“Perceive You” , curated by Kristine Schomaker, runs June 5 to July 3, 2022 at Shoebox Projects (online) with a Zoom reception and artist talk scheduled June 5, 2022 from 3-5 PM PST.
“Perceive You” is a figurative self-portrait open call exhibition exploring concepts of identity, vulnerability, empowerment, and perception. Artist, curator and cultural producer Kristine Schomaker asked artists for works that describe how they view themselves. She selected 81 pieces by 52 artists from over 600 artworks submitted. The works span a wide range of media and genres from drawings to collage; from photo realism to abstraction.
“Perceive You” asks important questions about our curated public personas and how/if that impacts who we are. In an age where we curate our public persona with our profile pictures, selected social media content, and even how we dress in public, how do we really define ourselves- to ourselves? How does the public persona impact our identity? Is it a disguise, a constructed brand, or are we taking ownership of our identity? Perceive You turns the mirror on the participating artists asking them to portray how they see themselves.
Participating artists include Anda Marcu, Annick Duvivierm, B. Alston, Beatrice Antonie Martino, Betzi Stein, Brenda Oelbaum, Bryn Williams, Courtney Blackstock, Daggi Wallace, Emily Bertucci, Erica Entrop, Huan LaPlante, Jean-Paul Aboudib, Jen Sanders, Jenette Wilson, Jennifer Wolfe-Hagstrom, Jo Ann Block, Jorge E. Martinez, Kate Kelton, Kathryn Geismar, Kathryn Pitt, Kelly Ciurej, Kris Moore, Leonard Greco, Lucy Luckovich, Mary Allan, Merrilyn Duzy, Michael Potts, Michael Angelo Gagliardi, Michele Benzamin-Miki, Monica R. Marks, Nami Oshiro, Nancy Nicholson, Preeti Schaden, Riea Owens, Robert Gilsdorf III, Robin Assner-Alvey, Rolf Young, Ruby Vartan, Sarah Jordan, Scout Purdy, Susan Amorde, Susan Kaufer Carey, Suzann Kundi, Suzanne Shifflett, Ted Rigoni, Tom Miller, Tristan Mark, Tyler Alpern, Valentina Aprida Maurer, Vincent Benavidez, and Zara Feeney.
The exhibition is inspired by artist and cultural producer Kristine Schomaker’s project “Perceive Me” which focused on the reality of how others perceive us and how that differs from self-perception. For “Perceive Me”, plus-sized Schomaker posed nude for 60 artists- asking them to portray her as they saw her. The resulting works were honest, sometimes raw, often quite beautiful…and at odds with common commercialized standards of beauty. The viewer reaction to the collected works was thought-provoking and empowering for all sizes, shapes, ages and genders.
Schomaker’s practice is informed by her personal and professional experiences as a plus sized woman and artist with an eating disorder—living in a society trained to compare ourselves to commercialized, over-idealized standards of beauty/worth that few measure up to…especially when size is added to the equation. She challenges arbitrary labels, body shaming, self-doubt, and cultural dismissal that permeate daily life for larger than average people- particularly women, folding the common experiences of others into her work, amplifying the voices of all. Her process uses visual, performative and experiential arts as powerful tools for addressing superficial appearance bias exemplified by “Perceive You”.
