Elsewhere Is a Negative Mirror
Two-person exhibition with Natessa Amin and Susan Klein
October 19 - November 17, 2019
Curated by Will Hutnick
Ortega y Gasset Projects is pleased to present Elsewhere Is a Negative Mirror, a two-person exhibition curated by Will Hutnick featuring new paintings from Natessa Amin and ceramics by Susan Klein. Elsewhere Is a Negative Mirror asks questions around connectivity - amongst people, with oneself, with one’s place in the world - and our mixed (and missed) expectations towards craving a shared experience.
“Journeys to relive your past?” was the Khan’s question at this point, a question which could also have been formulated: “Journeys to recover your future?”
And Marco’s answer was: “Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have.”
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
Natessa Amin and Susan Klein depict spaces that are records of desires, dreams, and memories, and the slippages between them. Both artists are preoccupied with representing lived and shared experiences, and delightfully use bold color, patterns, and geometric shapes to delineate phenomenological narratives and responses. These formal elements contain secret codes, interlocking networks, and personal history. Amin and Klein are interested in how symbols - like experiences - are flexible and contextual, and simultaneously take on numerous meanings, connotations, and interpretations.
Amin, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania in an Indian-American family, grew up navigating the complex relationships formed from contrasting cultures and religions. Her choice of patterns, materials, and color are rooted in her personal history and disparate cultural identities. Allusions to Pennsylvania Dutch craft found in her work, mixed with inspiration from Indian and African textiles, amalgamate into a new and unique visual lexicon. By depicting imagined places and fantastical dream-like environments, with decipherable moments of recognizable imagery, Amin grapples with her identity, responsibility as an artist, and navigation of daily space, ultimately to bend the parameters of history, possibility, and reality.
Klein has a similar preoccupation with ornamentation, bizarre patterns, and hidden codes. Her work is filled with sensitive observations and material responses; they tease you with their shifting perspectives and shifting identities. There is an implied functionality to Klein’s forms and shapes: are they spiritual or devotional markers? Objects for a domestic space? Public space? Futuristic possible architectural plans? Any and all of the above? This ambiguity nestles itself into a sweet spot, in which Klein reflects upon past relationships and experiences while remaining firmly rooted and connected to the present.
Elsewhere Is a Negative Mirror is a reflection on creating connections and empathy, and the ongoing search for things beyond ourselves and the physical world. What do we hold onto, and what do we hold order to?
Natessa Amin (b. 1987, Easton, PA) is a visual artist based in Philadelphia. Amin earned her BFA in Painting from Boston University (2010) and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania (2015). She is the co-director of FJORD Gallery in Philadelphia and a full-time faculty member at Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA. Amin’s solo and two-person exhibitions include Dancing on the Water Tank at the Philip & Muriel Berman Museum of Art (2017), Past is a Place at the HUB Gallery at Moravian College (2016), We Can’t Say What We’ve Seen at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Los Angeles (2018), and a scheduled exhibition (October 2019) at Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn. She has shown work in group exhibitions at Hangar H18 Gallery, Brussels, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, Distillery Gallery, Boston, Benaco Arte, Sirmione, Italy and at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Woodmere Art Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Pilot Projects, and CFEVA in Philadelphia. Amin has been awarded residencies at the Fabric Workshop and Museum (2016), Wassaic Project (2017), Lacawac Sanctuary & Biological Field Station (2018), and the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts (2019).
Susan Klein (b. 1979, Morristown, NJ) is an artist and curator living in Charleston, SC. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Her most recent solo exhibition “Day Person” was on view fall 2018 at the Sumter County Gallery of Art. Other exhibition venues include: The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, The Southern, Redux Contemporary Art (all in South Carolina), Southside Gallery (Mississippi), Collective Crossing (NYC), Trestle and Brooklyn Artists Gym (Brooklyn), 3433 Gallery (Chicago), PDX Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), University of Ulsan (South Korea), Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), as well as additional spaces. Curatorial projects include the 2018 exhibition Nighttime for Strangers at NARS Foundation (Brooklyn) and upcoming exhibitions through Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville. Recent awards include a Wassaic Project Residency (NY) and residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (Brooklyn) both summer 2018. Other awards include a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, an Ox-bow Artist-in-Residence Summer Fellowship, an Otis College of Art and Design Summer Residency, residency at Arteles Creative Research Center (Finland), and residency at Takt (Berlin). Klein received her MFA in 2004 from University of Oregon, a BFA in 2001 from University of New Hampshire, and studied art at NYU from 1997-99. Currently, she teaches painting at the College of Charleston.
Will Hutnick (b. 1985, Manhasset, NY) is an artist and curator based in Wassaic, NY. He received his M.F.A. from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) and his B.A. from Providence College (Providence, RI). His work has been exhibited most recently at Standard Space (Sharon, CT, solo), One River School (Hartsdale, NY, solo), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Brooklyn), LVL3 Gallery (Chicago, IL), Vox Populi (Philadelphia, PA), Paradice Palase (Brooklyn), Geoffrey Young Gallery (Great Barrington, MA), Providence College Galleries (Providence, solo) and Pratt Institute. Hutnick has curated numerous exhibitions at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Trestle Projects, Pratt Institute (New York and Brooklyn) and Hamiltonian Gallery (Washington, DC). He has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, NY), Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency (Granville, NY), DNA Gallery (Provincetown, MA), Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT) and a curator-in-residence at Benaco Arte (Sirmione, Italy) and Trestle Projects (Brooklyn). Hutnick is a 2017 Martha Boschen Porter Fund grant recipient from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and a 2015 grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Art. Hutnick is the Co-Director of Ortega y Gasset Projects, and is currently the Residency Director at the Wassaic Project, a nonprofit organization that uses art and art education to foster positive social change.