To make me forget about now…

I dont know what my curation process says about me. Either I’ve taken an ultra-simple and abnormal approach, or maybe it is just always supposed to be as organic as the grouping of these four artists. Reflecting on the previous statement, I can confirm that both positions can be true at the same time, but that doesn’t eradicate the ease at which I was able to name four unbelievably, emotion-evoking artists to show works with the most exciting, emerging gallery in Paris. From the get go it felt like a no-brainer. This is where my job began and ended. They took it from there, and put the years of looking, listening, talking, feeling, raging, getting back on the horse and learning, to practice. The only thing I could hope to deduce from hanging works from Yevgeniya, Kimia, Bill and Suzannah in one space is a short moment of solace from “everything”. Covid returning, politics, parental failures, time-management (or lack thereof”), the third pizza you’ve eaten this week, the stack of bills on the counter, worrying about your dogs getting old, the twinge in your left knee, your son telling you to get off your phone. All things that add up to you feeling like a shit person. But for the 5 to 30 min you are able to stroll around the gallery, it is very feasible, if not absolutely likely, that you can forget about all of the aforementioned and just look.  

“To make me forget about now…” is a collection of works from 4 artists who all possess a level of magic and wonderment in their work and who are inextricably linked to their art. Trying to pry the person from the artwork is almost impossible. The work is the purest expression of who they are and what they are, where they are from and what they know to be true. The commonality of this group of people is their undeniable talent and relentless pursuit of otherworldliness through art. They arent trying to be anything they are not, just making who they are. And this is what enables you to forget about now. The authenticity and years of commitment to their vocation. The result is not this show. This is just a small snapshot of who they are. It would kind of be like taking a photograph of the four of them standing together and proclaiming that this photo summed them up as people, and artists. This show is a small moment in time when four stellar artists agreed to show works together in the city of light, so we, the viewer, could check out from life for just a minute and revel in the toil of a lifetime’s work. 

Jordy Kerwick