NYAB Event - Nikki Schiro "Let Them Find an Effigy, They’ll Never Find Me"

Nikki Schiro "Let Them Find an Effigy, They’ll Never Find Me"

Crossing Art

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Crossing Art presents, Let Them Find an Effigy, They’ll Never Find Me, a solo exhibition featuring portrait-based paintings by Nikki Schiro. The opening reception takes place on Saturday, September 15th, 3 to 6pm, runs from September 15th to October 27th and will conclude with a panel discussion moderated by Schiro (TBA). This marks her premiere exhibition at Crossing Art.

The exhibition features Nikki Schiro’s various methods of working through portraiture, collectively dealing with universal ideas of self-discovery, social constructs and Being. “We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves,” writes Oscar Wilde. Like Wilde, Nikki Schiro viscerally questions the world and self, challenging cultural and personal effigies, confronting them (most often) through a very unique pastel-painting methodology. Schiro manages to combine expression with acute likeness, ultimately creating haunting experiential narratives that operate in both a psychological space and/or focus on the bizarreness of our culture.
Since 2010 Nikki Schiro has lived and worked 3 months per year, on artist residencies, in China. In 2010, Nikki was nominated for an Artist Residency in Chengdu China, in the Highland (Gao Di) artist zone. While working in Chengdu, Nikki was invited to participate in a featured exhibition of Contemporary Female artists working in China, Whispers in the City, at the Chengdu Museum for Women and Children. To follow, Nikki was the first foreign artist to be given a solo show in Chengdu, taking place at the Blue Roof Gallery (Lan Di Hua Lan), curated by artist He Gong. Her work was well received and collected by the Chengdu Art community, even catching the eye of blue chip Artists such as Fan Li Jun. In 2011, Nikki returned for a second residency with Red Gate Gallery, in Beijing. During a short stay of only two months, Nikki was invited to co-curate and exhibit in an exhibition with artist Li XinHui in a 20,000 sq meter Nova ArtSpace in Fei Jia Cun (Bei Gao), Beijing.

Crossing Arts will exhibit a portion of work from each residency, drawings and paintings made in between, as well as work from Schiro’s “Portrait Projects”, which are projects that investigate socio-cultural issues through a series of portrait-based works. The exhibition will highlight in particular the Johnny & Nikki series, (2009-2012) which will be seen for the first time in its entirety.

Nikki Schiro is a native New Yorker, raised and continues to work in Queens. She holds an M.F.A. from Hunter College, 2006. Schiro has been exhibiting in Museums, Galleries and Alternative Spaces both nationally and internationally. Commissioned work was featured on the cover of Beth Isreal's Nursing School yearbooks (2010 and 2011) as well as in Elle Décor Magazine, May 2009. In addition to relentlessly making art, Nikki is the artist-in-residence in Roosevelt Hospital's Oncology unit. She is also a contributing writer for artcomments.com, partner of Ozaneaux ArtSpace and an active member of the all-women artist collective, tART.

[Image: Nikki Schiro "Fei Jia Cun's New Street Hustler" (2011) Pastels and Acrylic on Linen, 55 X 55" ]