On Instagram, you will always find us posting sneak peeks, studio shots, and the work of our Thinkspace family from around the world. Follow the accounts of those artists and you’ll get a sneak peak into their lives and creative process. To continue our series, Thinkspace Family on Instagram, here are the accounts of our current exhibiting artist, Amy Sol and KIKYZ1313, along with the work of other inspired whimsical detailed artists. The Instagram accounts below are in the following order; Amy Sol, Kelly Vivanco, Alison Sommers, KIKYZ1313, Ozabu.
The last day to view Amy Sol’s “Garden Gamine” and KIKYZ1313’s “Progeny of Chaos” is this Saturday, April 23rd. Catch up on the inspiration behind the exhibitions in our interview with Amy Sol and KIKYZ1313 and visit the gallery during our hours from noon to 6pm, today through Saturday.
Last weekend Amy Sol’s “Garden Gamine” and KIKYZ1313 “The Progeny of Chaos” opened to a great reception with a modest line forming before doors. KIKYZ1313 set the mood for her exhibition in the project room with pink walls and an ambient noise track looping throughout the night. A number of pieces from Amy Sol sold throughout the night with only a few pieces still available. Both exhibitions are on view through April 23rd, the details in both artists work must be seen in person.
View all the pieces from both exhibitions on our website.
All photos are courtesy of Bryan”Birdman”Mier and Sam Graham.
Thinkspace Gallery is proud to present artist KIKYZ1313’s debut solo exhibition with us, Progeny of Chaos. In anticipation of the show we have an exclusive interview with KIKYZ1313’s sharing with us her inspiration, fears, and creative process.
What was the inspiration behind this exhibition?
I am always inspired by the need to find certain explanation about human’s condition great contradictions such as the irrepressible violent and visceral urge against the limitless and vain pursue of modern man’s fulfillment in life.
I feel often unrelated and out of place from the usual way of modern life and I got frustrated most of time about the under-appreciation and misunderstanding of nature in man I see everyday. This is what makes me to be curious all the time to try to understand myself and consequently society, and leads me to observe and analyze human behavior, wether in the streets (when I manage to go out my tiny drawing world), personal experiences or through internet, with documental about disasters, wars, diseases, social issues etc. Those exceptional times where we show the duality of our existence: the iron beast and the crystal being.
‘The Progeny of Chaos’ is inspired by this feelings, very thin and spread in my head in the beginning, but after a drawing I entitled ‘The Disaster’s Heiress’ (which is a gloomy omen about Fukushima’s disasters) the idea become clear and I decided to make a series of chaotic drawings where will be shown the frailty and abhorrence of human nature.
What were you scared of as a child? What scares you as an adult?
Oh boy.. there where a lot of things I was scared of as a child specially during night time! I was terrifyed by the idea of dying by spontaneous combustion, I couldn’t sleep well for several months for fear to be possessed by the devil (after watching the exorcist), I was afraid to stare to the night sky because of UFO sighting, big-eyed aliens, to be awaken when everybody was sleep, to see the witches’ green fire orbs rolling down the hills at night (after a tale my grandpa told me), dolls and teddy bears, and I could go on like this.
Guess I was a very innocent child and everything I heard seemed so real and possible to me.
Today some of those fears have stayed with me, but some others have grown in me with the age. And I think that the most scary thing that would happen to me would be to loose the love of my life and my artwork be forgotten.
Walk us through what a day in the studio looks like?
The studio is next to the bedroom, so as soon as I wake up , about 9:00 in the morning I like to go and check whatever I did last day in case my eyes where too tired and see if I messed it up in someway, relieved or worried I take a breakfast and start working in the drawing till 13:00 hrs approximately to do some grocery shopping for the day’s meal and go back home to cook. I like to take a little 20 or 30 min of rest and then I continue where I left the drawing. Around 19:00 hrs I take another half hour of spare time, play with the cat, social media, e-mails, etc. and go back to the drawing table for another couple more hours and finish the day with a nice cup of tea and movies. I usually do between 8 to 9 hours drawing, but when I’m in a rush for something I can even spend 12 hours drawing a day, and still it is hard for me to keep up with most of the artist out there, but really hope the effort stands out from every drawing.
Aspects of your work are very light and inviting to the viewer, but the more detailed aspects of work are much darker; how did this balance develop in your work?
I think this is completely sub conscience, actually never thought about that before. I usually think very well everything before doing it, but with ‘The Progeny of Chaos’ the composition stage was a lot more organic and emotional, there are some key elements that leads the way into the meaning of each piece, but the other elements inside where picked solely by instinct and what I felt it would fit in that little new world. This series of work is a lot more emotional and true to my self.
What were you listening to while creating this new body of work?
I listened to a lot of black metal, and drone doom but most of the time I found myself emerged into Ulver’s new album ‘ATGCLVLSSCAP’ and ‘Teachings in silence’
These albums where a huge inspiration for me to create my first silly musical experiment created for the show.
What’s your processes for conceptualizing a piece as it seems like you’re an observational sponge?
Haha, you could say that. Everything I see, hear or read that impresses me somehow I like to keep it. So I have a big collection of random images, sounds, and quotes in my computer that later turns into a title or an image. Most of time, the general concept of an artworks comes after something that I feel I need to talk about, or something that needs to be known and understand.
I have always believed that art must carry a social argument, as is the duty of the artist to show the flaws of its society in order to acknowledge them and maybe find a solution to them.
Do different elements in your work hold symbolic meaning you’d like to elaborate on, for example the use of eyeballs in the center of flowers etc?
Definitely, it’s my goal to create a recognizable language trough symbols like that one. The symbolic meaning of the eye can be described as the indifferent but morbid curiosity of man towards the tragedy, the deformed and death.
If you hosted a dinner party, who would be on the guest list and what would be on the menu?
I’m a very wary and withdrawn person, so I would probably just invite a couple of close friends I feel comfortable with and make a barbecue in my house to talk about art, life and tell silly jokes.
What advice has shaped you as an artist? What advice would you share with a young artist who admires your work?
The only advice someone has told me it’s been from my mother. Who advised me when I was 17 years old to spend the rest of my life doing something that I would do for free, after this I decided that drawing was the answer to this.
On the other hand, I would advice all the artists to think about what do they have to say to the world with their art, and if this something it’s relevant enough to transcend in history?
The opening reception for KIKYZ1313 debut exhibition “Progeny of Chaos” is this Saturday, April 2nd. For more information on the exhibition please visit the Thinkspace Gallery website.
Thinkspace is pleased to present The Progeny of Chaos, a solo exhibition of work by KIKYZ1313 in the gallery’s project room. Laura Lucía Ferrer Zamudio was born in Querétaro, Mexico, and creates beautifully intricate ink, graphite, and watercolor works on paper. From beneath the initially alluring, and understated, first impression of the works, emerge unexpected oppositions and abject tensions. Studies in the afflicted wretchedness of humanity, her work is neither despondent nor obviously gory, but rather presents an aestheticized nightmare of sublime abhorrence; ambiguously gorgeous despite its agonizing discomfort.
With an obsessive attention to detail and figurative rendering, KIKYZ1313’s works are realistically executed and recall traditional techniques of late 19th-centurybook illustration and engraving. Her palettes are muted and tempered, understated with delicate washes of ink and watercolor, and her compositions are balanced and paced, posturing as romantic and idyllic scenes of placid children and animals. Seemingly innocent at first glance, the works gradually unfurl, revealing unexpected mutations, abject subversions, and a diseased world of horrors.
Filled with children’s bodies in various states of decay, decomposition and malformation, her works challenge the viewers’ initial expectations of the imagery, while tapping into the basic human fear of the body’s disobedience – especially the dread of its dissolute boundaries. The children remain dreamily calm and picturesque despite their compromised states of disfigurement, trauma and accost. KIKYZ1313 intentionally creates these tensions, encouraging the viewer to approach the content critically and analytically, questioning the validity of their initial impressions. A sort of moral chaos presents itself, when faced with images of children in unexpected states of disturbance. Exquisite and repulsive, the conflict of viewing is inexpressibly complex.
KIKYZ1313 received a BFA from the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, and had her first solo exhibition at the Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro. She has completed an artist residency at the Nordic Watercolor Museum in Skärhamn, Sweden.
Join us on Saturday, April 2nd from 6 – 9pm for the opening reception of “Progeny of Chaos” showing new works by KIKYZ1313. The exhibition will be on view through April 23rd.
