You Keep Going Through It, I’m Just Coming Back From It.
Opening: Thursday 14 July 2022, 7-10 pm
Exhibition duration: 14 July -31 August 2022
The Breeder is pleased to present Deborah Segun’s new solo exhibition, You Keep Going Through It, I’m Just Coming Back From It.
Firmly rooted in her personal experiences, Deborah Segun’s work celebrates the diverse bodies of women through shape and color, portraiture and narrative, creating an important counter-point to both art historical and contemporary depictions of the female form. Her canvases are populated by the figures of voluptuous black women in varied graceful poses. Segun ultimately explores portraiture from a place of body sensitivity, shaping narratives around the power of vulnerability as a birthplace of joy, belonging, creativity and authenticity.
Segun continues here her exploration of the idea of personal growth and the constant changes that we go through. Taking as a starting point the transition from childhood to womanhood as a universal and personal experience, Segun explores the subtle anxiety that comes with change. This new body of work focuses on the idea of trusting the constant process and leaning into change as it comes. The paintings depict a sense of intimacy in a way of understanding one’s self and allowing oneself to be present in an attempt to mend the relationship between past and present self. There is also a feeling of calmness and trust both in the expression and body language, in the way that the subjects are supporting each other, the slight co-dependency that almost creates a feeling that one can’t fully function without the other.
Deborah Segun (b. 1994, Nigeria) lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria. She obtained a degree in Fashion Design at the Polimoda Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence, Italy in 2017. Solo exhibitions include: ‘How To Fall In Love’, BEERS London, (2021); ‘Being Free’, SMO Contemporary Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2020); ‘Play as Collective’, AWCA, ArtxLagos Art Fair, Lagos, Nigeria (2019); ‘Still Life’ Art Oja, Lagos, Nigeria (2019); ‘I Feel Like I Am’, Relate Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, (2019). Segun’s work is included in the collection of X Museum in Beijing and Xiao Museum in Rhizhao, China.
CORRINE SLADE
Moon as My Mirror
The Breeder Feeder
Opening: Thursday 14 July 2022, 7-10 pm
Exhibition duration: 14 July -31 August 2022
The Breeder is pleased to present Corrine Slade’s first solo exhibition with The Breeder, Moon as My Mirror.
Corrine Slade’s colorful, highly detailed canvases create new ecofeminist mythologies. With high-contrast palettes, the artist depicts her female protagonists in various scenes alongside lush flora and fauna. Slade embraces disparate references from pop culture, mythology, art history and her own cultural and personal heritage across her canvases.
Nature plays an important role in her compositions and there are recurring motifs of fruits, flowers, plants and the moon. These natural objects act as symbols of plentifulness, growth and fertility. They create otherworldly environments populated by black women in solitude or in companionship creating a sense of warmth. Her process consists of layering different thicknesses and opacities of oil paint over bright acrylic underpaintings. She utilizes the luminosity of acrylic paint to create auras emitting from her figures, illustrating their romantic energy. The growth of the natural world is intrinsically linked to the growth of the human spirit.
The sublime natural environments that she constructs for her protagonists are retreats for solace that do not exist for them in the real world. A world that often manages to simultaneously scrutinize and overlook black women. Her practice is driven by her ever-increasing need for escapism, immersing her audience in dream-like spaces that she herself finds comforting.
Slade’s current explorations consider questions of self-reflection, intuition and divinity. The moon becomes here a powerful symbol that represents these ideas and seems to engulf everything under a warm light. All of the works presented in the exhibition were made during the night and the scenes they portray take place during dusk or night time. Darkness creates a secure environment that offers a place for self-reflection to her protagonists. They use the moon as their mirror allowing them to practice introspection.
Corrine Slade (b. 1998, Montclair, New Jersey) lives and works in Chicago and completed her BFA at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Recent solo exhibitions include New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); Jargon Projects, Chicago (2021); School of the Art Institute of Chicago Student Affairs Office, Chicago (2018). Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including the Museum of Science and Industry Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition, Chicago (2020).
Both artists will be present at the opening.
THE BREEDER
45 Iasonos st
10436 Athens
+30 210 3317527
www.thebreedersystem.com
gallery@thebreedersystem.com
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 11 am -7 pm
Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
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