False is Grace & Vain is Beauty
Rina AC Dweck,
ChaNorth Solo Show Awardee
Rina AC Dweck’s work is informed by her experience as a woman raised in a Middle Eastern, orthodox Jewish enclave. She imbues her work with juxtapositions that highlight the internal and evolutionary tug of war between her upbringing and present day perspective, emphasizing questions of identity. She is acutely interested in exploring the role of femininity in relation to societal pressures, and sees reclaiming assigned feminine descriptors, like grace and beauty, as an act of power. “False is Grace and Vain is Beauty…” is a portion of a sentence taken from the poetry of Proverbs 31. The verse from which it is derived, traditionally known as “The Woman of Valor” (Eishet Chayilאשת חיל), makes an attempt at describing a woman’s worth, and alludes to Judaism’s complicated history in relation to women. The text captures the sentiments of Dweck’s work as she examines her own relationship to Judaism and its ideas about the feminine.
Dweck uses materials meant to accentuate beauty, but to an excessive degree, piling them on her forms until they become heavy. Transforming objects associated with female adornment until they become grotesque points to the ugliness that underlies this idea. Her recent work focuses on hair as a foundational material. There is a conceptual summation attached to hair that is almost automatic in its relation to femininity, identity, and Judaism. As she intends to highlight the fragility of humanity, the artist believes the most effective way to relay her perspective is utilizing familiar material and space, and manipulating them into ephemeral forms. She takes possession over these elements and assigns them their meaning in the context of her visual language.
About The Artist
Rina AC Dweck is a sculpture artist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Dweck received the Paula Rhodes award upon her graduation from The School of Visual Arts MFA Fine Arts program in 2018. She earned her BS in Studio Art from New York University in 1998. She has exhibited work in numerous group exhibitions, including: Collar Works (Troy, NY); Wheaton Biennial (Norton, MA); 4Heads Governors Island Art Fair (NY); Paradice Palace (Brooklyn, NY); and Microscope Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Dweck has been an artist-in-residence at several institutions, including Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY (2019), Chanorth (Chashama) Pine Plains, NY (2018), and Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (2013, 2014, 2016). This is her first solo exhibition.
For more about Rina, visit her online at rinadweck.com or follow her on Instagram.
About the Curator
Peter Fulop is a multidisciplinary artist, curator and educator. Fulop’s work has been shown, and is included in many public collections, in museums and major galleries across the world.
For more about Peter, visit him online at www.peterfulop.com.
About Chashama North (ChaNorth)
ChaNorth, Chashama’s upstate residency program, offers space, time, and inspiration for 5-7 artists to work and live in the Hudson Valley for four weeks, providing artists networking, exhibition and teaching opportunities and at the same time promote interest, awareness and understanding of visual arts in a rural community through engagement with the artists.
ChaNorth residency offers its artists: a solo show award, a selected group show and a young artist fellowship award, and has a studio visit, education outreach, and community exchange program. ChaNorth is currently accepting applications in all creative fields, including but not limited to visual arts, choreography, writing, music composition, and performance.
For more about ChaNorth and to apply, visit online at www.chanorth.com and follow on Instagram.
