HeART: A Visual Language Immersion

Curator's Statement

How do you feel when you look at this piece of art?

When images are presented to us, our brains find ways of distinguishing objects to identify what we are looking at, and from this, we form ideas about things around us and our feelings towards them. Emotions can be ineffable. To experience emotions and not be able to put them into words can often leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves and others. As artists, we are often called to express society’s emotions, to create meaning out of senseless acts of violence, to hold space for sadness or joy, and to commemorate times of trial and tribulation. Too often, the ask of the underrepresented artist is to reflect the experience of the unseen and unheard. Too often, they are asked to showcase their pain in ways that allow their communities to feel represented.

Visual language as a system of communication is one that has been used through time as a way of informing people about current events, spreading propaganda, or triggering emotions within us. In this exhibition, the viewer is invited into a playful world of colors, shapes, and symbols where one’s imagination is untethered. The imagination acts as a site where emotions can lead the artist to create works of art that stimulate our senses when we are introduced to them, resulting in the evocation of numerous feelings within us. The artist was asked to simply show us their heART.

Freedom to express the most abstract of feelings allows us a path to vulnerability and a reminder that even if we can’t describe it, even if we don’t quite understand it, we can all lean into the visual language that art creates and find some sort of humanity within. Immersed in Visual Language takes the viewer into the works of abstractionists: Yuriy Vatkin, Shanell Kitt, Maurice McCrimmon, and Misha Baguio as they work on abstracting different forms whilst leaning into the world of imagination and the stories that arise from their playful use of forms.

Contributors

Primrose Paul is a Kenyan-born artist, writer, and curator currently based in Indianapolis, IN where she is pursuing her BFA at the University of Indianapolis in painting. Her practice with writing involves exploring topics that surround the identity of the Black body in relation to cultural dynamics in mass media and philosophical discourse. Additionally, she is an editor for FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism where she currently published an essay on Art and Afrofuturism.

Stella Griffin is a black contemporary artist and curator born and raised in Indiana. Growing up, Griffin’s living conditions were often not ideal, and they found themselves surrounded by various insects, arachnids and other seemingly creepy crawlies that give the average person the shivers. When they were outside, Griffin got the opportunity to voluntarily observe nature in a more organic form. Instead of being afraid of bugs, they found themselves fascinated and enthralled them. They were well known for bringing their mother bugs inside the house. Griffin uses oil painting and printmaking to create simple but beautiful depictions of nature. They want to rid their viewers of any fears and prejudices they hold over nature and all it has to offer. When not creating art, Griffin enjoys cooking, reading, collecting trinkets at thrift stores, and collaborating with artists for exhibitions. These helps fuel potential ideas, future pieces and create strong professional and personal bonds with their fellow artists.

Yurii Vatkin was born in 1975 in Dnipropetrovsk, and in 1977 his family moved to Kharkiv. At a young age, the artist developed an interest in art, which led to the creation of several children’s drawings. At 14, Yurii met the Kharkiv graphic artist and excellent teacher Oleksandr Bragin, from whom the artist took private lessons. Two years later (at 16), Vatkin became a student at the Kharkiv Art and Industrial Institute.

Yurii Vatkin belongs to those artists who are guided by emotions and intuition as he makes his imagination come to life in his work. He refrains from following popular trends and opposing himself to society. Yurii likes to materialize his thoughts resulting to a stimulating experience for the viewer as they are immersed in his use of of color and texture. In this exhibition, Yurii also takes the opportunity of bringing the viewer into the ongoing war in Ukraine as its people fight for democracy to make sure that their fight is not forgotten.

Shanell Kitt is a visual artist and licensed mental health clinician from The Bronx, New York, residing in Brooklyn, New York. Kitts' vibrant abstract paintings, vernacular still-life compositions and energizing mixed-media illustrations represent reflections on the Black experience, loss, grief, empowerment, love, nature, and spirituality. Through her work, she aims to express her inner feelings as well as communicate with and relate to others. In understanding the relationship between color and form, as well as the link between art and direct social work practice, Kitt draws inspiration from her intersectional existence, history, environment, memories, dreams, and culture. Further influence roots from bold colors, interpersonal relationships, ritualistic practice, movement, and harmony. Kitt primarily utilizes acrylic paint, oil paint, watercolor, oil pastel, pens, pencils and found objects to compose and manifest the breadth of her visions. A key part of her visual art practice is emphasizing light; in establishing a light source, she poses questions about the existence of shadows and the connection between context and aesthetics.

“Bliss Army” is the moniker undertaken by the artist Maurice McCrimmon. The pun alluding to “swiss army knife” is a testament that Maurice is truly a jack of all trades, and a creator of many facets. Growing up as a poet and musician, this was an introduction to Maurice using words and sonics as a visual language and a language of their own. 

Fast forward to 2018 and Bliss began to embrace painting and drawing as mediums for exploration. Starting out as forms of catharsis and psychoanalysis, the artist quickly saw the power and vitality in self-discovery. 

To Bliss the canvas is an opportunity for novelty and world building. A place where anything can happen, a place without gravity or limits. Bliss wants to tell stories and evoke ones power of their imagination and the necessity of such.

For ages humanity has used colors and symbols to gauge the depths of the mind and spirit, to communicate across time and space and converse about the layers of our existence. That is the goal Bliss has in mind when creating.

Misha Baguio is a 23-year-old self-taught artist from Maryland. She doesn’t quite remember when she began painting but is certain it has always been a passion and joy in her life. What usually inspires the majority of Baguio paintings are her emotions and what she may be feeling in that moment. When she is in a mood or has a lot on her mind, Baguio turns to painting as an escape or think through her thoughts. Sometimes her paintings reflect specific situations or feelings she has at the time with most of them pertaining to feelings of love or romance — deeply in love to confusion to heartaches. Or sometimes just creating something that she enjoys to look at. Baguio doesn't have a particular art style but enjoys creating paintings that trigger feelings of happiness. There is an indescribable type of freedom having a blank canvas and creating something beautiful. It’s very therapeutic and calming to her and loves to share what she creates.