Into My Arms
Sonya Derviz, My-Lan Hoang-Thuy, Shamiran Istifan and Li Li Ren
19 January - 4 March 2023
From the ether, the gentle uncanny. Glimpses seemingly through windows; angelic figures in a state of embrace; stalactites congealing on electric chorals: the phantasmagoric particles of life on earth. A never-ending history of surrealism, modernised and mechanised. Across painting and sculpture, Derviz, Hoang-Thuy, Istifan and Ren look to comfort, voyeurism and the spiritual as inexplicable embellishments of the mundane, constant renegotiations of situation, mind and body.
Sonya Derviz (b. 1994) lives and works in London. She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art in 2018, having previously completed her Foundation Diploma at Central Saint Martins. Solo exhibitions include: The eyes have all the seeming, of a demon's that is dreaming, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London (2022); and Pas de Corps, V.O Curations, London (2018). Selected group exhibitions include: First Light, curated by Hector Campbell, Collective Ending, London (2022); Inside Out, The Artist Room, London (2022); It Seems So Long Ago, Matthew Brown, Los Angeles (2020); Minimal | Maximal, LVH Art, London (2019); Parfum d’épines, Phillips x V.O Curations, Paris (2019); and Paintings by, Alex Vardoxoglou, London (2019).
My-Lan Hoang-Thuy (b. 1990) lives and works in Paris. She graduated from the Ecole Duperré in 2015, and the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2018. In 2018, she was nominated for the Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts, won the Graduate Photography Award, and then exhibited at the Salon de Montrouge. She participated in the Artpress Biennial of Young Artists at the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne in 2020. Selected solo exhibitions include: Belle Orchidée, Pissenlit Passable at Galerie Mitterrand, Paris (2022); Chez Espagnolveu, 32 rue des Ormeaux, Paris (2020); and Pale Violet, Galerie Derouillon, Paris (2019). Selected group exhibitions include: Cloud Point, Paradise Row, London (2022); Making Worlds Exist, Asia Now Art Fair, Paris (2021); Scratching the Surface, Galerie Derouillon, Paris (2021); Canons, Galerie Derouillon, Paris (2020); The Plates of the Present, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); Salon Jeune Création, Fondation Fiminco, Romainville (2020); and Salon Approche, Le Molière, Paris (2019). Hoang-Thuy will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, in 2023.
Shamiran Istifan (b. 1987) lives and works in Zurich. Istifan's visual arts practice focuses on layered social dynamics, motivated by her personal experience of the way class, gender and religion shape collectivism, politics and personal relationships. Recent solo exhibitions include: Precious Pipeline, Rose Easton, London (2022); Law & Order, Kulturfolger, Zurich (2021); G by Destiny, All Stars, Lausanne; and Micro Entities, Material, Zurich (2020). Selected group exhibitions include: Reflection is the Daughter of the Scandal, Angela Mewes, Berlin (2021); As We Gaze Upon Her, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi (2021); Depuis des Lunes, Urgent Paradise, Lausanne (2021); 5th Floor, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2021) and Nour el Ain, Karma International, Zurich (2021). In September 2021, she was awarded the Werkshau Prize by Kanton of Zurich for her work Ex Amore Vita: Ladies’ Room (2021).
Li Li Ren (b. 1986) is a sculptor living and working in London. She uses tactile materials ranging from the soft and ethereal to the hard and heavy to create intimate narratives in space. She gained her BA Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, in 2010, and her MA Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2017. Her first two solo exhibitions have been held at institutional spaces: Frantumaglia, Qimu Space, Beijing (2021) and Sunset as Burning Bruise, Magician Space, Beijing (2022). Select group exhibitions include: Memorias del subdesarrollo, Qimu Space, Beijing (2021); In/Out, Guardian Art Center, Beijing (2020); Silence in Violence, Spectrum Art Space, Shanghai (2018); and Camden Arts Centre, London (2017).
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