Turn the Tables Artist Highlight
“THAT’S HOW WE ROLL”
Detail from “THAT’S HOW WE ROLL”
Inspiration
‘THAT’S HOW WE ROLL’ afro kawaii storybook created by @ipukekawaii for Turn the Tables presented by @studio_sohy & @redonionrecords ⠀
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Gonna share my inspo & process for this piece on my blog, ipukekawaii.com cuz why not do it for the process?! But my fav part is the quote. It hit home as I just completed my memoir, Shoppe Gal, which talks heavily about my namesake.
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'We’re NOTORIOUS for living up to our namesake. We’re all about love. That’s how we roll. Even when it’s to a fault.'
~Nancy Wilson⠀
If you're interested in my story as a prominent & vetted 16-year black female tattoo artist professional or want to know more about the healing qualities of tattoo, including my personal story of how tattoo and embracing my kawaii spirit helped save MY life (literally) please order SHOPPE GAL, The Memoir
“On Point”
“I absolutely love design and illustration styles of the 1970s, and this album is red hot! When I saw it I knew it would be super fun to collage with the marbled paper I make, and I think the overall look really emphasizes the groovy, disco vibes.”
Priya Vadhyar
“Nancy in London”
Priya Vadhyar | www.priyavadhyar.com
Artwork Details: Nancy in London Acrylic and Collage on Paper 12x12” 2020
Studio SoHy’s Turn the Tables was an interesting experiment for me. I usually work with abstraction, And although there are themes that run through my work, I always begin without any prompt. Turn the Tables, on the other hand, began with a prompt: Nancy Sinatra’s album Nancy in London; with a striking photograph of Sinatra sitting on the iconic London bus. Her pose is easy and confident, and I imagined her traveling through the city of London, going everywhere her heart took her. Sinatra’s pose seems to say that she isn’t a passenger but the captain who decides where she must go. Adventure and the mysterious beckon!
Speaking of mysterious adventures, this image was striking for one more reason. I grew up in Mumbai, where public buses are also red. It brought all the memories and associations of traveling around the city. As the bus meandered its way to its destination, I would look out the window into a city full of unexpected juxtapositions; surprising things that live side by side. I would also see mysterious places that I would never visit. Mystery is a double edged sword; it implies both danger and adventure, a step into the unknown. Cities are both sparkly and dark, and seem to echo the mysteries of the self. My response to the album cover was influenced by all my associations with cities, travel, independence and mystery. In trying to unveil the mysteries of the world, one tries to understand oneself.
ARTIST STATEMENT
At the heart of my work is the coming together of the particular and universal, the minuscule and towering, edge and void, known and unknown, stillness and chaos. It is the discovery of unexpected visions and many horizons. Emerging from these is a meaning elusive yet tangible — a becoming of something that already is.
My work examines how one is connected to the sum of things. By shedding all the within — both small and quiet, vast and explosive. And by giving up the illusion of control and just responding to the accidental or unintentional, the painting goes through its inevitable, and often meandering, path to its final resting state. The walls break down, and I merge into everything outside my physical boundaries. And in this process I realize that there was never a boundary to begin with.
Compositionally, my work contains multiple worlds. Lines go over themselves back and forth like thoughts; a meandering stream of consciousness. And yet one also sees marks that are precise and forceful. Within the work are spaces one can inhabit; a space where there is a distance. Delicate washes beside almost architectural forms with hard edges create a space for both tension and conversation. There is stillness and solitude within a world that is layered and multifaceted, complex and deep. It is a place where one finds unity, both within and without.
ARTIST BIO
Priya was born and brought up in India, and spent most of her formative years in Mumbai. She has a Master’s degree in Economics but left her job as a research economist in 2006 to pursue the arts. In 2010 she moved to Tucson (AZ). There she met Josh Goldberg, with whom she studied advanced abstract painting. Priya’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as Seacourt Print Workshop (Bangor, Ireland), Gallery Beyond (Mumbai) and The Drawing Studio (Tucson, AZ) among others. Her most recent solo show Continuum [The Illusion of Edges] was at Carroll Community College (Westminster, MD). She lives in Columbia (MD).
Chase DeForest
Artist Chase DeForest
"What's The Matter Here?" Chase DeForest $100
I acquired the 10,000 Maniacs record on the day of one of the senate impeachment hearings and so my head was filled with all the nonsense of people trying to defend such inappropriate and illegal behavior. I was much more seduced by the female beauties of the 60's/70's covers but that word Maniac just hit home and that is why I chose the album. The 53 Maniacs are the 53 Senators who chose to acquit the president.
Since the call for the exhibit asked how we would "Turn the Tables," I saw this as asking for more of an activist approach to the artwork, which also informed my decision making. And because all of the albums were female musicians, I wanted to look at the impeachment through the lens of the women who stood up to those involved in the Ukrainian mess. The fact that the "boys" on the album cover were shooting arrows metaphorically embodied the impeachment process: Mike Pompeo's deplorable treatment of "his" US Ambassador Maria Yovonavitch, Trumps degrading of Pelosi through the House impeachment process (and continually), Jay Sekulow's ridiculous defense in face of a consummate professional like Fiona Hill.
The first track on the album "What's Going on Here?" just seemed wholly appropriate as a subsequent title for the artwork. Lastly, the fact that the decorative circular emblem on the cover looked so much like the Russian flag just made the idea behind the interpretation a slam dunk.
Oh and one last detail: I changed the water line in the image to have them all be up to their necks, almost drowning......