Dear #firstname#,

Imagination can be as powerful as physical practice, and today I'd like to invite you to explore the exquisite and imaginative work of two of our artists we will soon be showing at Art On Paper in New York, while I'd also like to remind you there's still time to apply for Call for Artists for Young Masters Autumn Exhibition with submissions closing 11 September 2022. Please find more information below and hit the apply button.

Cynthia Corbett Gallery is delighted to present a special curation at Art on Paper - Booth C03 running during New York art week, September 8-11, 2022 at Pier 36, New York City, coinciding with The Armory Show. Our showcase will feature top modern and contemporary imaginative works on paper by Deborah Azzopardi, Christina Benz, Klari Reis, Isabelle van Zeijl, Tuëma Pattie, Cristina Schek, Alastair Gordon, Matt Smith, Andy Burgess and Yuko Nishikawa who will present an exceptional installation in the central lounge.

I always marvel at work which is enormously complex and sophisticated, but which appears simple and effortless - and such is the case of the two female artists I will be introducing to you now. Brooklyn based artist Yuko Nishikawa whose intricate installation in the Art Fair's Central Lounge will be made of 100% repurposed waste paper, and London based fine-art photographer Cristina Schek, whose attention-grabbing images are inspired by Surrealism, literature and history.

Select VIP Preview
Thursday, September 8, 2022 — 5:00pm to 6:00pm
Exclusive Entry for Select VIPs

Opening Evening
Thursday, September 8, 2022 — 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Exclusive Entry for Fair Pass Holders & Select VIPs

Public Hours
Friday, September 9, 2022 — 11:00am to 7:00pm
Saturday, September 10, 2022 — 11:00am to 7:00pm
Sunday, September 11, 2022 — 11:00pm to 6:00pm

Location
Pier 36, Downtown Manhattan
299 South Street
New York, 10002

Focus on Yuko Nishikawa
Making Her Debut at Art On Paper, New York
8-11 September 2022

We are thrilled to present Memory Tourist, by Brooklyn based artist Yuko Nishikawa, a two-layered installation with contrasting groups of paper-pulp mobiles anchored by a linear passage. Memory Tourist combines part of Yuko's recent installations with new work, whose wire forms create line drawings in the air and connect colorful and airy repurposed paper “Cookies” which move in response to us when we walk by them and stir the air. To make these Cookies, the artist collects used photo-background paper from artists and photographers in her Brooklyn studio building. She breaks it down to pulp, and formulates it with bookbinders' glue into an air-dry clay. The rich colors come directly from the colors of the donated paper; there are no added paints or pigments. Yuko mixes pulps the way she would mix paints to make additional colors and effects, by blending blue pulp and red pulp to make a purple clay, for example. Mushy pulps make homogeneous colors, while crumbly pulps have a stippled effect. Finely blended pulps form a smoother surface like macaroons while coarser pulps become bumpier like oatmeal cookies.

Yuko Nishikawa creates fantastical environments with colorful, textural lively forms using a hands-on, exploratory approach to make paintings, lighting, mobiles and sculptures in a variety of mediums including clay, wire, fabrics, as well as repurposed materials such as recycled paper and used eyewear lenses. Her work reflects her accumulative experiences in architecture, restoration, interior and furniture design, crafts and engineering. Growing up in a small seaside town just south of Tokyo, Japan, she received her B.F.A. in Interior Design from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology in 2002.

Her work has evolved and expanded beyond her earlier ceramic sculptures. Highlights include a project during quarantine where she painted one painting per day for one hundred days, window displays with mobiles and paintings for French fashion brand Sandro’s 52 world-wide stores, ceramic lighting and sculpture installation Sporarium at Friends Artspace in Arlington, VA, vessel and plant exhibition Obscure Plant Club at Tula House in Brooklyn, NY, and the immersive mobile installation Memory Functions in one of The Brooklyn Home Company’s eco-friendly condominiums in Brooklyn.

She currently works in her studio in the industrial area in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, which she built out with friends utilizing demolished materials found in the building. She named this space Forest: a place where things grow and things decay to nourish new lives, and where people wonder and discover something new. In this space, for four years, she hosted the monthly Salon at Forest, a gathering and conversation of creative minds, which has been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic.

Yuko comments on her relationship to the medium of paper:

"Over the last year I made mobiles for specific times and places, first for Cape Cod in May, then next for Vermont in November, this Spring for different neighborhoods in my hometown Brooklyn, and then this Summer for San Francisco. Through my traveling for these installations I began to think of the memory of the material - the paper. It retains the colors and the fibers it originally had in these mobiles, whose elements interact with one another as they swing, recreate relationships, and then part ways, like those who visit a place for pleasure." Yuko Nishikawa

Focus on Cristina Schek
Making Her Debut at Art On Paper, New York
8-11 September 2022

Cristina Schek is the ‘photo-sensitive’ kind. She thinks in pictures; her imagination is always in focus. A Transylvanian living in London, she creates conceptual portraits exploring identity and the nature of representation. She usually works as her own model and has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are often whimsical and a touch romantic, employing amusing and impactful visual puns.

Away from the worn-out, out-of-date academic portrait of the female muse, Cristina Schek’s attention-grabbing images are inspired by literature and history. As a woman, though the lens of her eye, she created a new, unique, visual language influencing and motivating us to be as progressive and visionary as we are. To be assertive, bold, self-assured powerful, and confident. To develop and enlarge our value(s). To think, feminist weight solid enough, in images not just of her, but of you and me, in Schek’s sumptuous, surrealistic, delightful imaginings.

Cristina comments on her relationship to the medium of paper:

"When I'm looking for fine art paper with a crisp, clean, and beautifully tactile feel to it, one of my first thoughts is to turn to German paper-maker Hahnemühle, who has been making paper since 1584. Yes, you read that date correctly; Germany's oldest paper maker has been making paper since the late 16th century.

The paper I’m using is acid-free and meets the highest archival standards. This is serious paper with strict quality control standards, made according to old recipes from the finest cotton fibres and pure spring water. It is bright and vibrant, yet produces very deep blacks. The subtle texture on the surface gives it an additional appearance of sharpness and depth. It is also highly resistant to ageing. It’s no joke when I say that my printed work will outlive me.

As works on paper do not benefit from vitamin D, to prevent sun damage I am always using Museum Glass which is specifically coated to shield from harmful ultraviolet rays. It is designed to be amazingly clear, eliminate reflections, as well as protective for my art long term.

I will close by saying this; even though the value is in the making of the work, I cry when I see it printed, when my imagination takes physical shape. I feel a value and a pride that I cannot fully explain. And it is everything to me. Printing my work on paper fills me with joy and makes me feel connected to my work. The feeling is 'I made this' and it will be cherished for generations." Cristina Schek

IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
YOUNG MASTERS AUTUMN EXHIBITION: OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS. DEADLINE 11 SEPTEMBER 2022, 6pm BST

Our not-for-profit initiative Young Masters Art Prize returns with an Open Call for artists to be part of the Young Masters Autumn Exhibition at The Exhibitionist Hotel in Central London, opening this October.

Alongside established alumni from previous Young Masters Art Prize editions, artists from anywhere in the world are invited to submit work created since January 2020 to the Open Call. The Exhibition will focus on new work that responds to the Young Masters theme of celebrating innovation and skill in response to the art of the past.

The Young Masters Art Prize is a not-for-profit international curatorial platform and art initiative, founded in 2009 by gallerist Cynthia Valianti Corbett, owner of  Cynthia Corbett Gallery. This unique initiative aims to highlight emerging artists of any gender, age, or nationality, working in any media. Young Masters celebrates artistic skill and innovation, with awareness of the Old Masters and art of the past. We strive to offer talented artists global visibility and support.

The exhibition will be hosted in two parts, from 10 October 2022, with a private view on 11 October. The exhibition will run until 8 December 2022.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY SUMMER EXHIBITION

Cynthia Corbett Gallery Summer Exhibition continues online and by appointment. Please click here to view the full curation and if you would like to schedule a viewing, email us at andrea@thecynthiacorbettgallery.com.

CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY PROGRAMME

UK
July - September 2022 - Summer Exhibition (by appointment)
29 September – 2 October 2022 – British Art Fair, London
10 October – 8 December 2022 – Young Masters Autumn Exhibition, The Exhibitionist Hotel, London

US
8-11 September 2022 – Art on Paper, New York
29 November – 4 December – Art Miami, Miami

Please email us at andrea@thecynthiacorbettgallery.com, if you would like to know more about our plans and for sales enquiries.

For questions, acquisitions or any other enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us.