Partial Shade and Co-Lab Projects present: Preludes Alicia Link and Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez May 11th - May 31st, 2019
Partial Shade and Co-Lab Projects are pleased to present Preludes, a multi-media installation by Alicia Link and Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez in response to A Platform.
In their installation Preludes, Alicia Link and Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez imagine a place where their mothers meet for the first time. Fixed to Partial Shade’s Platform two “upholstered” pillars support a swath of material that will feature video(s) during designated viewing times. The screen doubles as a sail alluding to past histories of both women. Surrounding the platform woven scraps of fabric sparkle, sprawl, soften, and contrast the inherent flux of the landscape. Objects in the space serve as props and prompts presenting a give and take with the audience acting as a witness to this exchange. In mimicking the actions of their mothers, Link and Ramirez attempt to carefully understand the complexities of motherhood while carving a space for those nuances to take form. Preludes acknowledges the profound impact the artists’ mothers have on their work and examines how one of the most fundamental relationships can grow or wither with time.
ALICIA LINK was born in New Jersey in a suburb of Philadelphia. She earned a BFA in Painting from Boston University in 2012 and an MFA in Studio Art from The University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Link has exhibited her work in Boston, Austin, and Brooklyn. She’s been the recipient of a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center and a Capacity Building Award from the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division. Her paintings and installations feature characters and narratives that invite empathy while serving as proxies for anxiety and personal desire. Link currently lives and works in Austin. www.alicia-link.com
STEPHANIE CONCEPCION RAMIREZ is a Salvadoran-American artist from Prince George’s County, Maryland. She received her BFA at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA and her MFA at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work is based on notions of memory, personal and historical amnesia that trace the veins of the Central American diaspora. In an attempt to reconcile with her personal and cultural histories and memories, she combines images, installations and text that validate truth, false memories, filtered history and fantasy. Ramirez currently works and lives in the Greater Houston area. www.stephaniecramirez.com
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A Platform is a series of events and art installations organized by Partial Shade and Co-Lab Projects, centered around a physical platform built in an empty lot in East Austin. A Platform will provide a literal and conceptual space for emerging artists to share work and experiences and will provide artists and visitors an opportunity to experiment with new modes of relating to each other and their surroundings.
The structure for A Platform takes the form of a ramp gradually rising to a flat platform 2ft off the ground; this incline makes the platform more accessible to viewers and acts to undermine the established hierarchical relationship between performer and audience. This blurring of boundaries by an unusual, structural site from which to make and view art will encourage all involved to renegotiate their relationship with the physical and social space they are navigating.
PARTIAL SHADE is a nomadic curatorial project focused on organizing visual art exhibitions in non-traditional spaces, with work that is responsive to, considerate of, and affected by its environment. Untethered to one specific piece of real estate, Partial Shade operates as a model for a sustainable, alternative exhibition platform, and offers artists the opportunity to experiment with work that wouldn’t otherwise fit comfortably in a conventional gallery space. Partial Shade is organized by Rachael Starbuck, Michael Muelhaupt, and Jesse Cline. www.partialshade.info
This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
