ARTPOWHER Contemporary at Artsy Foundations
July 11 - August 8, 2023
We are thrilled to announce that ARTPOWHER Contemporary has been invited to participate in Foundations, a new online fair curated by Artsy, that spotlights fresh works from tastemaking galleries known for supporting emerging artists. This year’s fair includes presentations from more than 100 galleries across four continents, featuring rising and underrecognized talents from across the globe.
For this event, we're pleased to showcase a solo presentation by Shannon Bono: To Summers End in Gambia.
Shannon Bono’s latest series entitled To Summers End in Gambia, is documentation of her experiences and events occurring in last 6 months of 2021. This intimate series explores themes of love, loss as well as witnessing the power of West African divination.
Bono’s work depicts experiences of black womanhood from her own perspective, tying in African culture and spirituality as a means of understanding and taking up space. More notably in this new series is the presence of still life such as plants and mystical objects used in magical rituals. She wishes to look beyond the images of still life and explore their symbolism which is further defined by her experiences and the titles of the paintings. Figuration is still a staple within her paintings in attempts to tell relatable stories and make peace with these unique situations.
Bono works with a mixture of acrylic, oil and spray paints. The repeating patterns are created using stencils to replicate the repeating patterns of Dutch wax fabrics. She layers these patterns with 3D liners adding an extra layer on top of canvas and wood panels.
Shannon Bono has been recently part of Windrush: ’Portraits of a Generation’ with His Majesty The King. A BBC documentary celebrating the accomplishments of the Windrush generation.
Marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush to British shores in 1948, the documentary follows a remarkable project spearheaded by His Majesty The King.
The ten portraits are on display in an exhibition titled Windrush: Portraits of a Pioneering Generation at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh until mid September and will travel to the National Portrait Gallery in October 2023.
Shannon Bono painted a portait of Linda Haye OBE. Haye worked for the civil service in Jamaica before her mother convinced her that she would have more opportunities in the UK. She arrived in October 1958, setting her sights on her lifelong dream of studying sociology, and graduated in 1972. She dedicated her life to youth and community services and was the first woman of colour to be a full-time member of the Police.
Portraits Of A Generation, on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer - watch here
Read here - The Guardian : Windrush generation celebrated in a series of 10 portraits in pictures
I HAVE EVERYTHING I NEED - Gretchen's Affirmation Ads
(un)fair (un)expected art fair
March 3 - 5, 2023
Milan, Italy
ARTPOWHER Contemporary has been invited to be part of the (un)framed section at (un)fair in Milan, Italy. A dedicated section that facilitates the relationship between independent spaces and the audience on today's contemporary art world. ARTPOWHER is delighted to present for this occasion a participatory solo show by the brilliant Internet Performance Artist Gretchen Andrew.
With Affirmation Ads, Gretchen presents her second major body of work. While she targeted the uncontrolled power of Big Tech through Google with her search engine manipulating Vision Boards, she now turns against the advertising-based structures of Facebook and Instagram and allows you to own and control your digital space, treating your Instagram feed the way you would your living room.
Andrew conceived for her solo presentation with ARTPOWHER new works on paper that use her signature elements of collage and drawing to manipulate systems of power with art, code and glitter. Affirmation Ads were recently featured in the December 2022 issue of Art – Das Kunstmagazin.
All visitors to the booth will be instructed how to digitally install the Affirmation Ads in their own social media feeds, with the aim to avoid inflicted advertisements of Instagram, receiving instead the positive message I Have Everything I Need. The first visitors to the ARTPOWHER Contemporary booth, PS1, will be invited to sit down with the artist and talk about the work while Gretchen applies the fake nails featured in the works onto the hands of those wanting to be part of her art intervention.
Affirmation Ads is based on something that has been personally advertised and targeted to Gretchen on Instagram with. By collecting one of the physical expressions of the Affirmation Ad, collectors will not only have the work installed in their home, and in their digital life, but also empowering the thousands of social media users who will see and be uplifted by it, and who will feel a new sense of control over their digital spaces.
“These physical expressions of the Affirmation Ad idea are for all who love that the impact of the works is unlimited, and believe technology should work in service of their goals and dreams, not prey on their insecurities. I made Affirmation Ads for people who believe in taking power into their own hands.“ — Gretchen Andrew
Read full Press Release
Portrayals of Black Joy - February 2021
Sola's painting Laying in the Grass II has been selected for a digital billboard campaign "Portrayals of Black Joy" launched by Artsy in partnership with Outfront Media, spotlighting emerging Black artists in major cities in the US throughout the month of February. Courtesy of the Artist and ARPOWHER Contemporary! The campaing features also emerging Black artists - Derrick Adams, Dominic Chambers, and Kay Hickman.
