PERFORMANCES: POLINA SIVOLOBOVA [NYC/MX] & NEBULA THE VELVET QUEEN [NYC]
+ CURRENT EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW: Polina Sivolobova (downstairs) and Theresa Byrnes (street level)
POLINA SIVOLOBOVA: CAN WE GET CLOSE?
- A PARTICIPATORY PERFORMANCE
During this performance, the artist will be present and make one-on-one invitations to sit close to her and experience human proximity in our surreal times
POLINA SIVOLOBOVA creates artist books, videos and works on paper of narratives of possible futures which explore relationships between humans, technology and environment. In her artwork, the female figure takes center stage in a world of myth, symbolism and cultural syncretism.
Sivolobova’s nomadic, pedagogical and entrepreneurial practices merge into the project “Travel with Polina” where she connects artists, communities and thinkers to explore topics of social justice, sustainability, cultural diversity, local art and craft practices through open channels of communication and cultural immersion. Her research projects engage in the study of diverse models of social and land sovereignty and sustainability within a pedagogical and artistic framework. Polina creates designs and performance productions of magical worlds and nomadic people.
@polinapsivolobova
NEBULA THE VELVET QUEEN - THEREMIN and POETRY
NEBULA (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based cosmic love poet, theremin player, improviser, visual artist & community organizer.Her art is dedicated to documenting the current social and spiritual revolution.
She has been published by The Westchester Review, Indolent Books, Amnesty International and the Queens Museum, New York.
IG: nebula_thevelvetqueen
EXHIBITION (Downstairs Gallery)
POLINA SIVOLOBOVA [NYC/MEXICO/RUSSIA]
Fri, November 5, 2021 - Tue, November 30
OPEN SKINS // 13 years of performance art //
A Multi-Event Engagement
Videos, Photos, Drawings and Ephemera
From more than twenty-five performances done between 2006 to 2019
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
Open Skins / 13 years of performance art will show more than twenty-five performative works I created from 2006 to 2019, exploring (in most cases) the feminine, loss, and transformation. “Open Skins,” a multi-sited event taking place during the months of October and November 2021, features two exhibitions, the launching of a new website, and a work-in-process artist book. The work spans from when I was a graduate student at Pratt Institute in New York and concludes in 2019 during The Encuentro, organized by The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in Mexico City.
“Open Skins” marks the closing of one creative phase in order to give space to a new cycle of works. It is an exercise of unearthing the symbols that have been generated and embodied throughout these performative actions, to create a mesh or map of relations of actions, objects and characters. Over time, these symbols have become my language, a type of my micro-cosmos of my psyche. This body of work is also a reflection of my creative process: how I create and what motivates me. My work has been deeply personal yet with a strong sense of the audience’s presence. The performances, mostly in public spaces, have been created with a structure to be completed and interpreted by the passerby. Often through ritualistic actions, through an interplay of personal states of vulnerability and power, relating to the other becomes essential.
I understand my performances in two ways: one - through a categorization of how they were created and how they were meant to be experienced, that is any of these categories: Stage, Participatory, Actions and Impromptu, for the Camera or Collaborations. And two - through a series of symbols each work encircles through the actions, objects and characters.
A recurrent symbol in my work is skin, more than in the corporeal sense, skin as a cover or layer; along “skin” there are the acts of covering and uncovering, dressing and undressing, blindfolding, wrapping, peeling, and piling. This unit of symbols represents for me a human reality in which we never can see the whole; as something appears, something else disappears. We cannot grasp a totality: something closes as something else opens. In “Open Skins” each individual performance is a layer of a non-totality, and these layers are open, to be touched and possibly re-lived, through its remnants.
In this sense, “Open Skins” is a retrospective, an opportunity to look back. A pause, much like our current time, to gather what we have, what we have created, given and taken as we continue on, building, destroying, rebuilding, growing and tending to our skins.
EXHIBITION (Street Level Gallery)
THERESA BYRNES [NYC/AUSTRALIA] - 10 YEARS: SCREENINGS + EPHEMERA
Theresa Byrnes’s 36 year, multi-disciplinary career as a painter, performance artist, writer and activist etch an emboldened path of powerful art making.
Byrnes explores the moment of action, of impact in painting and she finds mastery of freedom in its purest state, in the mistake. She makes a splash, daub or spill creating a series of marks.
In 1990 (at 20) Byrnes was accepted into an Aboriginal community in remote Arnhem Land, Australia, and her painting and performance work are primarily the exploration of the forces of nature.
Byrnes believes that central to all life is decay, and that biodegradable art making is powerful and elegantly sustainable. Byrnes began using trashed wood fragments to paint on in 2001, her hair as a paint brush in 2008, earth as pigment in 2011, single use plastic bags for mark making in 2019 and turmeric as pigment in her 2021 performance, GLIMPSE.
Her performances are a theatrical event that cut to the core of her studio practice. In the studio she makes paintings and in performance she is inside the painting process itself.
Theresa’s performance pieces have been described as 'wondrous,' 'purist,' and 'uncompromising' by London's Daily Mirror. Her performance art was featured at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, 2000 and 2003, as well as in the Queens Council for the Arts Festival of 2012, at New York Live Arts in 2017 and at GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE in 2021.
She received a Young Australian of the Year award in 1999, for heading up the Theresa Byrnes Foundation for scientific research into Friedrich's Ataxia (a disorder of the nervous system which she herself has). Byrnes raised a of a quarter million dollars for FA research through art auctions in 1997 and 1998.
Byrnes has managed her career and life while becoming progressively disabled and published her autobiography, The Divine Mistake in 1999. In 2003, and again in 2006, she received the Pollock-Krasner grant for painting.
In 2017 she founded/curated TACTICAL STREAM, a biannual group exhibition where artists develop their activist voice and work together toward making social change.
Mother to her seven-year-old son, Byrnes paints and performs in Manhattan, while working on her second book, a tumultuous memoir of being an artist in the real world.
THERESA BYRNES : CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 GLIMPSE, Grace Exhibition Space, New York
2019 FRESH, TBG, New York
2018 SEWING NEW YORK with ancient earth, TBG, New York
2017 RESULT, TBG, New York
2016 BRIDE, TBG, New York
2015 MUDBIRD, a return to the beginnings, TBG, New York
2014 SPARROW HEART, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2013 SPARROW HEART, new paintings, Suffer, New York
2012 DUST TO DUST, paintings & screening, Suffer & Rogue Space, New York
2011 DIRTY GLAMOUR, Suffer, New York
2010 NEST, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2009 REVOLUTION REVOLVE, Rogue Space, New York
NEST, Williamsburg, New York
2008 CHANGELINGS, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
2007 BEINGS, Rogue Space, New York
2006 SYDNEY TO NEW YORK, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
NEW YORK TO SYDNEY, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
2005 FRACTALS OF THOUGHT, Australian Embassy, Washington DC
2004 TANTRIC PAINTING, Theater for the New City, New York
2002 LANDSCAPE OF MISTAKE, Australian Embassy, Washington DC
2001 KNOT NOT KNOW, Cristianne Nienaber Contemporary Art, New York
2000 RECENT WORK, Scots Church, Sydney
1999 THE DIVINE MISTAKE, Wagner Gallery, Sydney
1998 LIGHT TO HOT TO DARK, Angel Orensanz Foundation, Lower Gallery, New York 1997 1997 STUDIO SHOW & AUCTION, conducted by Sotheby’s Australia, Sydney
1995 MARKINGS, Milkwood Gallery, Sydney
1993 OVERVIEW, Whitfield Gallery, Sydney
1991 A SOULFUL JOURNEY, Artburn Gallery, Sydney
1989 APPLES IN DISGUISE, Sylvester Studios, Sydney
Selected Group Shows
2020 TACTICAL STREAM #6, TBG, New York
2018-19 TACTICAL STREAM #3, 4 & 5, TBG, New York
2018 A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN, London
2017 PORTAL, Soho, New York
TACTICAL STREAM, #1 & 2, TBG, New York
2015 VISABLE STORAGE, ArtBank Gallery, Sydney
INK, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2013 IT’S ABOUT YOU AND ME, ABCno Rio @ Bullet space, New York
2012 PAPER WORK, Ground Arts Org, New York
QUEENS ART EXPRESS, New York
2010 HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FINE ART FAIR
2009 PROZESS, Michael Lions Wier Gallery, New York
2007 ROVING EYE, Robert Steele Gallery, New York
2007 CHELSEA ARTISTS, Art Gotham, New York
2003 WORKS ON PAPER, Photo-graphic Gallery, New York
2002 MY LIFE MY CITY, Kiboko Projects touring exhibition, New York & Russia
Video Art Museum of New Art (MONA), Detroit
PAINTING AS ABSTRACTION, Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Michigan
2001 DOCUMENTA USA, Museum of New Art (MONA), Detroit
ART/SCIENCE FUSION, Sapienza University, Rome
1999 CHRISTMAS SHOW, Wagner Gallery, Sydney
1998 YOUNG ART, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1995 40 EMERGING ARTISTS, Tap Gallery, Sydney
1992 TIBET, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
1991 BATHURST ART PURCHASE, Selected exhibition, Bathurst
1989 ENDANGERED SPACES, Artspace, Sydney
THE PRODUCTION OF OPTICAL EQUIVALENCES, EMR Gallery, Sydney
*1987 WOMEN’S WAR & PEACE ART EXHIBITION, Pier 2 –3 Walsh Bay, Sydney
PERFORMANCES
2021 GLIMPSE, Grace Exhibition Space, New York
ALONE. TOGETHER, with Heide Hatry, Grace Exhibition Space, New York
ROCK, Ecological Cities, New York
2020 IN THE FLAME, Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, New York
2019 FRESH LUNGS FESTIVAL, TBG, New York
2018 THE SNAKE, La Plaza Cultural Lungs Festival, New York
2018 BROKEN, TBG, Commissioned by Georgetown University, Washington DC
2017 MUDBIRD, Uluru National Park, Northern Territory, & Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
RESULT, New York Live Arts, New York
DECONSECRATION - TACTICAL STREAM, TBG, New York
2016 BRIDE, La Plaza cultural community garden, New York
2015 MUDBIRD (performance for film) shot by Kevin O’Hanlon, stills by Rainer Hosch
BEING TWO (performance for film) shot by Christopher Lynch.
2014 SPARROW HEART CLOTHED, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2013 CLOTHED ABC NO RIO @ Bullet Space, New York
TWO MINUTE SILENCE (a performance for film) shot by Kevin O’Hanlon
2012 TENDER, Queens Council for the arts, New York
2011 DUST TO DUST, Suffer project space, New York
2010 NEST, Wilson Street Gallery, Sydney
THE MEASURE OF MAN, Suffer project space, New York
THE MEASURE OF MAN, Guerrilla style, back of truck, The Bowery, New York.
2009 NEST, Williamsburg, New York
2008 THERESA TREE, Rogue Space, New York
2007 TRACE, Howl Festival, New York
2006 Fry Free, Chelsea Roof-top, New York
SLEEPSTAIN, Chelsea Arts Building, New York
2004 ME MEAT WE WAR, Performance & curated, Warwhorz, Howl Festival, New York
2003 LA BOMB, REMOVING THE VEIL, Howl Festival, New York
LA BOMB, THE NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION, St Marks Church, New York
LA BOMB, Photo-Graphic Gallery, Soho, New York
2002 THE FLAG/THE PATRIOT, TBG, New York
EMERGENCY EMPIRE, Tompkins Square Plaza, New York
21 CRASH, Tompkins Square Plaza, New York
NO BLOOD FOR OIL, Saint Mark’s Church, New York
THE MARY MAGDALEN CABARET, St Mark’s Church, New York
2001 OIL PAINTING, WAR & CHRISTMAS, Saint Mark’s Church, New York
1989 LYING ON THE FLAG in response to the Tiananmen Square massacre, Paileu Plaza, Sydney
Selected Publications & Press
2021 THE VILLAGE SUN, New York - review GLIMPSE
DOING FEMINISM Women's Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia 1968-2018.
Anne Marsh (published November 2021)
EMERGENCY/INDEX annual document of performance practice. (November 2021)
2020 MARIE CLAIRE Mexico - interview
2018 SALTY online magazine - Love Story by Theresa Byrnes
2017 DAILY TELEGRAPH, Sydney, A Life Less Ordinary - interview
2016 THE VILLAGER newspaper, New York
2014 ABC — THE 7.30 REPORT - Television profile Australia
THE VILLAGER newspaper, New York
2013 PERFORMANCE RITUAL DOCUMENT Professor Anne Marsh, Director of Art Theory (Monash University) , Pan Macmillan
2012 DIORAMA art magazine, ITALY
City Arts, New York
2011 ELLE DÉCOR USA
New York Press
THE VILLAGER newspaper, New York
GATHERING OF THE TRIBES magazine, USA
2010 NYTimes East Village Blog
LIFEPROOF, France, review
WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE
GRAZIA Magazine
2009 DAILY MIRROR, London, Martin Newman, review
ARTSCAPE, Noah Sudarsky, New York review
LINK Magazine, feature & cover, Australia
2008 AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE, Profile
MADISON magazine, Profile, Australia
2006 SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, Art Section
SBS RADIO interview, National Australia
2005-7CROSSCURRENTS Magazine USA, spring & autumn 05 & winter issue 2006, winter issue 2007 cover
2004 CROSSCURRENTS magazine USA, winter issue. Cover and article
AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS by Greg Weight, published by Chapter & Verse
2003 MANHATTAN NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK "Voices for Peace" "Emergency Empire" performance
ARENA magazine, USA
2002 BIG NIGHT OUT, by Theresa Byrnes, Penguin Australia, short story
2001 FROM THE MAYOR’S DOORSTEP 33 (from an appropriate distance) by Piri Halasz (review New York)
1999 AUSTRALIAN STYLE magazine, Jack Marx
1998 AUSTRALIAN ART COLLECTOR, Michel Hewtac
1994 THE SYDNEY REVIEW, Jacques Delaruelle
WHO’S WHO OF AUSTRALIAN VISUAL ARTS, DW Thorpe (in association with NAVA)
Other
2020-21 Resident artist, Grace Exhibition Space, New York
2018 BROKEN performance-based video, commissioned by Georgetown University, Washington DC
2012 QUEEENS ART EXPRESS, featured performance artist
FILMS ON ARTISTS gallery screening DUST TO DUST performance & paintings
2011 Panelist for FULL SPECTRUM, Brooklyn, New York
2010 -11 Guest writer for DAILY MIRROR, London, art-blog
2009 LIFE WITHOUT COMPROMISE documentary by AJAX productions New York
2008 CELEBRATING THE ARSENAL short video by Byrnes, Rogue Gallery, New York
2007 ME MEAT WE WAR a short film by Theresa Byrnes, Experimental Film Festival, Pioneer Theatre, New York
Play based on Theresa Byrnes, SIMPLICIA & THE TICK, Metropolitan Playhouse Theater, NYC
CHILDREN’S THEATRE ART AUCTION, Peer gallery, New York, Christie’s
2006 THE POLLOCK-KRASNER FOUNDATION ARTIST GRANT
2004 WARCHILD, Hope art auction, Christie’s, London
2003 THE POLLOCK-KRASNER FOUNDATION ARTIST GRANT
2002 BIG NIGHT OUT short story, published by Penguin books
2000 Relocated to New York
1999 Autobiography, THE DIVINE MISTAKE published by Pan Macmillian Australia
1998 Appointed AUSTRALIA DAY AMBASSADOR
1997 Community Services Award, YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
1996 The THERESA BYRNES FOUNDATION INC ART AUCTION (Sotheby’s Australia), raising funds for research
Lecturer, Painting Toowoomba University, Queensland Australia
1992 Accepted into Aboriginal community, Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, Gove, Australia.
1991 Chief Curator – DOWNING CENTER SHOW CASES, Sydney Australia
1990 Director - ARTBURN, Parramatta’s first contemporary art gallery, Australia
1987 SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, Visual Arts, Sydney Australia
ABOUT GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE
182 AVENUE C NEW YORK, NY 10009
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GRACE:
Grace, n. - simple elegance or refinement of movement
Grace Period - an extended period granted as a special favor
The Three Graces (Greek Mythology) - charm, grace, and beauty
Opened in 2006, Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid-career or established. Our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.
Grace Exhibition Space presents over 30 curated live performance art exhibitions each year, showcasing new work by more than 400 performance artists from across the United States and the world since 2006.
Grace Exhibition Space for International Performance Art Space IRS tax-exempt 501(c)3 status in 2015.
Grace Exhibition Space follows the We Have a Voice Collectives Code of Conduct to Promote Safe(r) Workplaces in the Performing Arts For more information and resources, visit: www.wehavevoice.org