NEW YORK, NY.- Hollis Taggart announced the representation of artists Suchitra Mattai and Alexandros Vasmoulakis, who join the gallerys growing contemporary program. Both artists were featured in group exhibitions at Hollis Taggart in 2020. Mattai was included in the two-person exhibition History Reclaimed in March as well as the summer group presentation Look Again, while Vasmoulakiss work was shown in the exhibitions Perceived Realities in June and Remix in the fall. The gallery is currently scheduling solo shows for both artists for after 2021. It will share representation of Mattai with the Denver-based gallery K Contemporary and grayDUCK Gallery in Austin. Hollis Taggart will represent the Athens and Windsor-based Vasmoulakis in the United States.
Suchitra Mattai was born in Guyana, South America, but has also lived in Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, New York City, Minneapolis, Udaipur, India, and Denver, where she is currently based. These varied natural and cultural environments, along with her personal and familial histories, have greatly influenced her work and research. In particular, her practice explores and questions dominant narratives around colonialism, the development of culture, and the experiences of diverse peoples. Through painting, fiber, drawing, collage, installation, video, and sculpture, she weaves new stories of the other, invoking fractured landscapes and reclaiming the forgotten, appropriated, and little-known.
Mattai has exhibited widely across the United States and been included in international presentations. Her work was featured in State of the Art 2020 at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary. In 2019, she was commissioned to create a large-scale multi-media installation for the Sharjah Biennial. She has been featured as part of the Denver Art Museum/Biennial of the Americas in Denver and in exhibitions at Pen and Brush in New York, Lancaster Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California, and Flowers Gallery in London. She is among the featured artists in No Ocean Between Us, which will open at the San Antonio Museum of Art in February 2021. Her work is also held in the collections of the Denver Art Museum and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Mattai received an MFA in Painting and Drawing and an MA in South Asian art, both from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Within his practice, Alexandros Vasmoulakis embraces and blends a spectrum of techniques and modes, including painting, wallpapering, collage, and installation. Inspired by Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, graffiti and street art, as well as the visual language of cartoons, Vasmoulakis draws on these different movements and genres to produce dynamic hybrids that draw and compel the eye. He takes a spontaneous approach, drawing and painting directly on his surfaces and avoiding any advance preparation. This results in a complex layering and erasure that produces dizzying and enigmatic effects.
Vasmoulakiss recent solo exhibitions include the Afterparty at Eins Gallery in Limassol, Cyprus (2020), Mind Mischief (2017) and The Eaters and The Eaten (2016) at The Breeder Gallery in Athens, My eyes are seeing you at Art Expertise in Athens (2014), and Figures at Le Basse Projects in Los Angeles (2013). His work has also been included in a wide range of group exhibitions, including at Fondation Cartier (Paris), Antikenmuseum (Basel), Benaki Museum (Athens), and Bozar (Brussels), among others. He lives and works between Athens and Kythnos, Greece, as well as Windsor, United Kingdom.
We are excited to kick-off 2021 with news that Suchitra and Alexandros are joining the gallery. We worked extensively with both artists last year to great success and look forward to supporting and bringing further visibility to their dynamic and distinct practices, which engage with both interesting formal and critical conceptual dialogues, said Hollis Taggart. As we head into 2021, we are continuing to put our time into expanding our contemporary program as well as revealing the work of artists from across the Post-War era who deserve additional study.