Soothe

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A visual refuge of
softness and abstraction.

CURATED BY KRISTIN TEXEIRA

Presented by

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CURATOR STATEMENT

Curator
Statement

By Kristin Texeira
The original theme of this exhibition was meant to
counter the chaos of our COVID-19 existence, to
provide a visual refuge of softness. But the United
States’ most urgent public health crisis—one that
has been brewing since our country’s inception—is
not COVID-19. It has always been racism—more
specifically, our systemic racist oppression of and
brutality towards Black people.

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Our roster includes 24 artists; most are white.
As a curator, I failed to make inclusion a priority.
Could those who have suffered the most
been best positioned to explore the meaning
of “soothe”? Is the concept of softness itself
exclusionary? Yes, in some ways it is. It is a
privilege to be able to “peacefully protest” and
still have your voices be heard.

As those of privilege and curatory power
within the arts community, we need to go
beyond vague platitudes. Our future shows
will include more Black artists and other artists
of color, including Indigenous artists. We will
focus on expanding our networks to seek out
underrepresented artists of all orientations,
abilities, colors and creeds who do not have the
connections largely made possible by attending
exclusionary and expensive art schools. It is our
responsibility to break the exclusive circles we’ve
created to develop meaningful relationships with
Black artists, and we will continue to offer fair
compensation to every artist we feature. Soothe
artists will be receiving 100% of the proceeds of
their work; many in turn have chosen to donate
a percentage of their profit to organizations
supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
We are amplifying these efforts and making “art
for good” a function of our own practices and
business going forward.

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CURATOR STATEMENT

Ultimately, we are still here, presenting a show
that now feels imperfect and incomplete,
and should have felt that way all along. We did
not want to extend last-minute invitations to
Black artists to disingenuously diversify our roster.
We need concerted strategies for long-term
change, not insincerity and tokenism to fulfill a PR
need during a hot news cycle.

Annie Albers was a Jewish artist of German
descent who left Germany with her husband during
World War II to flee Nazi occupation. In an uncertain
world, Anni Albers found comfort and a sense of
control in her abstractions. Art has its limitations,
and art alone does not take the place of action.

While you are here: please consider this grouping
of artworks as it was originally intended to be: a
refuge of minimalism and abstraction, a respite,
a place to rest our eyes and recharge in order to
continue fighting the fight. The word refuge here is
important: refuge is temporary. Refuge connotes
limitations; art alone cannot offer a permanent
escape from our surroundings. For our white
audience: know that whiteness already acts as
a refuge for those who possess it. Do not let it
become an escape.

—July 2020

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MANIFESTO

Soothe
Manifesto

by Shannon May Powell
SOOTHE is a visual refuge of softness and
order. A gentle provocation activated by people,
place, time and space. A sanctuary which
permeates safety and padding, sensitivity and
expression. A tender amalgamation of autonomy
and osmosis. It is a place for contemplative
stillness, rapture and rebellion against a world that
never slows. Outside the treadmill of capital,
there is a soft place, a porous and intimate reality
where art summons and embodies a duty of
care to both self and community.

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Through a pandemic and socio-political
movements, one must find moments, however
brief, to come back to the body and the healing
quality of art. During this time of global crisis and
revolution, I hope that we can keep our edges soft
and yielding. Leaning into feeling rather than away
from it. Sitting with discomfort and allowing it to
make a home in us so that change can be tender,
ever-lasting, and transformative at a cellular level.

The work must be slow, deep and irreversible.
We must show up for it each day like we do our
art practice, tend to it, so that it learns to trust us.
Whether through texture and pictorial weaving,
movement, meditation or activism, healing is a
daily practice. A new emotional muscle must
be built. Art is both a survival tool and a call to
action. In the words of poet Joshua Bennett,
“We need to collaborate more dangerously and
more imaginatively” than ever before.

Art has always been in service of revolution, the
personal and the collective. Freedom of expression
necessitates the destruction of all systems of
oppression. It alchemizes and distills truth, it
creates its own language and collapses ideologies.

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MANIFESTO

In all of its wonder and abstraction, creative
practice bears a blade of new world order. It is
the subliminal messenger, a spy in the house of
corruption. The all-seeing eye.

For the artists, the spiritual practitioners, feelings
of fear, doubt and uncertainty always show us
where we have been holding back. They urge us to
lean in when we feel we might give way or resist.
This is the true nature of the creative spirit. It is like
a messenger that shows us, with piercing clarity,
exactly where we have fallen short and incites a
terrifying surge of curiosity to move towards, rather
than away from, the unknown.

Without this curiosity for the unknown there is no
space for re-imagination. If we are to reimagine a
future, one that is more soothing than searing, we
must heal and transform our inner landscapes first.
In order for this transformation to occur, art must
continue to function as it has always functioned, as
a source of deep resistance and deep comfort.
As both an agent and a balm.

—July 2020

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ALAN PRAZNIAK

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BLAISE ROSENTHAL

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BRETT FLANIGAN

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BRIANNE GARCIA ZIFF

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CAROLINE DENERVAUD

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CHRISTOPHER DUNLAP

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CORTNEY CASSIDY

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GALINA MUNROE

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IRVIN PASCAL

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JONATHAN RYAN

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JONATHAN RYAN STORM

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MARY HERBERT

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MATTHEW KING

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MINKU KIM

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MIRANDA SKOCZEK

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NATALIA ORTEGA GAMEZ

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NEVIA PAVLETIC

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NICK IRZYK

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PETER BARRICKMAN

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