Pasha Rafat
For the month of December we welcome guest curator Pasha Rafat. This exhibition included national and international artists that have a community connection to Las Vegas, NV.
Featured Artists: Ginger Bruner, Ash Ferlito, Maureen Halligan, Afsaneh Javanmard, Dylan Jones, Fay Ku, Yuino Nakabayashi, Kathleen Nathan, Lisa Rock, Aaron Sheppard
Rafat asked participating artists to submit still life artwork to create a more traditional show than what is often seen in our space. He was able to play with the artwork and during his time here the show changed drastically almost very other day. Whether it was painting walls, moving around work, or adding removing new pieces, his curation became very playful and exploratory. Each day brought new ways of seeing the work and connections between pieces formally.
The idea of the show came from a sculpture of bottles he created based on Morandi. This expanded into an idea of repetition. He commissioned a painting of the bottles which became a more saturated version that was very different than the original Morandi. He also commissioned a drawing of the same bottles by a different artist. These contrasting works became an interesting look at artist interpretation and creative license.
On the night of the reception he invited Aaron Shephard to have his tattoo truck outside for guests to go and get still life tattoos. This performance was not only a crowd hit but also an interesting take on the idea of what a still life is.
