New York artist Saya Woolfalk, on her website, describes her art as:
work which considers the idea that symbolic and ideological systems can be activated and re-imagined through collaboration, imaginative play and masquerade. To effect this re-imagining objects, bodies, and landscapes are constructed to immerse us in the logic of another place.
Woolfalk’s works are vibrant in color, often appearing child-like at first glance. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is admittedly my favorite art museum because of its boundary-pushing, yet relevant, art.
In a few weeks, you will have the opportunity to form opinions on Woolfalk’s work when her Institute of Empathy opens at Real Art Ways.
Real Art Ways writes:
Using craft based installation, video, photography, drawing and live performance, artist Saya Woolfalk invites Real Art Ways visitors to re-imagine the world through her fictional creation, Institute of Empathy. The piece is an installment in Woolfalk’s ongoing creation of another universe in which boundaries between man-woman, plant-animal, machine-human are blurred.
There will be a free opening reception Saturday, October 23 from 6-8 PM. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood. Institute of Empathy will come alive with a dance performance from Scapegoat Garden’s Deborah Goffee at the opening reception and from University of Hartford dancers under the direction of Stephen Pier and Bonita Weisman during upcoming Creative Cocktail Hours.
Woolfalk has used conversations with Hartford area doctors, political activists, dancers and others as a springboard for Institute of Empathy‘s subject matter: a group of “Empathics” who seek to understand truth through reason and mysticism, and to change themselves and their world. By blending fact and fiction, Woolfalk constructs playful narratives that immerse us in the logic of another place, ultimately exploring how ideas evolve in our own culture.
Woolfalk says, “Culture is not static. It is an ever-emerging phenomenon and I try to mirror this process in this body of work.”
Institute of Empathy is running concurrently with Olu Oguibe, which evokes the natural and cultural history of New England through the installation of 40-foot long stone wall. Also at Real Art Ways, Cary Smith, best known for his geometric abstract paintings, shows a new body of work entitled We Are the Dollars and Cents. All three exhibitions open Saturday, October 23. The openings are part of Real Art Ways’ 35th Anniversary Kickoff Weekend.
Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford.