OUTLOOK HAZY is a three-day art event featuring Austance Caroline, Conrad Clifton, and Lea Wülferth, presented by ROARK. The gallery will be open to the public May 20 - 22, 2022, and is a reflection on the uncertain times that surround us.
OPENING NIGHT: Fri May 20 - 5pm-11pm * GALLERY HOURS: Sat May 21 - 12-8pm * CLOSING BREAKFAST: Sun May 22 - 10-12pm
ELSEWHERE / ELSEWHEN (originated at the Brooklyn Museum) explores the relativity of time and space and how we carry places around with us through memory, thoughts, and dreams, and are often elsewhere and “elsewhen” than our physical body’s placement. All of the works exhibited as part of Outlook Hazy relate to this idea in some way.
Playing with this concept, familiar places and dream apparitions turn into new visions, into places we’ve never actually been. The past connects with the present. At once unnatural and true.
CATALOG OF EXHIBITED WORKS
Take Me Elsewhere / Elsewhen (2022)
Conceptual art piece of brass, cardboard, acrylic and oil paint, approx. 1.5" in diameter each
Broken up across 49 medallions, this artwork will likely never be arranged this way again in one place and time. It will exist elsewhere and elsewhen with its collectors.
Elsewhere / Elsewhen (2017-2019)
Digital photo art series, 14”x17” prints
‘Dune Portal’
‘Path’
‘Starriver I’
‘Starriver II’
I first showed selections from my series ‘Elsewhere / Elsewhen’ at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017 and have continued to explore the relativity of time and space and how we carry places around with us through memory, thoughts, and dreams, and are often elsewhere and “elsewhen” than our physical body’s placement. Playing with this concept, familiar places and dream apparitions turn into new visions, into places we’ve never actually been. A flight between timezones extends the sunrise; a portal beckons “just beyond;” a desert-born dream appears in a contrasting place; a fragmented view renders an experienced place unfamiliar. Unnatural and true.
Ruined (2018 and 2022)
Collage of paper, ink, paint and marker, 16”x20”
I made ‘Ruined’ out of archival images of destruction from WWII while my mind drew together disconnected family history. It was the coincidence of birth that drafted my grandfathers into different armies.
Unidentified (2018-2022)
Mixed media collage of canvas, paper, acrylic paint, lace, charcoal pencil, 21”x25½“ framed
Clearing out our grandparents’ house following my grandfather’s death, I found an envelope of photos labeled “UNIDENTIFIED,” containing mostly wedding photos of presumed relatives that noone in living memory knew. What can be said about their lives? All I know is that once upon a time they got married. I am somehow related, possibly descended, and make art not wedding dresses out of lace.
Missing (2018)
Mixed media: lace, wood, string, threads
My “A Woman’s Work / Reap What We Sew” art series debuted at YouTooCanWoo Gallery in 2018 and is an evolving feminist statement that explores different aspects of womxn’s identities and experiences within art and the world at large. It follows in the tradition of feminist artists who incorporate arts and crafts into their artwork and insist it take an equal place among “high art” created by their male counterparts. Lace, embroidery, and decorative elements allude to a history of confinement to the domestic sphere and devaluation of female labor and art while also honoring the skills passed on through generations. Our identities are complex, multidimensional, contradictory; sometimes softened or hidden to not show our power; and sometimes we’re just hanging on by a thread. Why not also hang on gallery walls?
missing girl / no, woman
// missing / not lost
// last seen / yes
// missing / as in I miss her //
Do we disappear when we exit your gaze? No, we may be missing to you - and you may miss us - but we are not lost.
Cave of Good Secrets (2019)
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 14”x17”
This painting shares a name with the Savoir Adore song ‘The Cave of Good Secrets.’ What would you hide or find as you work up the courage to go inside?
Landscape I (2022)
Acrylic paint on canvas, 5’x3’
I like to dream myself to other places.
Walk Not In Mourning But Remember (2021-2022)
Acrylic, charcoal, oil paint and ink image transfers on canvas, 24”x36”
I dreamed of a funeral procession atop a giant elephant. We were lost in mourning. But what if we focus not on mourning but remembrance - elephants are associated with having great memories? What if we draw inspiration and courage from those who walked before us? Walking together, in formation, in parades, in protest, has such a history. From suffragettes to anti-colonialists, Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter activists.
If you can’t afford an original I’d be happy to make you a print.
LEA WÜLFERTH is a Brooklyn-based artist, exploring themes of freedom, identity, and truth(s) on a personal and socio-political level across different media.
Lea was born and raised in Germany by an American and a German parent. Her work is shaped by this duality and the idea of shifting perspectives.
Her poems and artwork have appeared in multiple publications, and her paintings and mixed media art have been exhibited at the A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, The Living Gallery and Pratt Institute, among other places.
As a partner at YouTooCanWoo, she works to cultivate a supportive environment for unique creative voices and build a community of artists.
She holds master’s degrees from the University of Oxford, England, and the Sorbonne in Paris, France.