HARVEST:
A Convening of
Materiality & Form
Presented by Sidel & McElwreath
Image credit: Caris Reid, Night Lovers. 20″x24″, Acrylic on Wood, 2019
Sidel & McElwreath is honored to present their inaugural exhibition, HARVEST: A Convening of Materiality & Form, a showcase that marks the first public program undertaken by the female-founded contemporary art advisory practice in its commitment to support living artists.
This exhibition uses as its foundation the symbolic concept of harvest. The curatorial focus is placed both on the literal convening of a broad range of media, mediums, and concepts, as well as the constellation of complex personal biographies represented by the work of six living artists. Organic materials and natural iconography lend a visual cohesion and emphasize the artists’ interest in both human and natural ecology.
Abundant in texture and iconography, the works can be understood as a cornucopia of artistic methodologies and subjectivities, queered ideologies, and ultimately a democratic treatment of the artistic landscape of the present day. The title speaks to the process of bringing together disparate artists and artistic practices in community with one another, compounded with the spirit of conviviality and the gathering of a harvest.
The exhibition conjuncts the public announcement of Sidel & McElwreath’s new approach to advisory. As a digital-first resource that thoughtfully introduces collectors to a community of living artists, Sidel & McElwreath are the liaison between the artists and their audience. Building on the combined experience of Emily McElwreath—independent curator, arts educator, and formerly the Director of Education & Communications at The Brant Foundation—and Evan Pepper—whose professional expertise fuses art and culture at large with professional experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Public Art Fund, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren—the company is uniquely positioned to invigorate the advisory market with a new approach to arts patronage. The company’s mission is to promote the work of living artists through interdisciplinary collaboration, institutional partnerships, and most importantly, acquisitions.
The exhibition proudly presents works by Todd Bienvenu, Jennifer Caviola, Max Colby, Rachel Garrard, Jeila Gueramian, Fumihiro Matsuzaki, Caris Reid, and Mark Tribe.
About the Artists
Emerging first from Todd Bienvenu’s dense figurative paintings are the power and energy of his strong colors and their spontaneous movement. His paintings are resplendent, expressive and uninhibited. He depicts sex, tattooed rockers, beaches, alcohol, urban scenes and parties—Bienvenu’s autobiographical universe. He says that his subjects are the ones he knows (that he is living, has lived, has pulled from the web), what he finds interesting in daily life—whatever passes through his head. Bienvenu is represented by Almine Rech in London and has exhibited in solo presentations with Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris; Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Turin; Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY; and Yours Mine & Ours Gallery, NY. He has also exhibited in numerous international group exhibitions. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
For more about Todd, visit him online at https://www.toddbienvenu.com/ or follow him on Instagram.
Jennifer Caviola received her BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY in 2002 and her MFA from Parsons in Manhattan NY in 2007. She has had solo shows in New York City, Brooklyn, and California and has participated in group shows throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East. She has been featured in publications such as Vogue, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Complex Magazine, Papermag, Juxtapoz and High Fructose.
For more about Jennifer, visit her online at https://www.jennifercaviola.com/ or follow her on Instagram.
Through lush, detailed work in embroidery and textiles, Max Colby reframes traditional notions of domesticity, power, and gender through a queer and non-binary lens. Colby has exhibited internationally including Jane Lombard Gallery, Wave Hill, and Museum Rijswijk. Colby’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Gay City News, and The Evergreen Review, among others. They were recently an artist in residence at The Wassaic Project, MASS MoCA and a Leslie-Lohman Museum Queer Artists’ Fellow. Born in West Palm Beach, Colby received their BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University. They live and work in Brooklyn.
For more about Max, visit them online at https://www.maxcolby.com/ or follow them on Instagram.
Rachel Garrard was born in 1984 in Devon, England, and currently lives and works in New York. While completing her graduate studies at Central Saint Martins in 2009, she gained recognition for performance-based refracted-video works such as Circuition (2009), and Seven Transmutations (2010). Garrard was awarded artist residencies at the Atacama Telescope Farm in Chile in 2011, the Center for the Holographic Arts at Ohio State University in 2012 and the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in 2018. Her recent work, which has grown to encompass video, performance, drawing, sculpture and painting, has been exhibited in curated group exhibitions in New York at venues such as Pioneer Works, Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, the National Academy Museum, Marc Straus Gallery, Jack Hanley Gallery, Sudaram Tagore Gallery, Tanja Grunert Gallery and Shoshona Wayne Gallery in Los Angeles. Garrard’s work has also been exhibited internationally at the Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne, France, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Yota Space Digital Arts Festival, St Petersburg, AmbikaP3, London, Shizaru Gallery, London and Kraftwerk Rummelsburg, Berlin. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions in both New York and Miami.
For more about Rachel, visit her online at https://www.rachelgarrard.com or follow her on Instagram.
Jeila Gueramian studied sculptural ceramics at Otis-Parsons School of Design until 1991. After college, she worked in the film industry focusing on costume design and art departments. Later she moved into making custom props, especially plush sculptures, puppets and fantastical costumes. In 2011, Gueramian refocused on her fine art with a six-month residency at The Wassaic Project, culminating in a large-scale installation. She has since done major installations at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Governors Island, New York, NY; and Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. Gueramian currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
For more about Jeila, visit her online at http://www.jeila.com/ or follow her on Instagram.
Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Fumihiro Matsuzaki moved to New York City in 1995 at age 24. Prior to his move, Matsuzaki was featured in the 1995 Gunma Biennial art show at the Gunma Museum of Modern Art (Gunma, Japan). Once in the states and equipped with a formal education from the Art Students League, Matsuzaki began working for Matthew Barney, assisting in the making of Cremaster 2 and Cremaster 5. His first appearance in an American group show occurred at The New World Art Center in 1997. A year later, Matsuzaki’s works were shown in his inaugural solo exhibition at the New York Public Library. Between 1995 and 2018 his works were included in 21 exhibitions.
For more about Fumihiro, visit him online at https://www.m718.com/ or follow him on Instagram.
Caris Reid’s work deploys symbolism, symmetry and repetition to explore femininity throughout history. The figures directly meet the eye of the viewer and impress with the strength of their pose. These female archetypes are covered with iconography such as triangles, flowers, eyes, peace signs, yin yangs, birds. Reid extensively researches symbols from ancient history through the contemporary emoticon and is inspired by psychology and hypnosis. Reid has shown her paintings in solo exhibitions at Denny Dimin Gallery in New York and Ochi Projects in Los Angeles; in group exhibitions including Sargents Daughters New York, Longhouse Projects New York, O-O Los Angeles, SEASON Seattle, among others. In 2016 she completed a 40 foot mural in downtown Los Angeles titled Grace and Grit. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Observer, Vogue Japan, Vogue Mexico, W Magazine, Architectural Digest, Forbes Magazine, LALA magazine and The New York Times among others
For more about Caris, visit her online at http://www.carisreid.com/ or follow her on Instagram.
Hiba Schahbaz was born in Karachi, Pakistan and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She works primarily with paper, black tea, and water-based pigments. She depicts women’s bodies while referencing self-portraiture, creating a space for herself and other women to tell their stories and reclaim their histories. Schahbaz has participated in numerous group exhibitions; including shows at NiU Museum of Art, The Untitled Space, and Center for Book Arts; and at art fairs such as Pulse Art Fair, Art.Fair Cologne, and Vienna Fair. Her work has been written about in Vice, Hyperallergic, The Huffington Post, Coveteur, Vogue, NY Magazine, Art Critical, and others.
For more about Hiba, visit her online at http://www.hibaschahbaz.com/ or follow her on Instagram.
Mark Tribe is an artist whose recent work explores the relationship between landscape and technology. His drawings, photographs, installations, videos and performances are exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Momenta Art in New York; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston, Australia; and DiverseWorks in Houston. His work has also been shown at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; the Menil Collection in Houston; Centre Pompidou in Paris; the National Center for Contemporary Arts in Moscow; MUAC in Mexico City; SITE Santa Fe; the San Diego Museum of Art; Museo de Antioquia in Medellín; Blanton Museum of Art in Austin; Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah; Montclair Museum of Art in New Jersey; the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts; the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore; Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York; and Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. He has received grants from Creative Capital, the New York Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, ArtsLink, the Experimental Television Center and the Puffin Foundation.
For more about Mark, visit him online at https://www.marktribe.net/ or follow him on Instagram.
About Sidel & McElwreath
Sidel & McElwreath is an art consultancy creating a community of art makers, thinkers, and collectors. They are a platform to educate the public by playing a unique role as the storyteller for living artists, as well as full-service advisors to their clients. They showcase a curated selection of artists’ work in their viewing rooms, in addition to exhibiting semi-annually in Manhattan. As artists and collectors develop alternative ways of experiencing art, Sidel & McElwreath will expand the traditional systems in which art is created, interpreted, and invested in, all while tailoring its services to fit individual client’s needs.
For more information on Sidel & McElwreath, please visit their website at www.sidelmcelwreath.com or follow them on Instagram.
In support of their mission to educate, a portion of the proceeds from each online and exhibition sale will help support Wassaic Project Artist Residency as part of Sidel & McElwreath’s Living Artist Fund. For more information on Wassaic Project, please visit their website at www.wassaicproject.org.
