Dark backgrounds become expansive fields where sumptuous colors and dynamic forms emerge, evoking a sense of movement and transformation. Her approach turns painting into a site for linguistic and spatial exploration, where abstraction functions as a means of communication beyond traditional textual forms. Caroline Kent is represented by Patron Gallery In Chicago.
Tree of Life (2019), featured in Unearthly Delights at Frieze London, was part of an installation evoking a cosmic night garden as a post-apocalyptic site of regeneration. The large-scale work on paper depicts hybrid creatures— animal, human, and superheroine—situated in dystopian yet lush landscapes. The work explores nature’s remarkable ability to flourish in the wake of human destruction, offering a vision of transformation and renewal.
Cheryl Pope (b. 1980, Chicago, Illinois, lives and works in Chicago, Illinois)
Chris Soal (b. 1994, South Africa, lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Cheryl Pope is an interdisciplinary visual artist who explores identity and intimacy through the lenses of race, gender, class, history, power, and place. Her work emerges from the act and politics of listening, using keen observations of sitters and her own experiences to create intimate human scenes that examine the complexities of love. Pope’s portraits of women, such as Portrait of a Woman 3 (2021), employ fiber as a medium, connecting viewers on both personal and universal levels. The portrait’s soft surface, coupled with engaging juxtapositions of color and pattern, invites viewers to gradually explore the work and prompts deeper reflection on the subject. Pope is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago.
Chris Soal’s work explores themes of fate, transformation, and humanity’s complex relationship with nature. Using discarded materials, he constructs intricate, cascading forms that challenge perceptions of waste and beauty. By manipulating these materials—twisting, spinning, and layering them—Soal creates organic, almost biomorphic structures that underscore our dominant yet dependent relationship with the natural world. Destruction is a recurring motif in his practice. He employs techniques such as singeing, tearing, and cracking, pushing his materials to their limits to reflect the fragility of nature. In Moirai (2022), named after the Greek mythological Fates, he evokes a sense of destiny and inevitability, visually articulating the erosion of our connection to the environment and its uncertain future.
Chitra Ganesh (b. 1975, Brooklyn, New York, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York)
David Shrobe (b. 1974 New York, New York, lives and works in New York, New York)
Chitra Ganesh has developed an expansive body of work rooted in drawing and painting, which has evolved to include animation, wall drawings, collage, computer-generated imagery, video, and sculpture. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she challenges patriarchal norms and empowers female and queer subjects by constructing alternative visual narratives. Drawing from South Asian visual traditions and feminist and queer scholarship, her work reimagines collective power and resilience.
David Shrobe creates multi-layered portraits and assemblage paintings using everyday materials sourced from various locations, including his familial home in Harlem. By disassembling furniture and repurposing wood and fabric, he constructs dynamic surfaces for collage, painting, and drawing. His work challenges classical portraiture, exploring identity, history, and memory through unconventional materials and techniques.
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