“Living with Art” is a series that examines
the private collection of artists. Our innagural edition started with
artist Nicky Enright writing about his art “accumulation”(as he calls
it). We find that artists, being makers of art, have a special
appreciation for how experiencing art on a daily basis enriches their
life and work.
This month, we are lucky to have award-winning artist Elia Alba choose a few pieces from her collection to share her stories about special friendships, memories from important moments in her personal and artistic growth, and sources of inspiration.
Friends know award-winning artist Elia Alba has a wonderful contemporary art collection. As an artist, she has exhibited her multi-media conceptual artworks in prestigious museums in the U.S. and abroad. The culmination of Alba's current critically-acclaimed project, The Supper Club, is highly anticipated by the art world.
This month, we are lucky to have award-winning artist Elia Alba choose a few pieces from her collection to share her stories about special friendships, memories from important moments in her personal and artistic growth, and sources of inspiration.
Friends know award-winning artist Elia Alba has a wonderful contemporary art collection. As an artist, she has exhibited her multi-media conceptual artworks in prestigious museums in the U.S. and abroad. The culmination of Alba's current critically-acclaimed project, The Supper Club, is highly anticipated by the art world.
When I started off as an
artist, I was primarily working in abstraction, but my art slowly
evolved after the birth of my son into figurative work. The ‘body in
art’ has been the fundamental source of inspiration for my entire
practice of the last 15 years, and the work that I have in my collection
reflects this. Most of the works are by artist friends with whom I have
made exchanges or who gifted work to me,a very nice perk of being an
artist. From performance art to photography to drawing, my collection is
an exploration of black, brown and queer bodies in space. Here are some
highlights of my collection!
Rajikamal Kahlon, Pow Pow (from Cassell’s illustrated history of india) 2003, gouache on nineteen century book paper, 7” x 20” courtesy of the artist
Rajikamal Kahlon is
one of the first artists whose work I collected. I purchased a small
drawing from her during her time at the Whitney Independent
Study Program in 2001-2 (at a crazy discount!). We became friends soon
after and we have traded 3 times after that purchase. Most of Raj’s work
in my collection comes from her project Cassell’s Illustrated History of India.
The drawings and paintings are done on unbounded pages of the book of
the same name that she purchased from Sotheby’s for $400. The works, at
times humorous and at times grotesque, respond to and deconstruct the
book’s original intent. With her work she grapples with her relationship
to India’s history by creating charged and fragmented narratives to
address colonialism as well as the brown body.
Emily Roysdon, Untitled (David Wojnarowicz project), 2001-2007, silver gelatin print, 11” x 14”, courtesy of the artist
Another artist in my collection — and someone I met during our time at the Whitney ISP (2000-1) — is Emily Roysdon. Emily was barely out of the gate when she made this amazing photograph I have in my collection. Part of the series Untitled (David Wojnarowicz project),
Emily and her friends donned a hand-drawn mask of David Wojnarowicz and
photographed themselves throughout New York City. Clearly an homage to
Wojnarowicz’ 1978-9 series Arthur Rimbaud in New York, Emily’s project
was a source of inspiration for my own Larry Levan photographic series,which
likewise looks to and engages with Wojnarowicz’ series Emily
too juxtaposes a historical time — that of Wojnarowicz — with her
present to keep him engaged in a queer but feminist backdrop. I chose
what I thought was the most sexually-charged of all the images and, for
me, the most powerful.
Kevin Blythe Sampson, Africa Weeps, 2001, ball point pen ink, ledger cover, 8”x 14”, Courtesy of the artist
Kevin Blythe Sampson is obsessive to say the least!
The last time I was in his studio in 2001 the ceiling was strung with
chicken bones, all of which he had consumed. There were a lot of bones
which, by the way, he often uses in his sculptural practice. Kevin, an
exceptional self-taught artist and former police officer from Newark NJ,
tackles difficult issues that concern him and his community. On that
last visit, the walls were covered with dense, powerful, ballpoint pen
drawings he had been working on for over a month. If I
remember correctly, he said he does these when he can’t sleep! (Yowza,
that’s a lot of no sleep!!!) I was admiring the entire environment
when he handed me this amazing drawing he had done on the inside cover
of a ledger.
The title on the drawing is Africa Weeps, and
it depicts a very sad yet phallic African sculptural figure, surrounded
by a rain of tears or what could possibly be sperm. In the drawing is a
quote that says: “The motherland is turning to dust so where will our
souls rest now — AIDs!” It’s beautiful and sad at the same time!
Janelle & Lisa Iglesias in collaboration with Bodhild Iglesias, From the Nude Suits Series (Tasmania), 2010-ongoing, Digital c-print and custom hand knit and embroidered suits, 11”x15”, Courtesy of the artists
Janelle & Lisa Iglesias are
two sisters of Dominican / Norwegian descent from Queens! They are
artists with individual practices but also have a collaborative practice
called “Las Hermanas Iglesias.” As a gift to me for including them in
my current project, The Supper Club, the sisters gave me a beautiful photograph from their Nude Suit Series (Tasmania). Here
the sisters collaborated with their mother, Bodhild Iglesias, who
hand-knitted the custom suits complete with tan lines, to which the
sisters then embroidered the scars and tattoos to complete the suit.
This work holds a very special place in my heart as I too collaborated
with my mom on nude suits,
but they were photocopy transfers on fabric. I see this work as a kind
of ying to my yang. In the playful yet serious photograph, the sisters
sitting on top of a rocky coastline present an image that makes
us reimagine or rethink the nude in nature.
Clifford Owens, Tell Me What to Do With Myself, 2005, b&w prints, 5” x 7”, Courtesy of the artist
Lastly, another fellow Whitney ISP 2000-1 alum, performance artist Clifford Owens is
someone who has traded with me throughout the years. One
particular work that always stands out is a suite of photographs from a
performance he created for MoMA/PS1’s “Greater New York: 2005”
exhibition titled Tell Me What to Do with Myself.
A precursor to his seminal Anthology series he did 5 years later, this
performance entailed the audience instructing him what do as they were
either lying down on the floor looking at the performance through
a peephole or standing in a room viewing the performance through video
monitors. Clifford has considered this a complicated piece and for me
this makes sense. Here audience engagement was anonymous and, as a
witness to that performance, it was most alarming the way the group as
whole was reacting to the commands of others: there was a certain amount
of glee in causing Clifford pain. It made the performance very charged
and the artist very vulnerable. The images in the collection capture
Clifford in different stages of movement.
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