Hexposition

October 14th – November 13th, 2022

Curated by Amelia Biewald

The Royal @ RSOAA is pleased to present Hexposition, a group exhibition curated by Amelia Biewald featuring artists Miriam Carothers, Sofiya Kuzmina, and Stacey Lee Webber.

The magic of the portrait is in its ability to portray both physical and psychological characteristics of the subject. It reflects a fascination with identity. The act of studying a subject so closely becomes seductive for both artist and viewer, and each are filled with a desire to know more.

These artists question the genre’s ideology and doctrine to give us something new. The works were created while the artists were encircled by concentric traumas—the pandemic, its stress-inducing isolation and instability—searching for identity amongst constant streams of non-stop information.

Maybe we better understand our longings, triumphs and fears through these images that seek to summon the potential of the portrait in the 21st century.

Miriam Carothers floats her own visage above a book of spells, freeing the form from the constraints of its motif. In her self-portraits she lovingly embraces her fascinations with sometimes-awkward subject matter like low-brow humor and the occult.

She confronts the confines of “high art” and its relationship with popular culture, both beautiful and grotesque. Exploring a form of cynical, humorous realism replete with personal and historical symbolism, she highlights social modes that reveal something slightly sinister.

Sofiya Kuzmina’s intense color combinations are themselves an ode to her beguiling cabaret performers. Her deeply intimate depictions open a window into their midnight metamorphosis.

The subjects are lovingly captured in her unique style that combines warm humor tinged with feelings of unsettling uncertainty. The intimate in-dressing-room setting, and her bold brushwork seem to strengthen the emotive elements of her work—to help us better imagine their unique personalities, and our relationship with passing time.

Stacey Lee Webber’s time-consuming embroidered re-imaginations ask us to question the contradictions that exist in American society. The work imposes the inherent value of labor and work ethic of blue collar America upon etchings of the “gentle men” immortalized on our currency—to frame a discussion of the importance of each.

She captures a spontaneity at odds with their stoic printed portraits, intended to convey strength and stability. These founding fathers, burlesqued with new colors and textures, truly question the iconic images on our money.