Sep
22
to Oct 12

Thursday, Sep 22: Nava Opening, artist talk at LABA Live performance!

fire feet, 2022

Wax, resin, pigment, epoxy clay, wood, yarn; 12 ¼ x 10.5 x 12 inch

Dear friends,

Please join me for an opening reception of my solo show: “Broken Vessels” and artist talk at The 14th Street Y on Thursday, Sep 22 at 7:30 PM. “Broken Vessels” is a series of paintings and sculptures created during my fellowship year at LABA NYC, diving into Jewish text about the theme: Broken.

The exhibition is a part of LABA LIVE event that will proceed right after my artist talk at the theatre, showcasing the work of Dan Friedman, with a comedic take on Hamlet, and a presentation by LABA NY Director Laura Beatrix Newmark in conversation with LABA Senior Scholar Ruby Namdar with art by Milo.

For more info and to buy tickets for the event: click here. Please use a discount code LABAFRIEND

After the opening night, the exhibition will be free and open to the public till mid October.

Looking forward to see you,

Nava

About LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture

A program of the 14Y, LABA uses classic Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art, dialogue and inquiry. One key aspect of LABA is the House of Study, a NYC-based artist fellowship program in which approximately 10 culture-makers—a mix of visual artists, writers, dancers, musicians, actors and others—are brought together to explore classic Jewish texts in a non-religious, open-minded setting. The fellows then use their study to inspire their creative work, which will be featured on the 14Y stage in a series of LABAlive events and performances.

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Nava Touching the Sacred at Reis Open Studios
May
14
12:00 PM12:00

Nava Touching the Sacred at Reis Open Studios

After 2 years of working behind closed doors and rediscovering sculpture, I will show my recent series Touching the sacred, which maps a process of awakening through multiple dimensions of connection. I am interested in the melting point, the heart opening point, that dissolve the line between the self and other. Through my art, I establish not only a bridge home to myself, but a sacred offering to others who also desire to open themselves to more connection, human and divine.

Please join me on Saturday, May 14, 12-5 PM, at Reis Studios, located 5 min walk from PS1, just 2 stops (on the E train) from the MOMA.

Reis Open Studios is a rare opportunity to visit many international & national diverse artists studios in New York and take a look inside, where it all happens with the artists present. More than 70 artists will open up their studio’s door for you.

My studio is located at: Reis Studios
43-01 22nd Street Long Island City, NY, 11101
Studio #325 on the 3rd Floor

Looking forward to see you!
Warmly,
Nava

To see more of my works: https://www.navagidanian.com

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LABA broken Fellowship
Dec
31
12:00 PM12:00

LABA broken Fellowship

Exciting news! I received a NY LABA Fellowship along 10 brilliant artist from varied fields! LABA is a Laboratory for Jewish Culture with hubs in New York City, the Bay Area, Berlin and Buenos Aires, which uses classic Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art, culture, conversation, and community. LABA Fellow are writers and artists, filmmakers and musicians working in varied fields of expression and this fellowship theme is BROKEN.

“We are broken vessels, and we live, according to Jewish mysticism, in a broken vessel. The chaos is never-ending, as is our longing to put the pieces back together”.

LABA will dive into the pain and pleasures of brokenness through our study of ancient Jewish texts, as we contemplate the ways in which brokenness is foundational to the Jewish tradition, and the ways in which brokenness plays out in our individual psychology and the world around us. Layered into this, we will also consider our dual-edged impulse to heal, which can just as easily lead us to a remedy as it can disillusion us–particularly in this age of self-optimization.

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Women in the Arts
Oct
11
to Nov 21

Women in the Arts

Latela Curatorial is thrilled to announce the second annual Women in the Arts exhibition and programming series, October 11-November 21. Launched digitally in Fall 2020 to uplift and center the work of 102 diverse women-identifying artists working in and around the nation’s capital, this year’s Women in the Arts will take place through multiple platforms including SIX exhibition satellite locations, a digital exhibition catalogue, and a full roster of events online and in-person.

A vibrant nexus for contemporary art, Women in the Arts is a curated 6-week program of intersectional placemaking, gap-filling, community-fostering exhibitions, receptions, artist-led programs, and dialogue.

Today, in the year 2021, women artists’ sales still make up only 2% of the global market. Despite highly visible efforts to counter the absence of women artists in international museum collections, very little action has been directed toward this jarring discrepancy in emerging to established women artists’ primary survival mechanism: the creative economy. Further, DC, Maryland, and Virginia artists are working in a deeply engaged local art world that is at the red-hot center of the United States’ political landscape, and yet their voices are largely dismissed by the international art community and press.

Latela Curatorial dedicates its platform now and always to promoting balance in the art market and to shifting the narrative around cultural value in Washington. Latela Curatorial staunchly supports trans women and affirms that ALL women and femmes are welcome and safe as participants and collaborators in the Women in the Arts container.

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Bodies We Inhabit: Contemporary Perspectives in Ecofeminism
Mar
25
to Apr 22

Bodies We Inhabit: Contemporary Perspectives in Ecofeminism

curated by Jessica duby with latela curatorial

To view/ purchase on ARTSY click here

For more info and rsvp public programs click here

Bodies We Inhabit is an exhibition of eleven intergenerational women artists’ works that are linked by updated, expanded understandings of ecofeminism. Given that many cultures are built around the dual subordination of women’s bodies and earth bodies, as well as the suppression of the feminine at the service of the masculine, ecofeminism addresses the social and political parallels between women, the feminine, and the earth.

This exhibition explores the relationship between human bodies and earth bodies—life-enabling bodies of land, water, flesh, and work, that women and others collectively occupy. The artists of Bodies We Inhabit approach the earth with equality consciousness and underscore the emotional and spiritual nourishment this offers.

They also ask important questions: How can we revise the ecofeminist movement to be one that is less rooted in the gender binary? How are we centering Black voices and healing within this movement? The exhibition forms a request to honor, hold in the light, and give back to all the bodies we are in relationship with. All paintings, sculptures, assemblages, and photographs are available for purchase on Artsy.

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The Jewish Museum of New Jersey
Mar
3
to May 5

The Jewish Museum of New Jersey

  • The Jewish Museum of New Jersey (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The core subject of my work is the nature of impermanence and its manifestation in our daily life. Coming from an Iranian family, moving from Israel, where life and death are a daily struggle; I knowthat life is precious. “Written in Skin” series is painted in layers of wax and oil, emulating a memory of the body and its fragility. Abstracted within the figure; I am stretching the limits between what is seen and what can be represented, confronting mortality and vulnerability. The goal of my work is to bring these tender moments to the front of the stage; from my personal view to a universal one and transform them into a meaningful experience, that embraces all shades of life.

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Featured in: RED – the New Edition of the art Magazine 44 Degrees
Aug
15
10:30 PM22:30

Featured in: RED – the New Edition of the art Magazine 44 Degrees

Nava Gidanian-Kagan is featured in Red – the New Edition of the Online art Magazine 44 Degrees

The 44 Degrees presents, an impressive body of work of contemporary art in various fields and dedicated to promoting Israeli artists. The magazine is also available in the archive information of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Museum Library and gets wide publicity in international forums and blogs. Promoted by the organization of the America Israel AICF.

This is a philanthropic project by the digital media artist, Tammy Mike Laufer. The link for the magazine site: http://www.44degrees.net

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