Orkideh Torabi

b. 1979 in Tehran, IR

Lives and works in New York, US

Orkideh Torabi’s work features scenes in which men have gathered to socially interact with one another. The characters in her work are inspired by the people she encountered during her upbringing in Iran. Her paintings appear in a split-scene style that replicates the form of Persian miniature painting, which frequently positions views of interior and exterior spaces side by side. Orkideh Torabi’s colorful portraits appear almost cartoonish; however, their messages denote much weightier issues. By flipping the gender roles of subjects in art history—take, for example, Venus in Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting—she makes a strong statement about women’s roles in society. She intentionally features images of men emasculated through the lens of the female perspective.

Orkideh Torabi was born in Tehran, Iran. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016 and she received her MA and BFA from The University of Art in Tehran. Torabi’s solo shows include Richard Heller, Los Angeles, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, Horton Gallery, New York. She’s participated in museum shows and group shows such as the Atrium Project at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, Fredericks & Freiser, New York, and Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago among others. Her work is the collections of The Smart Museum in Chicago, Hall Art Foundation in Vermont, CC Foundation in Shanghai, The Progressive Art Collection, and The Microsoft Art Collection in Redmond, WA. Torabi lives and works in Chicago.

Jess Allen
b. 1966 in Dorset, UK
Lives and works in Cornwall, UK

Much of Jess Allen’s new work explores the theme of ‘Presence through Absence’. Subjects such as empty chairs and sofas, books left behind by an absent reader, and empty theatres and cinemas, suggesting the past presence of a person or people. Their human absence asking the question of who were they, and where are they now, and why have they gone?
Composing pared-back interior scenes featuring tableaus of silhouettes and shadow, the artist seeks to capture a moment in time without resorting to a conspicuous or distinct narrative. Natural light falls from above onto familiar domestic scenes, where closely cropped views of couches and stacks of books are overlaid with shadow figures – indeterminate and unnamed portraits that stand just out of view. Allen does not name these figures, instead hoping that the audience can impute their own experiences and desires on their indistinct forms. By using the interplay of light and shade, the artist elevates her subjects to an archetype or allegory, to be understood by her audience using their personal experiences. Her true subject then is not any one person, but time itself, defined by the angle of the sun and the tilt of the earth’s axis. It is defined by omission, the length and distortion of shadows defining a particular instant which the artist has carefully and attentively recorded using her striking, muted style. Allen’s paintings are quietly compelling, their composition making them feel intimate. By placing light and shade at the centre of her practice, and elevating the consideration of shadows to become the fundamental element of her works, Allen has beautifully personalised the universal experience of time.

Jess Allen is currently building an international reputation with works in Collections in the US, Japan, Europe, Switzerland, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, UAE, and Bahrain. She has shown work at Newlyn Art Gallery, the Mall Galleries in London, and at the Affordable Art Fair. Earlier this year she showed work in an exhibition in Sweden co curated by Brit Pruiksma of Mothflower, and the Magnus Karlsson Gallery. She had a solo exhibition at the Blue Shop Gallery, London, UK, 2022.