Asad Faulwell
,
Roni Feldmanm
,
Ivan Limas
,
See Line Gallery is proud to present three talented emerging artists from Claremont University curated by Janet Levy, Asad Faulwell, Roni Feldman, and Ivan Limas, who explore the Us versus Them mentality as an increasingly gray area.
Our personal and cultural identity is as much defined by what we are, as by what we are not. This divide between the self and otherhood creates a myriad of political, ethnic and social tensions in American society. However, when borders of identity are challenged, a deeper understanding of ourselves can result.
By blending modern forms of painting and collage with Islamic design, Asad Faulwell blurs notions of nationality, religion, and cultural identity. Along with expressionistic paint strokes that whirl into Arabic script, Faulwell adheres to photographs of leftist, post-colonial Middle-Eastern leaders. These leaders were often loathed by Western governments, yet were esteemed in the Middle East as uniters. Through such juxtaposition of friction and unification, Faulwell subverts misconceptions about the Middle East.
Since 2006, Roni Feldman has been taking thousands of photographs of protests, which were montaged and repainted using airbrush. The works function sociologically with the subjects’ ideology literally displayed on their sleeves. However, the blurred, crystallographic repetition of figures and colors vibrates against the eye and immerses viewers in an ethereal experience.
Ivan Limas draws from his experience growing up in Compton. Through drawing, painting, video and sculpture, he engrosses viewers in confrontational cultural situations that are seemingly foreign, yet are eventually recognized as self-implicit. For Us versus Them, Limas created a large-scale drawing composed of two colliding galaxies swirling with opposing images and ideas. The nebulous image questions the borders of selfhood and culture.