Beyond Surface: Joanne Kent, Ara Koh, Giulia Livi, and Kristina Penhoet
Washington D.C
Pazo Fine Art is thrilled to announce a group exhibition Beyond Surface, highlighting paintings, sculptures, and hybrid works by Joanne Kent, Ara Koh, Giulia Livi, and Kristina Penhoet. The exhibition will be on view at PFA-Washington D.C. from June 15 through August 3. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, June 15th, from 6 to 8 PM.
Beyond Surface brings together four Washington metropolitan area based artists whose works traverse the realms of painting, sculpture, and the spaces in between. United by a common focus on materiality and surface, these artists each bring forth expertise in ancient materials: clay, wool, porcelain, wood, and oil. Their creative processes are dynamic, meditative, and almost obsessively repetitive, whether involving a back-and-forth motion, the binding of a felted tube, the laying of tiles, the smoothing and pinching of clay, or the scooping of paint with fingers and a spatula. The tactile nature intrinsic to each artist's materials and processes evokes themes of memory, experience, bodies, and space.
Each work in this exhibition presents a unique expression of surface texture that engages, in some way, with physical experience and memory. Kent’s constructed wall-sculptures of oil paint resonate with the viewer on a visceral, non-narrative level, conjuring sensory connections to nature. Livi’s vividly colored wood, tile, and foam objects explore, with a soft sense of humor and absurdity, the hyper-curated domesticity of the mid-century home decor that formed the backdrop of her childhood. Penhoet uses wool fiber techniques to create biomorphic structures that suggest fading or fossilized memories, as “detail and color will fade over time, but the basic form, the idea, will remain.” Koh engages with memory through clay, a material that “remembers” what is done to it. For her latest series, Koh deliberately fired her clay at dangerously high temperatures to explore the material’s response to trauma and stress as a metaphor for experience. “It sort of melts and slumps, and can even collapse when it’s put through conditions it’s not built to withstand. But it is still satisfying and beautiful to look at, like humans.”
Kent, Koh, Livi, and Penhoet share an interest in the phenomenology of space and how artworks interact with their surrounding environment. While Livi views art-making as an opportunity to play with the curation of a living space, Kent emphasizes the energetic exchange between natural materials and the space they inhabit. Penhoet explores the theme of connectedness, ensuring each piece integrates into its environment without the barrier of a display case or shadowbox, inviting viewers to physically experience the impulse to get close or touch. Koh’s work deliberately occupies space in the gallery, compelling viewers to adjust and move around it to fully engage. These are works that will be remembered as a feeling, rather than an image.
This distinctive grouping of artists breathe new life into time-honored materials and craft making techniques. “Beyond Surface” presents a collective meditation on materiality, surface, and process, exploring the ways in which their interactions play on memory, experience and space.
Artist Bio
Joanne Kent was born in Minnesota, and relocated from Minneapolis to Washington, DC. This was followed by five years in Heidelberg, Germany, before returning to the States. After finishing her BFA and MFA at the University of Minnesota (1976, 1978) she returned permanently to Washington, DC. Kent was the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (1987), a Gottlieb Foundation grant (1992) and multiple grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (1993, 1997, 2020, and 2021). She has exhibited extensively throughout Washington, DC, as well as elsewhere. Solo exhibits include Gallery K (1999, 2000, 2002); Heurich Gallery (2014); Parish Gallery (1998, 2009); DC Arts Center (2013); Waddell Art Gallery, NOVA, Sterling, VA (2011); PASS Gallery (2008, 2005); Anton Gallery (1986, 1985); and Hardart Gallery (1983). Kent has taken part in many multi-artist exhibitions including at the McLean Project for the Arts (2024, 2003, 2001); American University Art Museum (2023, 2006); Athenaeum Art Center, Alexandria, VA (2019, 2012, 2010); The Phillips @ The ARC (2022); and Dunderberg Gallery, Gilbertsville, NY (2022). She is currently based in Washington, DC.
Ara Koh was born in Seoul, South Korea, and earned her BFA in ceramics and glass from Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea (2018). She later earned her MFA in ceramic art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY (2020). Koh was awarded the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship from Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC (2021), 1st place in The Great Outdoors Juried Exhibition, Medford Arts Center, NJ (2020), and the prestigious Minister of Foreign Affairs Honor (Cultural Relations Cooperation), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea (2017). Her works are represented in the permanent collections of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum and Daekyo Culture Foundation. Koh’s most recent exhibitions include Group Invitationals at both the NCECA Conference, Sacramento, CA (2022) and the Korean Cultural Center in Washington DC, Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Washington DC (2022), and a solo exhibition at the Cluster Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2021). Koh is now based in Northern Virginia and holds a teaching position at the Maryland Institute College of Art and American University.
Giulia Livi was born in Philadelphia, PA, and earned her BFA from Penn State University in 2015 and her MFA from Mount Royal School of Multidisciplinary Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2017. Livi was the recipient of a MICA Trustees Award for Excellence in Teaching (2024) and a Residency Fellowship at Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Her work has been the focus of recent solo exhibitions at The REINSTITUTE, Baltimore, MD (2023), Dream Clinic, Columbus, OH (2023), Delaware Contemporary Museum, Wilmington, DE (2021), Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, MD (2021), Abington Arts Center, Abington, PA (2021), Governors Island Art Fair, Governor’s Island, NY (2019), and Artspace Frable Gallery, Richmond, VA (2019). She currently serves as an adjunct professor engaging with curriculums at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (2019) and the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY (2021), while creating work of her own. She is primarily based in Baltimore, MD.
Kristina Penhoet was born in Portland, Oregon, and received her BA from the University of Southern CA, Los Angeles, CA, followed by a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA. She went on to study at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in notable spaces including the Phillips Collection @THEARC, Washington, DC (2022), Museu Têxtil, São Paulo, Brazil (2020), and the Bower Center for the Arts, Bedford, VA (2023) at which Penhoet was awarded Jurors’ Award-Best in Show. Penhoet’s work has been the focus of exhibitions at Freight Gallery, Washington, DC (2023), McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA (2023), Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, MD (2022), Foundry Gallery, Washington, DC, (2021), Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, MD (2020), Artists & Makers Studio, Rockville, MD (2019), and Waverly Street Gallery, Bethesda, MD (2019). The artist is currently based in Washington, DC.
Opening reception: Saturday, June 15th, 2024, 6-8 pm
PFA - Washington D.C
1932 9th Street NW, #C102, (Enter from 9 1/2 Street), Washington, D.C 20001
Thursday - Saturday, 11 AM - 6 PM
+1 (571) 315-5279
info@pazofineart.com
