Show # 116
DENATURED
Curated by Jacob Rhodes & Kris Rac of Field Projects
@
Partners and Son
618 S 6th St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
Hours: Thur, Fri 12- 6 Sat, Sun 12- 5
Featuring Artists:
Eriko Hattori
Caitlin McCormack
Noelle Velez
Dates: May 20th - June 28th 2021
Field Projects is pleased to present Denatured, an exhibition at Partners and Son featuring Eriko Hattori, Caitlin McCormack, and Noelle Velez. Weaving together unique personal mythologies the artists in this exhibition wind fantasy around memoir. Hybrid creatures stroll, fly, and wind sensuously through each work, together reclaiming the monstrous as a space for the self and exploration. Monsters, demons, and fantasy are all engaged by these three artists whose works empathetically employ the monstrous to explore their relations with gender identity, queer life, family ties, mental illness, abuse and love. Denatured presents the taxonomy of creatures developed by Eriko Hattori, Caitlin McCormack, and Noelle Velez. Together these works display the benefits of identifying with hybridity: an expanded universe for the self.
Denatured: A Summoning is an experimental collaboration between the curators and artists of the exhibition. Pulling from the artist’s taxonomy of hybrid characters, Jacob Rhodes developed the plot and collaborated with Kris Rac to write the zine’s narrative, turning that over to Hattori, McCormack, and Velez. Ultimately, the project resulted in three distinct realizations of the same story, each taking on unexpected forms and displaying the mythical universe of their makers.
Eriko Hattori (they/them) is a Pittsburgh-based artist. Hattori uses imagery, symbolism, and folklore to investigate the tension between their queer identity and cultural heritage. With a rotating set of avatars, these icons act as anchors for conversations about perversion, desire, and the fetishism of bodies. Hattori's work has been shown in duo and group exhibitions across the country and has been featured in Art Maze Magazine, the GIFC World Tour, and online for Field Projects Gallery's Corona Care project. They're currently a resident artist at the Brew House Distillery program in Pittsburgh, PA.
Caitlin McCormack (b. 1988, Plainfield NJ) is a Philadelphia-based fiber artist, sculptor, and art educator. Her meticulously crocheted cotton thread sculptures are dredged in glues, paints and foraged pigments, after which they are hand-stitched and shaped into a variety of forms. She received a BFA from The University of the Arts in 2010 and has studied under master ceramicist Marguerita Hagan since 2019. McCormack has held teaching positions at Hussian College of Art and Design and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She was the recipient of a Joseph Robert Foundation grant in 2020. McCormack’s works have been displayed across the US and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at The Mütter Museum, The Taubman Museum of Art, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Museum Rijswijk, Rhodes Contemporary, Hashimoto Contemporary, The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and SPRING/BREAK Art Show in NYC. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Juxtapoz, Hyperallergic, Smithsonian, The Guardian, Fiber Art Now, and Bust Magazine. In addition, her sculptures were the subject of an interview with Jim Cotter for Articulate on PBS. She currently works out of the Bok Building in South Philadelphia.
Noelle Velez (b. 1996) is an artist based in New York City. She earned her BFA at SUNY Purchase in 2018. Noelle’s work explores a vivid personal mythology full of archetypal characters informed by both personal history and an eclectic blend of pop culture sourced from the internet and beyond. The lurid colors and contents of Velez’s subconscious appear in an approachable cartoon lexicon and deal with ideas related to acting as an intermediary—and interloper—between cultures, and the perceived poles of gendered self expression.
