ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

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Me, Myself, and Us brings together five artists who work with portraits and self-portraits to undertake a reflective introspection about their own identity, but that serves as a pretext to analyze what is happening at a collective level. Gombrich said that the artist is the rediscoverer of the things we see everyday. Through self-representation and the representation of the other, artists bring new perspectives and interpretations of the context they belong to, but also weigh collective emotions, experiences and moods. Exploring individual identity means inevitably exploring the relationship with the other. A process that reveals key information about the state of mind and the collective awareness of the present social environment. 

 

In the current context of vindication and defense of each individual's own identities, the artists of Me, Myself and Us share a common interest in the representation of the human body as a tool to challenge conventional norms, creating their own depictions of the self and alluding to the other in an open, tolerant and global way. The exhibition therefore connects with broader social and cultural issues and comments on topics such as adolescent insecurity, love and heartbreak, sexuality, independence and intimacy, or the various definitions of the masculine and the feminine. 

 

Dominika Kováčiková (Slovakia, 1996) alludes to the loss of innocence and unresolved traumas in the transition to adulthood from the perspective of a woman in a world ruled by men. In one of her works, the artist talks about how the desperation to get attention and affection can lead to neglect and self-harm until reaching self-destruction. “The only person who will never leave you is yourself,” the artist stipulates.

 

An idea that resonates with one of the works by Florine Imo (Austria, 1995) in which she represents herself driving a convertible car in the purest Malibu style, accompanied by a dog with a smile just as big as hers. Nobody bothers them, the freedom, fun and independence can be smelled, and together they enjoy the sunset and the hot air that crashes against their skins and fur. Florine's women don't care about what we think of them. Surrounded by lush and generous vegetation, they inhabit remote and jungle environments. As if they were wild animals, their tigress's manes wave openly. In the artist's words, they are "prepared to attack and prepared to love", evoking the complex duality that is so characteristic of human existence. 

 

The works of Joris Bochman (1985, The Netherlands) portray everyday moments with humor and irony, often starring anxious men, with tense expressions and ambiguous attitudes. The skin is an important element in his work and serves to underline the intensity of the instant represented. He portrays moments that could go unnoticed but that, on the contrary, show that magic appears when least expected.

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Valerie Savchits (Latvia, 1993) employs the use of close-ups to frame the compositions of her works. The impatient gestures of her self-portraits, inspired by moments of wait and frustrated expectations, joined to the challenging looks of her characters, create environments that seem extracted from the world of dreams, with scenarios of distorted perspectives as occurs in the darkest nightmares. The artist thus places us in a mysterious, sleepwalking, unknown territory, where words float and symbols abound. Using visual codes that draw on gothic aesthetics, comics and dark narratives, the artist exhibits her disagreement with the normalization of beauty demanded in society. Celebrating the uniqueness of each of us, dignifying it, Valerie Savchits once again resonates with what so many claim.

 

Kyvèli Zoi’s work (Athens, 1993) focuses on female intimacy from a mystical, sensitive and close point of view. By zooming in on the torsos of the women she represents, the question arises about the history that accompanies them, where do they come from and where they are heading with those outfits, what would the faces that the artist shamelessly hides from us would tell. 

 

When talking about themselves, artists also speak about all of us and act as witnesses to a given moment. Through their chosen representation of the current moment, the artists gathered in "Me, Myself and Us" conduct an intimate and revealing examination of broader global cultural, social, and political narratives.