Join us for the closing reception for our current exhibitions, Diana Shpungin, Always Begin At The End (gallery one) and Farima Fooladi, A Moveable Feast (gallery two). The reception will take place on Saturday, February 19 during our open hours (12-6pm), the last weekend of the exhibitions. From 3-5PM, the artists will lead viewers on an intimate tour of their exhibitions, beginning with Farima Fooladi at 3PM and followed by Diana Shpungin at 4PM, who will conclude the tour by reading a poem that she wrote for her exhibition.
In conjunction with Diana Shpungin, Always Begin At The End, Smack Mellon is thrilled to announce the release of the exhibition’s catalog, which will be available for purchase during the closing reception. The 112-page, full color publication designed by Grant Carmichael features an introduction by Smack Mellon’s Curator & Director of Exhibitions Rachel Vera Steinberg, a brilliant essay by Darla Migan, and an interview between the artist and Gabriel de Guzman, Chief Curator at Wave Hill. Shpungin will be present at Smack Mellon during our open hours on Sat. 2/19 and Sun. 2/20 to sign copies for visitors.
Both exhibitions are on view January 15 – February 20, 2022.
Bios:
Farima Fooladi was born in Tehran, Iran in a transition period from monarchy to the Islamic Republic, and theocracy. She lives in the United States creating paintings in her Studio at the Box13 ArtSpace in Houston, Texas. She teaches studio art courses at Sam Houston State University. Fooladi completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing at Penn State University where she taught drawing and painting for three years before moving to Houston, TX. She is fascinated by the lasting impact of collective trauma caused by invasion, migration, and displacement. She mentions that her paintings are her circumstance.
In her current studio practice she is addressing displacement, delved into different historical and emotional layers of public spaces and memory. The transformation of civic spaces caused by social and political changes is of particular interest to her.
Diana Shpungin is a Brooklyn based, Latvian born American multi-disciplinary artist who has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in both national and international venues including: The Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY; Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ; Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Franconia Sculpture Park in Minneapolis, MN; Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic; Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Invisible Exports, New York, NY; Marc Straus Gallery, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; and The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT. Shpungin was awarded the 2019/20 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant and the 2017 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture. And has also been the recipient of awards, fellowships and residencies from The Foundation of Contemporary Art, The MacDowell Colony, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, CEC Artslink, Dieu Donne, Bronx Museum AIM Program, and Art Omi. Shpungin’s work has been reviewed in publications such as Artforum, Flash Art, New York Magazine, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Timeout London, Connaissance des Arts, Le Monde, and The Brooklyn Rail, among others. She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY and is currently an Assistant Professor at Parsons: The New School for Design in New York City.
Image: Diana Shpungin, installation view of Always Begin At The End, 2022. Site specific mixed-media installation of hand-applied graphite on objects, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photo: Etienne Frossard.