“I wanted to hold a space open…where tradition might speak alongside new visions; where cultural myths, personal icons and unexpected juxtapositions can coexist,” says gallerist Ryan Graff of an upcoming exhibition he has curated around the theme of symbolism. Featuring an international selection of artists, “the show offers a constellation of works that move between the sacred and the secular, the timeless and the right-now—each piece a doorway into a deeper symbolic language waiting to be re-learned.”
Soey Milk, Emerald Aenigma Obscura, oil on panel, 20 x 16"Among the featured artists is Rim Baudey, who will be showing an oil and graphite piece that brings together fragments suggestive of photographs. Now living in France, Baudey's The Fog that Holds my Yesterdays draws from her memories growing up in a small industrial city in Kazakhstan under challenging circumstances. It is part of what she calls her Shadow Garden series.
“Shadow Garden is an imaginary universe with fantastical subjects that I began creating in childhood as a way to cope with ‘uncomfortable’ feelings,” Baudey explains. “Today, it has evolved into a realm where I use symbols and metaphors to reflect on how we are shaped by the real anxieties of modern existence.”
Thierry Carrier, Untitled (Code 1947), oil on canvas 78¾ x 63"
Fog, spikes and shimmering lights are recurring motifs in her work, symbolizing “the boundaries between reality and fiction, and signal transformation through vulnerability, while also allowing me to maintain a sense of personal space,” she adds.
The Fog that Holds my Yesterdays, specifically, explores the accuracy of her recollections of her childhood combining hazy, abstracted backgrounds with realistic elements that resemble photographs, “This is a reference to the old-style paper photo albums still found at my parents’ home,” she says. “Due to the crisis, there were few opportunities to take pictures, so this painting is my way of capturing the uncertainties of that period.” An imaginary portrait that blends her profile with that of her sister, “it combines our features, yet at the same time, it forms a completely new person,” she explains. “[It’s] a symbol of the experiences and memories we share, as well as the different perspectives we hold. The portrait seeks to answer what is real and what is imagined, what exists and what is a product of memory.”
Larisa Brechun, Surrender, oil on panel, 24 x 18"
For French artist Thierry Carrier, symbolism is a way to address larger—and deeply troubling—social and political issues in a subtler, more suggestive manner. He explains, “There is so much to say about everything that’s been happening in recent months, whether it’s the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is on Europe’s doorstep; the war in Gaza, where emotions are mixed ; or the way Donald Trump seems to be playing with the global economy like a game of Monopoly… I prefer to offer keys to a narrative that doesn’t really exist.”
In Untitled (Code 1947),a massive 6-by-5-foot canvas, pointy paper airplanes resembling stealth bombers dart around a masked woman pulling on black gloves.
Rim Baudey, The Fog that Holds my Yesterday, oil and graphite on paper and canvas, 15¾ x 15¾"
“What I propose in my painting is absolutely not directed,” says Carrier, adding that initially the paper airplanes were added to balance the composition. “I could have painted circles or just added a few abstract brushstrokes. They become symbols, fueling the debate, because they become important for a narrative that is fueled by each person’s own cultural references or current events…Today, [one] can quickly [relate the] paper airplanes to war and its most misogynistic aspect. …From there, we can talk about misogyny and the violence that affects women.”
Other participating artists include Soey Milk, Denis Sarazhin, Joshua Flint, Kevin Foote, Daniel Blimes, João Ruas, Larisa Brechun, Nadine Tralala and Stephen Shirle.
Contemporary Symbolism opens with a reception on June 7 from 5 to 9 p.m. and will remain on view through July 18. —
Ryan Graff Contemporary 804 Sutter Street • San Francisco, CA 94109 • (415) 534-1450 www.ryangraffcontemporary.com
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