Bite the Hand
November 13 - December 18, 2020
St. Louis, MO — Monaco is pleased to present Bite the Hand, an exhibition of works by Ortega y Gasset Projects current Co-Directors including Zahar Vaks, Lauren Whearty, Tiffany Smith, Adam Liam Rose, Leeza Meksin, Eric Hibit, Clare Britt, Eleanna Anagnos and Will Hutnick, a former OyG Co-Director.
We work as a singular organization to manifest projects and support artists using a 21st century model, working together via video conference for the past 7.5 years, as we find ourselves scattered across North America with a wide variety of artistic approaches. Our diversity is what connects us and gives us strength as a group. The works in this exhibit represent a broad range of responses to 2020’s challenges, and its connections and parallels to artists’ more personal experiences. In a year of yearning for connection, of unsure outcomes, and intense isolation, we find ourselves working through different aspects of these challenges with a sense of directness and intention that is both intimate and universal.
The hand’s presence in each work expresses not only what is there, but also the weight of what is not. Leeza Meksin, Adam Liam Rose, Will Hutnick, Eleanna Anagnos and Lauren Whearty use various concepts of light and contrast as materials and images to hide and reveal. They point to a tension between what is present and missing from raw canvas vs thick paint, to a crowd vs the lack of a figure, to the residue or impression of what was once present, and voids of that which is not named or immediately evident.
The gesture is present in these works literally through the hands manipulation of a wide variety of mediums, including paper, paint, and fabric as well as documentation of physical gestures in photography and video works.. Eric Hibit’s economic ink gestures and Eleanna Anagnos’ paper works ooze with sensuous attention to material as well as economic efficacy. Zahar Vaks & Lauren Whearty use gestures of text in painting in different ways, as they document and meditate on memory and mark time and process. Gestures of physical and personal or familial care are evident in Tiffany Smith’s works while the observed gestures of others through the residue of actions or signage are evident in Clare Britt’s photographs.
It is exciting for us to have this rare opportunity to see our works in conversation with one another. This exhibition acknowledges and re-energizes the ways in which our individual practices and experiences enhance and reflect our contributions to Ortega y Gasset Projects as a whole.
For more questions about OyG Projects please contact us at oygprojects@gmail.com. For more information about the exhibition please email us at info@monacomonaco.us
BIOS
Eleanna Anagnos (She/her) (born Evanston, IL) is a Chicago-raised, New York City-based artist and curator. In her work she explores the relationship between our bodies in space, notions of being, and the concept of time. Eleanna has received awards from Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2020); The Rauschenberg Foundation Residency (2019); The 2018-2019 Grant Wood Fellow in Painting (2018/2019); Yaddo (2017); BAU Institute at the Camargo Foundation (2016); The Anderson Ranch (2011); The Atlantic Center for the Arts (2009); and The Joan Mitchell Foundation (2011, 2009). Recent exhibitions include: Good Naked, Brooklyn, NY (2020); Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Brooklyn, NY (2020); The BRIC Biennial in Brooklyn, NY (2019), NYC solo debut at High Noon Gallery (2019), CSPS in Cedar Rapids, IA (2019), Maharishi University in Fairfield, IA (2019). Her work has been featured in The New York Times (2017); Hyperallergic (2016, 2015); Maake Magazine (2019); and Artnet (2017), among others. Eleanna has been a Co-Director at Ortega y Gasset Projects since 2014. Her curatorial projects have been featured in The New York Times (2019); Art in America (2017); and the New York Observer (2015). She earned her MFA in Painting from the Tyler School of Art (2005) and a BA with honors and distinction from Kenyon College with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies (2002).
Lauren Whearty is a Philadelphia based painter, curator, and educator, she has been a Co-Director at Ortega y Gasset Projects since 2017. Her works have been exhibited at the Woodmere Museum of Art, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Vox Populi, and Bridgette Mayer Galleries in Philadelphia, Pa, One River School, The Painting Center and Ortega y Gasset Projects in Ny, Satellite Contemporary in Las Vegas, Nv, ROY G BIV and The Ohio State’s Urban Art Space in Columbus, Oh. Lauren received her MFA in painting from The Ohio State University. She received her BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She has attended Yale’s Summer School of Art through the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center residencies. Lauren was recently awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, and a residency with the Golden Foundation (2021). Lauren currently teaches at Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Temple University and at University of the Arts, in Philadelphia. www.laurenwhearty.com You can see her work on view at The Delaware Contemporary through January 2021 in the exhibition, “Farthest From the Ordinary”, curated by Rick Hidalgo.
Clare Britt: If Clare Britt were a map she would be printed on Chinese paper that was found in a bottle floating in the sea. If she were a meal she would be spicy fried chicken with all the fixins’. If she were a song she’d be a sad song about a happy clown sung by Roy Orbison. If she were a body of water she’d be an inlet swamp slowly meandering out to sea. If she were a story she’d be a tale of magic, desire, despair and intrigue. If she were a Sunday paper comic strip she would be about a dog named Biscuit that never behaves. If she were a bandit she would never stop until she got caught ‘er shot. Clare Britt (She/her) is a photographer living and making in Chicago, IL. Her work explores themes of how humanity leaves its mark on the natural environment. She is interested in the intersection of ecofeminism and anti racism. She founded the Nonprofit Arts Organization Fraction Workspace in Chicago, IL (2003-2007). She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Masters in Fine Arts (2008). She is a co-founder and Director of Ortega y Gasset Projects based in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her website at www.clarebritt.com and follow her on instagram @claremerica.
Adam Liam Rose (He/they) (b. 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, drawing, video and installation. Born in Jerusalem and raised mostly in the United States, his works investigate the aesthetic systems of power embedded within architecture. Rose draws inspiration from political realities in Israel / Palestine and the United States, often looking to structures of separation and control whose intentions either manifest outright, or slither beneath the surface. Rose has exhibited at museums and institutions including the Jewish Museum (New York, NY), the Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL), Marinaro Gallery (New York, NY), Mana Contemporary (Chicago, IL), Sullivan Galleries (Chicago, IL), Ortega Y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn, NY), and the Pfizer Building (New York, NY), to name a few. He was a fellow at the Bronx Museum of the Arts' AIM Program, the Art & Law Program in New York, and is a recipient of an Artis Contemporary Residency Grant. Rose was awarded artist residencies at Triangle Arts Association (Brooklyn, NY), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), Ox-Bow School of Art (Saugatuck, MI), A-Z West: Institute of Investigative Living (Joshua Tree, CA), the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT) and the Chicago Artists Coalition's HATCH Residency (Chicago, IL). He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ('12) and an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts (‘17). Rose joined as co-director at artist run gallery Ortega y Gasset Projects in 2019. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. You can find more of his work at: www.adamliamrose.com or on instagram @adamliamrose
Eric Hibit (born Rochester, NY) is a visual artist based in New York City. He attended the Corcoran College of Art + Design (BFA,1998) and Yale University School of Art (MFA, 2003). In New York, he has exhibited at Max Protetch Gallery, Anna Kustera Gallery, C24 Gallery, Zurcher Studio, Field Projects, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Underdonk Gallery, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Deanna Evans Projects, Morgan Lehman Gallery, NonFinito Gallery, and One River School of Art + Design. He has exhibited nationally at Adds Donna in Chicago, Curator’s Office in Washington, DC, Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, MA, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, Satellite Contemporary in Las Vegas, NV, The University of Vermont, Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA and internationally in France and Norway. His work has been covered by the Washington Post, The Village Voice, Hyperallergic, Newsweek, New York Times and New York Post. Hibit has taught studio art at Tyler School of Art, Hunter College, NYU, The Cooper Union, Suffolk County Community College and The 92nd Street Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association. Artist residencies include Terra Foundation in Giverny, France (2003), UNILEVER Residency in New York (2015), and Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts (2019) and Green Olives Arts in Tetouan, Morocco (2019). Publications include Dear Hollywood Writers, with poet Geoffrey Young (Suzy Solidor Editions, 2017) and Paintings and Fables with Wayne Koestenbaum, a limited edition artist’s book (2017). He is currently Co-Director of Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run gallery based in Brooklyn, where he has curated three group exhibitions since 2014.
Will Hutnick is an artist and curator based in Wassaic, NY. He received his M.F.A. from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) and his B.A. from Providence College (Providence, RI). Hutnick’s work has been exhibited most recently at Collar Works (Troy, NY), St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, NY, solo), Standard Space (Sharon, CT, solo), One River School (Hartsdale, NY, solo), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Brooklyn), LVL3 Gallery (Chicago, IL), Vox Populi (Philadelphia, PA), Paradice Palase (Brooklyn) and Pratt Institute. His work has been featured in New American Paintings and Maake Magazine, among others. Hutnick has curated numerous exhibitions at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Trestle Projects and Pratt Institute (New York and Brooklyn), among others. He has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, NY), Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences (Rabun Gap, GA), Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency by Collar Works (Granville, NY), DNA Gallery (Provincetown, MA), Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT) and a curator-in-residence at Benaco Arte (Sirmione, Italy) and Trestle Projects (Brooklyn). Hutnick is a 2017 Martha Boschen Porter Fund grant recipient from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation as well as a 2015 grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Art. From 2015 - 2020, Hutnick was one of the Co-Directors of Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run curatorial collective and exhibition space in Brooklyn. He is currently the Director of Artistic Programming at the Wassaic Project, a nonprofit organization that uses art and arts education to foster positive social change.
Leeza Meksin is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, installation, textiles, public art, and multiples. Her work investigates parallels between the conventions of painting, architecture, and the human body. She was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1989. Meksin received an MFA in Painting from Yale School of Art, a BFA from The Art Institute of Chicago and a Joint BA/MA in Humanities from The University of Chicago. Meksin has created site-specific installations for deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (2019–20); Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY (2018–19); National Academy of Design, New York City (2018); Columbia University Lenfest Center for the Arts, New York City (2017); Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT (2016); The Kitchen, New York City (2015); BRIC Media Arts, Brooklyn, NY (2015); Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (2014), and a National Endowment for the Arts funded project in New Haven, Connecticut, for Artspace (2012). In 2013 she co-founded Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run gallery and curatorial collective in Brooklyn, which she continues to co-direct with her OyG collaborators. In 2015 Meksin was a recipient of an emerging artist grant from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and in 2019 was awarded an artist residency at The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. Her work has been featured in Bomb Magazine, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Chicago Tribune, and The Village Voice, among other publications. In 2015 Meksin was appointed to the faculty in the Visual Arts at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Zahar Vaks, (b.1983, Tashkent, Uzbekistan) Is a visual artist based in New York, NY. He earned his BFA from Tyler School of Art, and his MFA from The Ohio State University. He has shown in New York, Philadelphia, Columbus, Las Vegas, Houston, Vienna, on the island of Svalbard in Norway, and most recently in Beijing , China. In 2018 Zahar was invited to participate in the Rauschenberg Residency. He attended the Galveston Artist Residency from 2012-2013. He will be participating in the Artists in Residence (AIR) University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2021. Since 2014 he has been a member of the Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG), an artist-run curatorial collective and exhibition space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
Tiffany Smith is an interdisciplinary artist from the Caribbean diaspora working in photography, video, installation, and design. Using plant matter, design elements, patterning and costuming as cultural signifiers, Smith creates photographic portraits, site responsive installations, user engaged experiences, and assemblages focused on identity, representation, cultural ambiguity, and displacement. Smith’s practice centers on what forms and defines communities of people of color, in particular; how they are identified and represented, and how they persist. Smith received her BFA from S.C.A.D., Savannah, GA and her MFA from SVA, NY. Her work has been exhibited internationally including shows at National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, The Bronx Museum, MassArt, The National Gallery of Jamaica; during Photoville, Photo NOLA, and Spring Break Art Show; and in solo exhibitions at The Wassaic Project, Recess Assembly, Brooklyn, NY, and Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA. Her work has been published in Womanly, Nueva Luz, Field Magazine, Bitch, Culture, and Posture Magazine. Tiffany Smith is a 2018 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work from The New York Foundation for the Arts, an EnFoco Photography Fellowship Awardee, a Cameron Visiting Artist at Middlebury College, VT, and a current Artist in Residence in The Bronx Museum Block Gallery Residency Program. Smith is currently based in Brooklyn, NY where she serves as Co-Director of Ortega y Gasset Projects and teaches at Pratt, Parsons, and ICP.