Don’t You Forget About Me

a two-person exhibition by

karen miranda augustine & ilene sova

Augustine-Sova.tumblr.com June 2016

Don’t You Forget About MeToronto artists Karen Miranda Augustine and Ilene Sova explore the significance of female icons in outsider and mainstream culture through two series of portraits:

• One on ‘women of the night’ (PAINTED LOVE)• One on women who have ruled our nightlife (WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING AT?)

Posited together, the artists propose a shift in how we view, value, and define female self-possession in our communities and in our media.

the exhibition

Please direct all inquiries to:

Karen AugustineMorenaMediaPhone: (416) 263-9835E-mail: inquire@morenamedia.comExhibition Site: Augustine-Sova.tumblr.com

MEDIA CONTACT

https://augustine-sova.tumblr.com

Curated by the Throbbing Rose Collective, DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME was chosen as a featured art project for Nuit Rose: A Festival of Queer Art and Performance.

The exhibition will take place at Artscape Youngplace’s Hallway Galleries at 180 Shaw Street, third floor, from June 22–25.

OPENING RECEPTION: Wednesday, June 22nd | 7:00 p.m.Nuit Rose Festival: Saturday, June 25th | 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.

NUIT ROSE is a free annual festival of queer-focused art and performance that takes place during Toronto Pride. Returning for its third year on Saturday, June 25th, the theme of Nuit Rose 2016 is ‘Night Shift.’

Showcasing provocative, cutting-edge work by diverse local and international artists, the festival engages LGBTQ communities, art lovers, residents, and visitors to Toronto in unique experiences with contemporary art across the city. Participants can expect transformational encounters with contemporary art on one unforgettable night.

Nuit Rose takes place in both indoor and outdoor spaces in two Toronto neighbourhoods: West Queen West (West Zone) and the Church-Wellesley Village (East Zone). Both of these neighbourhoods have rich and diverse queer/trans-activist, visual art, and cultural history.

#NuitRoseTO NuitRose.ca

the series

Painted Love: Requiems for Salacious Sex QueensA series of 18 mixed-media portraits of deceased, sex industry-involved women by Karen Miranda Augustine

From Plasmatics frontwoman Wendy O. Williams to transgender adult performer Lorena Escalera Xtravaganza, the beauty, character, and humanity of Karen Miranda’s subjects are celebrated to defy simplistic, polarizing understandings of the ways in which some women participate in the industry and the broad trajectory her subjects’ lives had reached.

The following seven works from this series will be shown at Nuit Rose.

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Anastasia Blueby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2013) , 12 x 9 inchesCollection of Fred Budnik, Toronto

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Andrea Trueby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2014) , 39 x 24 inches

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Eva Luxby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2014) , 28 x 27 inches

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Josephine Bakerby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2015) , 24 x 18 inches

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Lorena Escalera Xtravaganzaby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2014) , 36 x 16 inches

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Pauline Chan Bo-Linby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2014) , 17 x 20 inchesCollection of Fred Budnik, Toronto

works exhibiting from the series

Painted Love: requiems for salacious sex queens

Wendy O. Williamsby Karen Miranda Augustine

Mixed Media (2013), 15 x 15 inchesCollection of Fred Budnik, Toronto

the series

What Are They Looking At?A series of 12 painted portraits on glass of female pop icons from the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s by Ilene Sova

Sparked by comparing the childhood heroes of her youth to what young women are looking at today, the works explore the ways Ilene’s subjects challenged gender diversity, shadeism, power, and sexuality — shifting perceptions of the female performer in ways that greatly influenced her personal identity. The series includes Sade, Grace Jones, and Annie Lennox.

The following six works from this series will be shown at Nuit Rose.

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Annie Lennoxby Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Cheryl “Salt” James (Salt-N-Pepa)by Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Grace Jonesby Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman)by Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Sadeby Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

works exhibiting from the series

what are they looking at?

Tina Louise (Ginger)by Ilene Sova

Oil on Glass (2015), 26 x 22 inches

Karen miranda augustine

Bio:

Karen Miranda Augustine is a Canadian artist whose works have exhibited in Canada, the US, Scotland, and Haiti.

She has been published and cited in various books and publications, including The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts (Cleis Press), Caribbean InTransit Arts Journal, and The Art of Reflection: Women Artists’ Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century (Columbia University Press).

Her creative projects ride on the confluence of sex, pop culture, spirituality, and the underground.

She holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University.

KarenMirandaAugustine.com

notable EXHIBITIONS:

Outgraced, A Space GalleryGhetto Biennale, Port-au-Prince, HaitiAmerican Empress: Credit for the Empire’s Troubled Royalty, North York Central LibraryLight as a Feather, Heavy Like Lead, Trane Studio

recent

interviews:

Anna Foran: “Meet the Artists” Feminist Art Conference 2015

Tiana Ried: “In Conversation” ARC magazine

invited talks:

AGO First Thursdays “Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s” Art Gallery of Ontario

Feminist Art Conference OCAD University

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time Symposium“Exploring Basquiat’s Legacy”Art Gallery of Ontario

public commissions:

Toronto Pan American/Parapan American Games

collections:

Fred Budnik, TorontoDeirdre Tara Whelan, TorontoUniversidad de Puerto Rico

ilene sova

Bio:

Ilene Sova is a conceptual portrait painter whose works reference anti-oppression and feminist themes.

She has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally, including the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, the Kinetic Gallery in New York, and Mutuo Centro de Arte in Barcelona.

Ilene is the founder of the Feminist Art Conference and was a featured speaker at the first TEDxWomen in Toronto.

She holds an MFA in painting from the University of Windsor and teaches in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University.

IleneSova.com

notable EXHIBITIONS:

Missing Women Project, Kinetic Gallery, New YorkCosmopolitan, Harbourfront CentreHeroinas, Centro Mutuo de Arte, Barcelona, SpainMissing, Department of Canadian Heritage

invited talks:

TEDxDistilleryDistrictWomenThe Missing Women ProjectTEDx

press:

Paul Irish: “Portraits of missing women raise their status through art” Toronto Star

Hilary Duff: “Missing women featured in oil paintings” CBC News Sudbury

Matt Galloway: “Missing Women” CBC Metro Morning

professional

credits:

Regional Co-cordinator,Feminist Art ProjectRutgers University2014–present

Founder, Feminist Art Conference2012–present

Founding Member,3MW Art Collective2011–present Founder,Blank Canvases Arts-in-Schools2011–present

Artistic Director,Walnut Studios2011–present