Virtual Artist Talk:
Friday, January 15, 2020 | 7 pm
www.facebook.com/targetgallery

Target Gallery is currently open Wednesdays – Sunday from 10am – 6pm, in an adjusted schedule in response to COVID-19. Please review visiting torpedofactory.org/visit to review safety precautions while visiting. Target Gallery is closed  on Thursday, December 24 , Friday, December 25, and January 1 in observation of the City holidays.*

Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibition space at Torpedo Factory Art Center, celebrates the work of the four artists  in the 2020 Post-Grad Residency Program: Ashley Llanes, Luis A. Navas- Reyes, Fanni Somogyi, and Vi Trinh. 2020 Post-Grad Residents will be on view Saturday, December 19, 2020, through Sunday, January 17, 2021. Target Gallery is in Studio 2 in the Art Center, located at 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, Va.

The Post-Grad Residency Program is a competitive, juried opportunity that provides meaningful support to emerging artists who have recently earned an accredited degree in the visual arts. Residents have three months of exclusive access to Studio 319 in the Art Center, wherein they create work, interact with the public, and connect with other arts professionals. It’s an opportunity for professional development and networking, and a chance to define a practice outside of an academic context.

The jurors for this opportunity were Nehemiah Dixon III, president and CEO of Nonstop Art, LLC and Stefanie Fedor, executive director for Visual Arts Center of Richmond.

Virtual Gallery Talk
Friday, January 15 ● 7 pm
facebook.com/targetgallery
Join a live conversation between the four 2020 residents and hear them talk about their work and their practice. Then meet the 2021 co-hort.

Target Gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Target Gallery has a limited visitor capacity to allow for social distancing. Those who wish to visit Torpedo Factory Art Center are asked to adhere to current Virginia Safer at Home guidelines, including maintaining a social distance with people from different households, wearing face coverings indoors, and frequent handwashing for 20 seconds or use of hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

About the Artists

Ashley Llanes (B.F.A., Corcoran School of Arts & Design at George Washington University) is currently exploring intergenerational trauma through found objects, family photos, and archived family records in her Isole Scisse (Separate Islands) series. It pulls references from her Caribbean/Latinx heritage as well as fragmented memories of childhood. Through this, Llanes touches on themes of collective healing, learning from her ancestors, fears and solutions for future generations, and addressing that investigation is a tool that benefits every human.

Luis A. Navas-Reyes (B.F.A., James Madison University) roots his work in his identity, culture, and environment, as well as the intersection between the familiar and historical. In this exhibition, he alludes to his ancestral past and his El Salvadorian family’s ties to the land through farming. Using natural materials embedded with seeds, he created tripod vessels that reference ancient Mayan and Aztec vessels. A multi-disciplinary artist, Navas-Reyes creates abstract prints, drawings, ceramics, and books that explore themes, narratives, and forms that build upon his unique visual vocabulary.

Fanni Somogyi (B.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art) is a multi-disciplinary artist in Baltimore, Md. She explores organic and inorganic networks, the effects of technology on memories, and how space and distance affect relationships. She is drawn to the foundry process, specifically lost-wax aluminum casting and metal fabrication. In this exhibition, she explores the relationship between humans and interconnected systems of nature. For example, Becoming Still is a steel sculpture with a basil plant growing out of the top and a video that plays nature sounds to reinforce that connection.

Vi Trinh (B.A., University of Richmond) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates digital and traditional media that examines relationships between ecological and social patterns. She bases much of her work on the internet, which she sees as an illusionary space. In this exhibition, Trinh presents The Station, an interactive net art piece set in a dystopian future where the earth is destroyed and the remains of humanity live on a space station. The powers-that-be create projection rooms, inspiring nostalgia through historical art references and natural forms from earth. It is a way to control society’s narratives. She confronts ideas of colonialism and white supremacy in contemporary context.