I THINK I’M IN TROUBLE


JANUARY 18 2024 
FEBRUARY 18 2024

TASHI FAY
CHARLOTTE FOX
CECILE HIRSCHLER
ELLIE RAE HUNTER
LILA DE MAGALHAES
JULIEN PARANT-MARQUIS
SOPHIE STONE
SUZY SPENCE

OPENING RECEPTION


THURS JAN 18
6 - 8PM

SARA’S is delighted to present I Think I’m in Trouble, an exhibition that brings together a group of artists working in a particular vein of contemporary surrealism—one that speaks to this re-emergent style in a language tinged with femme-skewed eroticism and defiant, often humorous abjection.
 
Featuring paintings and objects that enter the uncanny; project the absence or distortion of the body; and feature portals that are in essence voids brimming with modern horror vacui, the works on view reflect a collective expres-sion of post traumatic dread and new forms of psychosexual nihilism—all wrought by an era thick with the promise of violence and that enduringly cruel aspirational optimism.

Ellie Rae Hunter (b.1989) is a visual artist based in New York. Hunter locates her work inside spaces where bodies are heavily scrutinized, exploring the ways in which societal expectations are absorbed by our bodies and impact our everyday lives and anxieties. She infuses institutional scaffoldings with fantastical scenarios to propose new realities. Hunter received her MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University where she was the recipient of the VCU Graduate Thesis Grant.  She has participated in residencies including Shandaken: Storm King (NY), Interstate Projects (NY),  Rupert (Lithuania), and Ox-Bow (MI), and has recently exhibited at Almanac Projects (Italy), Loggia (Austria), and Kunsthalle Bratislava (Slovakia).

artistic exploration delves into the dynamic interplay between abstraction and figuration, consistently unraveling these often polarized concepts. Cavernous shapes and intertwined tendrils mesh with abstract figures in alluring landscapes. A deliberate compositional structure becomes the subject matter of some of his work, by occupying the forefront of the picture –accentuating an atmosphere of uncanny familiarity. Parant-Marquis draws inspiration from an imaginary visual language. The enigmatic organic shapes within his work captivate the viewer in their elusiveness. In this self-referential realm, the components suggest surreal narrative structures and ominous scenes that seemingly always remain just out of grasp.

Tashi Fay (b. Los Angeles) is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Combining painting, collage and sculpture, Tashi constructs scenes meant to plunge the viewer into bizarre and dreamlike narratives. Tashi graduated in 2014 with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Charlotte Fox (b. 1994, New York) received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2016). She currently lives and works in New York. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Cecile Hirschler is an American-Peruvian artist based in New York City. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA Printmaking in 2016; and received her MFA in Studio Art from NYU Steinhardt in 2022.

Lila de Magalhaes (b.1986, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) lives and works in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA from the University of Southern California and a BA from Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK. Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Cupid of Chaos, Ghebaly Gallery, LA; A Soft Flea, Mutt. R, LA; Remote Control, Abode, LA; Exhibition (10), SPF15, San Diego; and Motorfruit, Blood Gallery, NY. She has appeared as well in numerous group exhibitions, including Porch Gallery, Ojai; Company Gallery, NY; Freedman Fitzpatrick, LA; François Ghebaly, LA; ltd los angeles, LA; Steve Turner, LA, PANE Project, Milan; Julius Caesar, Chicago; and 356 Mission, LA. Palace of Errors in 2019 was her first solo exhibition with Deli Gallery.

Julien Parant-Marquis (b. 1996, Montreal) is an artist based in Montreal, CA (Tiohtià:ke) working predominantly in painting and drawing. He holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts (painting and drawing, 2021) from Concordia University. Parant-Marquis’ practice also visits experimental photography and sculpture. He has exhibited work in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Ohio and Mexico City. Parant-Marquis’s

Suzy Spence (b. 1969, Maine) is an American artist based in New York City and Vermont. Recent gallery shows include Wave Pattern presented by Dylan Brant and Max Werner, New York City (2023), For the Roses, Arusha Gallery, Somerset, England (2023), Fading Landscape, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (2022), Like Racing Smoke, Sears Peyton Gallery, New York City (2022). Curated solo shows include Of Drags and Dandies NeueHouse, Madison Square New York (2018) by Ella Marder; Death Rider, Cathouse Proper, Brooklyn (2019) curated by David Dixon; and On the Hunt, The Current in Stowe Vermont (2019) curated by Amy Rahn.

Sophie Stone (b. 1987, Massachusetts) is a New York-based artist. She received a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. Recent group exhibitions include Saragossa at Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Looking Back: The 12th White Columns Annual, at White Columns, New York, NY; Family Show at Safe Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; By Our Own Hands at Camayuhs, Atlanta, GA; NADA House with Safe Gallery, Governor’s Island, NY, and Tissue at Company Gallery, New York, NY. Her work has been written about in Artforum, Frieze Magazine, Artsy, and Hyperallergic.