Turned On Like A Switch
Turned On Like A Switch
Cloud Tree Studios & Gallery, 3411 E. 5th St.
Opening Reception: Friday, May 31st, 7-10p
Fashion Show: Saturday June 1, 3-6p
Turned On Like A Switch is an exhibition and fashion show featuring the work of B. Anele, a Los Angeles based transdisciplinary artist. From vibrant sculptural garments to self-portraits utilizing consumable goods, Anele’s work always manages a playful yet unpredictable presence. Whether it is smiley faces or teardrops, Anele’s raw and experimental use of a familiar visual language to reframe the viewer’s understanding of the knowable places them on the cutting edge of artmaking. Anele constantly challenges notions of what fashion and sculpture can do within their work thereby making art that is both visually fascinating and viscerally exciting to witness. Anele states that their work “ journeys beyond the proposed societal limits, assembling an entirely refreshed perspective and provides new territories through experimentation in warping common imagery into tangible dream-like apparitions.” B. Anele questions the world surrounding them through their work and deconstructs the limitations placed on art and fashion.
This exhibition is curated by Jaelynn Walls, BA candidate in Art History and Plan II Honors at The University of Texas at Austin.
Sponsors include Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Big Swig, and The Roadie Atx.
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
ABOUT B. ANELE
B. Anele is a Los Angeles based transdisciplinary artist. From 15 foot long raw canvas jumpsuits to ironing leeks in a dimly lit room to 10 foot long hypnotic paintings, the focus of their work is to illuminate an ever expansive perspective on the realm of possibility. Delving deep into an imaginative topography, they transform familiar symbolism and commonplace objects into provocative prototypes. An organic nature encompasses the work in its entirety concerning materials/mediums and essence. Influences such as Nigerian roots, postmodern design, jazz, pop art, avant-garde film, and their own blackness and queerness exude to create a simultaneously substantial and considerately constructed universe. B. explores their own progressive narrative within each facet of their work in an ambitious effort to defy limitations of audience consciousness. B. Anele has exhibited work in group and solo shows in Texas, Los Angeles, Portland, and New York City.
ABOUT JAELYNN WALLS
Jaelynn Walls is a student and curator based in Houston and Austin. She is a second-year student at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing studies in Art History, Plan II Honors, and African and African Diaspora Studies. Walls is the creator and host of Art in Color, an educational web series exploring the identities and works of contemporary artists of color. Her curatorial practice revolves around varying notions of identity-based diaspora and border crossing in contemporary American art. She recently curated One for Us at Big Medium Galery and A Gathering in the Prints and Drawings Room of The Blanton Museum of Art. She currently serves as the 2018-2019 Plan II Honors Education Intern at The Blanton Museum of Art.