The Border is Open

A new project space dedicated to immigrant artists has opened in Bushwick. The space, known as “The Border,” opened earlier this month with the goal of promoting talented emerging and established immigrant artists living in the United States in the hopes of creating a supportive and nurturing environment for immigrants and non-immigrants alike to create a dialogue around their work. The inaugural show entitled The Border #1 features work by five artists each originally from different countries who offer drawings, sculptures, and other mixed media installations.

One of the most intriguing works in the show is an installation by Peter Kaspar of a wooden board that displays digitized dots of different colors that blink on and off sporadically and are operated by a small stone situated on a censor nearby. Originally from Slovakia, Kaspar’s work explores the relationship between culture and memory. Kaspar has exhibited all over the United States and has a museum show coming up in his native country.

C.J. Chueca of Peru unveils a wall of white, square tiles with many of them either partially chipped or completely gone, with the intention of providing insight into the complex roles that walls can play in one’s life. In front of the wall there is a small black handmade ceramic sculpture that looks like a real plastic bag with shoes in it.
C. J. Chueca is currently working on her next solo show entitled Dos Cielos Azules (“two blue skies”) that will be on view next month at Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA).

Also of note are two works by visual artist Levan Mindiashvili of the country Georgia. The first piece is a sculptural installation depicting three pigmented plastered run-down houses lined up in a row on a shelf on the gallery wall, while the other piece is a tapestry featuring a black and white image of a two-story house. Mindiashvili has exhibited in numerous museums across the U.S. and around the world in addition to his native country.

Aphrodite Desiree Navab’s work often revolves around her Iranian, Greek and American cultural heritage with themes relating to history and politics. For this show, she presents eight small-scale watercolor drawings of hypnotic designs and patterns. These include spirals and other circular shapes that gradually expand or diminish.

Finally, Colombian artist and the curator of the show Jamie Martinez presents several installations that incorporated his signature triangular shapes. These include two sculptures each with a bright thin strip of light (white and red respectively) encircling it, and a couple of small scale pieces of paper with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics with a thin red, wire forming triangles around the text. A similar piece Martinez presents is a poem by Maya Angelou entitled America also featuring a thin red wire with triangular forms. At The Border project space, 56 Bogart St., (1st floor) through Mar. 26.

THE BORDER curated by Jamie Martinez
March 2 – March 26, 2018
56 Bogart Street 1st FL
BK, NY 11206 T.
info@theborderprojectspace.com
www.theborderprojectspace.com

-Alison Martin

Photographs courtesy of the artists and The Border

“The Border #1” curated by Jamie Martinez at The Border, installation view, NY.

C.J. Chueca, “Body #1 (NY)”, ceramic tiles over wood and “Shoes in a trash bag”, handmade ceramic.

Aphrodite Desiree Navab, “The Love Labyrinth”, 8 – 8 x 10 inch drawings, ink on paper.

Jamie Martinez, two “Mesh” series sculptures, steel, copper and fiber optics plus “America”, Maya Angelou poem and thread on black leather/wood, 2018.

Peter Kaspar, “Untitled”, 48” x 72”, wood, fiber optic cables and a stone, 2018.

Levan Mindiashvili, (L-R) “Untitled 3,5,1”, pigmented plaster, wood and pigmented wax plus “Unintended Archeology”, tapestry.