FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andy Johnson, Director
gallery102@gwu.edu
GOOD ENOUGH
FEBRUARY 15 - APRIL 5, 2019
Image Credit: Kevin Kwon, Rhe'a Roland, Joey Enriquez
I am, I feel, not good enough to be an artist” —Anne Truitt
WASHINGTON, DC - Good enough—a declaration of defeat—a statement of proud acceptance of oneself, ones work, the value of time and the passion put towards a particular goal. Perfectionism will always be a struggle. The standards set for oneself are often unattainable. Society upholds stereotypes and biases that prevent certain demographics from reaching any milestone—regardless of the effort put in.
Good Enough highlights the often unattainable feeling of being acknowledged, accepted, and loved — both for oneself and one's subjects. Where late nights and long days of their best work still seemed inadequate. Yet here, in this space, we have found ourselves—our voices—and finally have accepted that we are good enough.
This collection is inspired by resilience. Personal experiences of being torn down and disregarded then having to rebuild oneself. Having to deal with the consequences of other people's expectations—or lack thereof. Having to create a life in the midst of sexism, racism, and homophobia. Learning how to build upon rubble and make something powerful out of the very items meant to degrade you. is an updated draft of the statement.
**Please note this exhibition is not occurring in Gallery 102. The exhibition is located in the West Gallery at Flagg (500 17th Street, NW). To see a map of the first floor and to locate the West Gallery click here.**
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PROGRAMS & EVENTS
- Friday February 15, 2019 // West Gallery // Flagg Building // 500 17th Street, NW // 6:00-8:00 pm - Join the first-year MFA students for the opening reception of Good Enough. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public; all are welcome to attend. To RSVP, click here.
- Thursday March 21, 2019 // West Gallery // Flagg Building // 500 17th Street, NW // 5:00-7:00 pm - During GW's first ever Arts Walk, first-year MFA students will hold a brief artist talk as well as a site activation by MFA student Rhe'a Roland. The event is free and open to the public. To see a schedule of events for the Arts Walk, click here.
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ARTISTS
Caroline Casey is an artist from Albany, N.Y. currently working and studying in Washington D.C. With a BFA from Alfred University, Caroline has an interdisciplinary background in sculpture, painting, and glassblowing with a heavy focus on photography and video.
Joey Enriquez bounced around from studying Spanish to studying biology to studying design for a couple years and realized that pursuing art and design activated every channel he needed to pass through to study science, history, humanities, etc. He ensures that when he designs, he incorporates information that affects the greater good—that greater good being promoting equity, guaranteeing human rights for marginalized peoples, and exposing toxic power structures. He grew up in suburbia where his life was boring but calm. It was static though. He had lived in Southern California until he moved to D.C. in August 2018. Starting his life over provided challenges of meeting new people, fitting into the D.C. culture, and being a broke student. The truth is that he doesn’t fit in and that is okay—he is content. With his art and design, he forms a community for people who feel like him so that they don’t have to struggle or feel alone when they are struggling. By empowering others he empowers himself.
Kevin Kwon currently lives and works in DC. He mainly works in painting and mixed media collage. He has studied Graphic Design, Interior Design, and changed his major to painting when he fell in love with how painting can ease and express his love of art. His recent work experience as a Graphic Designer accented his work process from organic shaped patterns to contain more geographic shapes as if it was graphic design’s problem-solving process. During his career, he has been assisted renowned artists such as choreographer Ji-Eun Lee and artist Odili Odita. His artwork has been shown in national, regional, and international exhibitions. Additionally, his work was chosen as the main work for the MFA National Competition at the First Gallery in New York (juror: Lance Esplund Wall Street Journal’s Art Critic). In March his recent painting “Uproot” will be shown at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington D.C.
Rhe’a Roland has a background in film and theatrical costuming. She is currently the Resident Costume designer at Theatre Lab School for the Performing Arts. Her bachelor's degree is from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in Theatre Production Design. Roland’s work is inspired by questions. She likes examining how behavior and history interact with each other as well as drawing attention to the nonsensical behaviors humans maintain
YingYing Yang, as a photojournalist, has never thought of getting involved in art. Gradually during the process, she learns more about photography and she has realized images are so powerful yet people feel numb about them because there are so many powerful and direct images out in the world. This is why YingYing wants to start changing her direction to photography as art. She also wants to change the narrative of what to deliver to her audience. Art as photography has more potential in it to embrace the artist’s emotions and contains more depth and conceptuality than any other media. More specifically, YingYing wants to express herself in art photography. She hopes she can discover her area in the art world and find her own focus.
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Gallery 102
Gallery 102 and the Student Exhibitions Committee (SEC) is committed to the exhibiting of contemporary art, including work from GW & Corcoran students, DC-area artists, and nationally recognized artists of all medium. The SEC consists of GW & Corcoran students -- undergraduate and graduate, majors and non-majors, artists and art historians -- who both develop innovative, original, and thought-provoking exhibitions throughout GW's campus and invite a select group of guest curators to present exhibitions each semester. The gallery provides practical curatorial experience to the student body. Students have the opportunity to exhibit work, curate shows, and install exhibitions.
