assume vivid astro focus always vacationing among flamingos
December 1, 2024 — January 25, 2025
Fredric Snitzer Gallery is pleased to present always vacationing among flamingos, a solo exhibition by assume vivid astro focus. This exhibition features eight vibrantly hued, effervescent new paintings by the artist collective. Created in a manner where the viewer becomes the centerpiece, these paintings envelop the senses with scale, a vast spectrum of color, and textures.
Founded in 2001, assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is an artist collective that can take on different formations and collaborators depending on the projects they are involved in. Past projects contain various media, including installation, paintings, tapestry, neon, video, wallpaper, sculpture, and performance. The collective's work often examines themes of gender, politics, and cultural codes through a kaleidoscope of bold shapes and colors. At the heart of avaf's projects lies the concept of inclusivity, where art becomes a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) that dissolves boundaries between the viewer, the space, and the artwork itself.
For this exhibition, paintings become the focal point, a part of avaf's practice that has spanned 10 years. In contrast with previous iterations of their work, even within their earlier presentations with the gallery, this exhibition starkly contrasts the abundantly sensorial, immersive installation experiences for one focused and isolated within the pictorial plane.
avaf explores the interplay between color as a universal language and its capacity to heal and energize. Drawing from the artist's uniquely produced palettes, a system that they have employed to produce over 1,400 color tones, the new works aim to create a tactile and emotional connection between the viewer and the work. These colors also mimic the luminosity of our daily interaction with digital screens or devices, which parallels how the artwork is conceived – digitally manifested and with the base of the composition pulled from previously produced motifs, a way of looking back to look forward.
What separates this newest series of paintings from previous iterations is the emergence of botanical motifs that introduce organic elements that evoke the lush vibrancy of subtropical environments, including the intricate structures of orchids. Plants have always been part of avaf's working and home environments, another element that the artist finds energizes a space, a parallel to their beliefs regarding color as a tool of energy or healing. These natural forms bring a new dimension to the collective's artistic language, blending the vitality of nature with their signature layered abstract shapes.
This sensorial experience is complimented by a push-pull of textural elements within each painting. These negotiations of dimensionality are made possible through the actions of building up and removing layers of the physical paper. The action of tearing away to reveal the underlayer of corrugation is coupled with various paint applications, contrasting between rough and smooth, flat and protruding. When looking at the works as a whole, there is an evident progression and an increased awareness of expanding outside the rectangular format's confines. Flatness expands to texture, which pushes into two-dimensionality that flirts outside the confines of the rectangle and ultimately results in one completely rounded artwork. What results feels otherworldly, an electrifyingly exuberant portal of flora and fauna.
About assume vivid astro focus
avaf has also been the subject of major exhibitions and public art projects around the world. These include: Bass Museum, Miami, USA (2024), MASP, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); Galería Malborough, Madrid, Spain (2024); Art Dubai, Dubai (2024); Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany (2024); Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Sesc Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); LAMB Gallery, London, UK (2022); Thailand Biennale, Korat, Thailand (2021); Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA (2021); Lanterna Mágica, São Paulo, Brasil (2021); MUBE (Museu Brasileiro de Escultura e Ecologia), São Paulo, Brasil (2020); CCCSP (Centro Cultural São Paulo), São Paulo, Brasil (2019); Storage by Hyundai Card, Seul, Coréia do Sul (2019); Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Dinamarca (2019); Fort Mason Center, São Francisco, EUA (2019); Kunstverein Harburger Banhoff, Hamburgo, Alemanha (2019); MATE, Lima, Peru (2017); The Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2014) e Miami (2017), EUA; Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Santa Bárbara, EUA (2016); Sammlung Goetz, Munique, Alemanha (2016); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, EUA (2015); The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Noruega (2009); São Paulo Bienal, São Paulo, Brasil (2008); Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, EUA (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tókio, Japão (2007); 1st Athens Biennale, Athenas, Grécia (2007); The Geffen Contemporary (MoCA), Los Angeles, EUA (2005); The Whitney Biennial, New York, EUA (2004); entre outros.
