of human development. with it we can experiment, test boundaries,

be present, or not.

it is without limitations, until those at play choose. 

we can follow our curiosities

finding materials

creating forms and

peculiar spaces

         additions

dimensions 

and processes 

through unstructured play we can uncheck our whimsy, deregulate our joy, 

                        break   through

to witness new possibilities

          find balance

      and connection

  in the absurdity, chaos, and disorder of it all.

the work in this show is uniquely experimental, often pushing what painting can be, what it is made of, and advanced techniques

 materials and being

previous iterations

existing as (shared existence(s)).

Katie Bell is an artist originally from Rockford, Illinois (b.1985). She received her BA from Knox College and her MFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. Bell makes sculptural paintings using found objects, fabricating forms that confuse naming. Using construction materials as her palette and woodworking tools as a form of mark making, she builds abstract compositions. Bell has shown her work at a variety of venues, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Smack Mellon, Locust Projects, and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She was an artist in residence at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation’s Space Program and awarded a fellowship in painting by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Bell lives and works in New York, NY.

Estefania Velez Rodriguez is an artist born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico (1985) currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. As a dual tongued individual, she utilizes the symbolic language of painting as a bridge between many cultures and spaces. Her work often uses abstracted landscapes as well as non-objective visual spaces that are somewhat open field and bright. Her landscapes meander and distort physical spaces like mazes which are meant to be misleading. Utilizing chemical reactions within painting, Estefania experiments with raw pigments, spray materials, oil mediums, and acrylic polymers. Her painting language ruptures visual spaces to open the viewers receptivity to fleeting spaces, times, and emotional presence.

Estefania received her MFA in painting from Brooklyn College in 2017. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. Estefania is represented by Praxis Gallery in New York City. Some notable exhibitions include: Praxis Gallery (NYC), Underdonk (NYC), Soil Gallery (Seattle), University of Arkansas (AK), Auxiliary Projects (NYC), Cunsthaus (Tampa), Vermont Studio Center (VT), and Artfair Miami (FL). Her work has been published with The Brooklyn Rail (NY), Artnet (NY), and Revista Marvin in Mexico City (CDMX). She has a public mural project with the Arts and Cultural Grant of New York and Norte Maar organization, and is a recipient of a NYFA artist grant (2020).

Sofie Ramos is best known for large scale sculptural installations of vibrantly painted piles of found objects and decorative materials, where oversaturation and abundance result in monstrosities that are both overwhelming and joyful–disgusting and delicious. The paintings/wall objects, like the installation work, consists of layers of lush excess piled up to enable deceitfully playful meditations on decadence, indulgence and celebration.

This year, Ramos’s work was included in exhibitions around the world including a solo museum exhibition at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, three-person exhibition at Gallery Chiao in Taipei, and Guerrero Gallery’s inaugural group show in LA. She also unveiled her first permanent public sculpture in Emeryville, CA. Major past solo exhibitions include Fort Mason and Guerrero Gallery in SF, Johansson Projects in Oakland, FISK Gallery in LA, Mixed Greens in New York, and the San Jose ICA. Her work has been reviewed by Architectural Digest, Juxtapoz Magazine, KQED Arts and the SF Chronicle. She was a visiting artist at ACRE in Steuben, WI, and Artist in Residence at the Growlery and LightSource in SF and Facebook HQ in Menlo Park. Sofie was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently based in LA. She holds a BA in Visual Art from Brown University and an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley.

Joseph Dolinsky (b. 1983 Bristol Connecticut) is a Brooklyn, NY based artist. Dolinsky received his BFA from the Art Institute of Boston in 2007. His work has been an ongoing conversation about space and how we interact with and are affected by it. The process is a driving force in his work and is rooted in the concept. Pigments and dyes are mixed into the material before casting. The works can be seen as a painting existing within the same space as the sculpture, reflecting the interconnected nature of the physical and the psyche. Dolinsky has exhibited his work with Shrine, Sargent’s Daughters, BRIC in New York and the Attleboro Art Museum in Massachusetts.