VERA ILIATOVA
JUDE TALLICHET
CHARLES WILKIN

Through varied mediums, the artists explore memory, loss and ghostly embodiments. Vera Iliatova, having grown up in Leningrad, Russia, later defecting at the age of fifteen to seek refuge from antisemitism, received political asylum in Brooklyn in 1991. Iliatova’s paintings depict vicissitudes of her younger self: young women, as ciphers, stand-ins, imposters, and actresses, performing upheavals of adolescence and feigned early adulthood. The places that they inhabit are elusive, hybrid settings of postindustrial cities, dilapidated boarding schools or suburban landscapes. The cinematic sensibility in the paintings presents scenes that, while plausible, are clearly artificial and choreographed. The contrast between the technical approach to the composition and the deep emotional currents in both the setting and the characters create dissonance that amplifies the unsettling and moving effect on the viewer.

Jude Tallichet’s series Whispers Down the Lane features large objects cast in translucent white tissue paper, transmuting the solid and concrete into disembodied ephemeral forms. Elements feel like specters of Tallichet’s past work, which previously utilized bronze and steel to cast often large-scale forms, while this body of work evokes our immediate past, speaking to the newly realized future. The ethereal work is responsive to our bodily relation, drawing movement from small gusts of air, fluttering in the breeze lovingly and delicately. These effects dynamically make the work feel more alive than ever, while imbued with shadows of objects and immanent souls of beings. The conceptual sculptures pivot on the transience of thought, reality, and substance. As the meaning is passed from one iteration to another—like whispers down the lane—they underscore how quicky the world and meaning within and of it can change.

Charles Wilkin’s collage work replicates the frenetic and inherent collision of people, culture, and emotions that we all experience. Drawing from disparate thoughts and observations, centered on a singular theme, Wilkin’s work pulls from our world’s ugliness and cruelty to extract the beauty and empathy within us all, revealing the unknown, unspoken and intangible things that make us truly human. The artist’s process-driven work is derived directly from the intertwining of these associations and the spontaneity of his creative process. This gives the work the freedom to live creatively in the moment, and the ability to respond to current events, despite the fact that his imagery derived primarily from vintage magazines.

About the Artists

Vera Iliatova grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, and immigrated to the United States when she was 16. She received a BA from Brandeis University and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University, with further study at the Skowhegan School of Art and a residency at Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation. In 2018, Iliatova was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting. Iliatova’s work has been shown across the US as well in Spain, Germany, Denmark and Great Britain. Iliatova’s work was recently included in exhibitions at the Warehouse Dallas, TX, The Katonah Museum, and at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America, ARTnews, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Time Out New York, Hyperallergic and other publications. Iliatova is represented by Nathalie Karg Gallery in New York City.

Jude Tallichet lives and works in Queens, New York. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in venues such as the Konsthallen in Gothenburg, Sweden; The Shanghai Biennial in China; The Busan Biennial in Korea; The Tirana Biennial in Albania; the Officina America exhibition in Bologna, Italy; and Pierogi Gallery in Leipzig, Germany. Her work was included in the 2016 Borås International Sculpture Biennial in Borås, Sweden. Tallichet participated in the inaugural Greater New York show at PS1 MoMA, the Treble exhibition at Sculpture Center, and the Brooklyn Next exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She has had solo shows at Sara Meltzer Gallery, Smack Mellon, the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Burnet Gallery in Minneapolis, and Robert Miller Gallery. She was a featured performer in the Iron Artist Event at PS 1 MoMA. Jude spent a year in Brazil as a Fulbright Fellow and has received fellowship grants in sculpture from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has received residencies at the Rosa de la Cruz Collection, MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony, and at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbertide, Italy. She is Professor Emeritus, Sculpture, at the Tyler School of Art, where she taught from 1987 to 2016. Jude was a founding member of the band Ultra Vulva and has collaborated on video and performance projects with a diverse collection of artists and musicians, including Jeanine Antoni, Kristin Lucas, and Doug Henderson.

Charles Wilkin was born in Buffalo, New York; relocated from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City in 2001; and currently lives and works in the Catskills. His work has been featured in many contemporary fine art and street art magazines, including Juxtapoz, Rojo and Metropolis magazine. Wilkin has also exhibited regularly across the United States, participated in many group shows globally, and co-curated collage exhibitions for The International Weird Collage Show. In 2003, German publisher Gestalten released his first monograph Index-A, which has become a much-referenced source of inspiration for contemporary collage artists. Wilkin's work is included in the permanent collections at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg Germany, and The Library of Congress in Washington, DC.