Not From Venus: Mack Brim and Tara Lewis
April 25th, 2023 - May 27th, 2023
311 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tchotchke Gallery is pleased to present Not From Venus, a duo exhibition with Los Angeles-based Mack Brim and New York-based Tara Lewis. Opening on April 25th, this joint body of work finds strength in the modern feminine experience. With polarizing, yet unifying anecdotes, viewers are asked to suspend effeminate preconceptions to experience painterly narratives provided by Brim and Lewis.
In Not From Venus, both artists investigate internal dialogues with the self through contemporary portraits that push back against the oft-presumed docile and delicate complexities of womanhood. Pondering how one reckons with this in the present time, Brim and Lewis catapult powerful expressions and personal objects onto canvas, revealing a once-intimate outer experience.
Mack Brim’s work blends portraiture and still lives while incorporating inspiration from her immediate personal life. Tonally, Brim’s palette in Not From Venus features warm, lush hues reminiscent of the gendered figures presented in her work. Tara Lewis, on the other hand, utilizes models and props to explore her subjects. Lewis’s often contrasting palettes create a departure from a once-standard ‘pretty in pink’ approach.
Both Brim and Lewis understand the intricacies of a culture steeped in expectations and have fostered a united body of work that draws us into a moment in which we might not otherwise participate in. By exploring the complexity of the feminine experience and highlighting themes of identity, self-expression, and empowerment, both artists invite the viewer to contemplate the inner lives of themselves and their subjects.
Not From Venus will be on view from April 25th, 2023 through May 27th, 2023 at Tchotchke Gallery, located at 311 Graham Avenue. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 6 - 8 pm EST on Tuesday, April 25th.
About Mack Brim
Inspired by the modern feminine experience, Mack Brim creates figurative oil paintings that explore our personal identities as women. Featuring both portraits and still lives, there is a deep connection between personhood and object. Mack is particularly interested in the performance of femininity in this current cultural landscape. The stories of the women in her life inspire these narratives that have an intimate resonance.
About Tara Lewis
Tara Lewis is a painter based in New York. Tara paints contemporary figurative portraits that redefine pop culture icons, largely informed by a sustained exploration of her childhood memories of cartoons, television, and coming-of-age movies. Her evolving collection of paintings challenges conventional portraiture with a unique focus on female agency and contemporary complexities of femininity. The works dive into cultural anthropology and celebrate individuality, irreverence, and personhood with a pop twist, weaving a fresh new narrative.
Tara’s work has been included in exhibitions and events at the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen, CO; The Watermill Center, Watermill, NY; Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY; Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY; The Puffin Foundation, NJ; New York Fashion Week at Spring Studios; Kasper Contemporary, New York and at the Museum of Art at the University of New Hampshire. Tara’s paintings are in the collections of major art supporters, including The Phelan Art Collection, Brooke Shields, The Seavest Collection, Ashley Longshore, and the Bunker Artspace. Lewis has been featured in Artnet News, Cultured Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Whitewall Magazine, New York Magazine, and Fine Art Connoisseur, and her drawings were published in RxArt’s Between the Lines: A Contemporary Artist Coloring Book. Tara received a B.A. in Studio Art at the University of New Hampshire and her master’s degree at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.