On View: March 21, 2019 – May 13, 2019
Opening Reception: March 21, 4:30pm – 6:30pm
Monday, March 18, 2019
Providence, RI – Mayor Jorge O. Elorza and the Department of Art, Culture + Tourism are inviting the public to visit the Gallery at City Hall for its newest installation: Dear You: Intimate New Works by DeadZest, BRIANLY and Belinda Phivilay. Curated by Providence artist Paris Paris, this exhibition showcases three Rhode Island artists who examine interior moments from their lives to provoke conversations about happiness, sadness, love and tragedy. The installation will be on display at the Gallery at City Hall March 21, 2019 – May 13, 2019. An opening Reception will be held March 21 from 4:30pm – 6:30pm. All events are free and open to the public.
“DeadZest, BRIANLY and Belinda Phivilay do not hide or isolate that which inspires them, Paris Paris said as part of his curatorial statement. “Instead, they create beauty from their feelings of vulnerability to foster dialogue with their audiences.”
DeadZest loves letters. Showcasing his passion for hand-painted signs from a bygone era, he uses the medium of text to explore the space between silence and sound. In other words, he explores the possibilities of communication or lack thereof. Influenced by graffiti, classic cinema and the silent symphony, DeadZest’s letters both whisper and shout.
BRIANLY depicts psychedelic voids that are safe enough for viewers to imagine themselves walking into. His recent paintings take the worlds he inhabits and mashes them into abstract shapes, leaving the bare essence of their identities alive. Some of these worlds dissolve in on themselves, offering a stark contrast to the realism of BRIANLY’s photographic work, which celebrates differences of color, geometry, and scale.
Belinda “B” Phivilay makes no secret that they have struggled with mental health disorders and been subjected to violence. The friends that caught Phivilay when they were at their lowest are the backbone of “face(s) of PVD.” They designed their platform, grounded in photographic portraiture, to honestly represent their Black and brown community. Phivilay’s work creates spaces and platforms of support to help the city’s residents see the ways they are interconnected.
About the Curator: Paris Paris is an emerging Providence-based Latin American artist and curator. Paris has curated numerous festivals and pop up markets in that uplift the Providence artist community, specifically he works to support low-income backgrounds, people of color and unrepresented artists. Paris’ first solo curatorial project in 2017 included work by BRIANLY; his most recent project “Paris! + Friends” featured work by DEADZEST and B. Paris hopes to foster relationships between artists and people of all kinds by spreading love through his curatorial work and art making.
About the Gallery at City Hall: Offering space to artists and organizations that might not have a permanent gallery, the Gallery at City Hall exhibits an eclectic array of work that highlights the artistic and cultural diversity found in the Providence community. The Gallery is open to the public during City Hall business hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm and is located at 25 Dorrance Street | (2nd Floor)in Providence. For more information, please visit: http://artculturetourism.com/main-gallery
City Hall is easily accessible by all forms of transportation. For information on parking nearby, visit http://parkdowntownprovidence.com/; bus schedules are available at www.ripta.com.