Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Beverly Acha, Sean Sullivan and b chehayeb

North Loop’s inaugural exhibition brings together a group of artists who explore the lived experience of place. Faraway Nearby approaches place as a personal geography that is shaped by memory, culture, and history. What all of these artists share is a lived-in, practical intimacy with their subject matter—in one way or another, the works included “measure physical and psychic geography together.”1
The artists in this exhibition work from memory or direct observation to translate their understandings of place. The psychological and sensory qualities of physical surroundings inform the formal and material explorations of Beverly Acha, Mary Lum, and Sean Sullivan. Michele Abramowitz focuses on optics and the perception of space. Becky Suss, b chehayeb, and Kevin McNamee-Tweed all conjure the plasticity of place-based memory and narrative through their renderings of significant objects and symbols. William Burton Binnie considers how land acts as both document of and witness to human activity. Sanou Oumar, Carlos Rosales-Silva, and Kemar Keanu Wynter all engage with the remembered spaces of their respective childhoods. Oumar and Rosales-Silva draw on the architectural structures and visual patterns of the cities and landscapes they grew up in, while Wynter references foods from his youth to explore the interconnectedness of family, cultural history, and home.
As the pandemic has prompted many of us to renegotiate our relationships to place, we look to the possibilities suggested by this group of artists to interpret our ever-shifting surroundings.

1 Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby (New York: Viking, 2013), 108. In naming the show, we echo the title of Solnit’s 2013 book. Solnit’s title in turn references Georgia O’Keeffe’s letters to loved ones following her move from New York to rural New Mexico, which the artist signed, “From the faraway nearby.” We’re interested in the collapsible, mutable, and personal experience of place that O’Keeffe’s poetic sign-off suggests. The quotation cited above illustrates Solnit’s interpretation of the artist’s intentional phrasing. Lucy Lippard’s The Lure of the Local and Miwon Kwon’s One Place After Another also shaped our thinking while putting together this exhibition.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Beverly Acha, Sean Sullivan and b chehayeb.

North Loop’s inaugural exhibition brings together a group of artists who explore the lived experience of place. Faraway Nearby approaches place as a personal geography that is shaped by memory, culture, and history. What all of these artists share is a lived-in, practical intimacy with their subject matter—in one way or another, the works included “measure physical and psychic geography together.”1

The artists in this exhibition work from memory or direct observation to translate their understandings of place. The psychological and sensory qualities of physical

surroundings inform the formal and material explorations of Beverly Acha, Mary Lum, and Sean Sullivan. Michele Abramowitz focuses on optics and the perception of space. Becky Suss, b chehayeb, and Kevin McNamee-Tweed all conjure the plasticity of place-based memory and narrative through their renderings of significant objects and symbols. William Burton Binnie considers how land acts as both document of and witness to human activity. Sanou Oumar, Carlos Rosales-Silva, and Kemar Keanu Wynter all engage with the remembered spaces of their respective childhoods. Oumar and Rosales-Silva draw on the architectural structures and visual patterns

of the cities and landscapes they grew up in, while Wynter references foods from his youth to explore the interconnectedness of family, cultural history, and home.

As the pandemic has prompted many of us to renegotiate our relationships to place, we look to the possibilities suggested by this group of artists to interpret our ever-shifting surroundings.

1 Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby (New York: Viking, 2013), 108. In naming the show, we echo the title of Solnit’s 2013 book. Solnit’s title in turn references Georgia O’Keeffe’s letters to loved ones following her move from New York to rural New Mexico, which the artist signed, “From the faraway nearby.” We’re interested in the collapsible, mutable, and personal experience of place that O’Keeffe’s poetic sign-off suggests. The quotation cited above illustrates Solnit’s interpretation of the artist’s intentional phrasing. Lucy Lippard’s The Lure of the Local and Miwon Kwon’s One Place After Another also shaped our thinking while putting together this exhibition.

• • •

INSTALLATION IMAGES

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Mary Lum, Sanou Oumar, Becky Suss, Beverly Acha and Sean Sullivan.

Installation Image, Nearby Faraway

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Beverly Acha, Sean Sullivan and b chehayeb.

Installation Image, Faraway Nearby

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Mary Lum, Sanou Oumar and Becky Suss.

Installation Image, Faraway Nearby

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Mary Lum and Sanou Oumar.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Kevin McNamee-Tweed.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Kemar Keanu Wynter and Kevin McNamee-Tweed.

 Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by William Burton Binnie and Kemar Keanu Wynter.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by William Burton Binnie and Michele Abramowitz.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, works by Kevin McNamee-Tweed and Carlos Rosales-Silva.

Installation view, Faraway Nearby, work by Sanou Oumar.

INDIVIDUAL ARTWORKS

b chehayeb, getting all dressed up for ceviche, 2020, oil on panel, 11 x 14 in. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.

b chehayeb, open mouth room study, 2021, oil on panel, 14 x 11 in. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.

Becky Suss, Foundations of Modern Art, 2016, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in. Credit © Becky Suss. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. From the collection of Brian Ruhl and Ozgur Ozar.

Beverly Acha, blued into view, 2021, oil on canvas, 56 x 42 in.

Beverly Acha, circuito (nuevas energías I) [loop (new energies I)], 2022, pastel on paper, 15 8/10 x 11 4/5 in. unframed.

Beverly Acha, mis flores (nuevas energías V) [my flowers (new energies V), 2022, pastel on paper, 15 7/10 x 11 4/5 in. unframed.

Carlos Rosales-Silva, Cobija (study), 2022, sand, crushed stone, glass beads in acrylic paint on panel, 14 x 11 in.

Carlos Rosales-Silva, Gem Room, 2022, sand, crushed stone, glass beads in acrylic paint on panel, 20 x 16 in.

Kemar Keanu Wynter, Tin Sardines and Pepper Sauce, 2021, oil pastel, acrylic and grommets on paper collage, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2 in.

Kevin McNamee-Tweed, Flyer (Joe Brainard at St Mark’s Church), 2022, glazed ceramic, 8 x 7 in.

Kevin McNamee-Tweed, Variation on The End, 2022, glazed ceramic, 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.

Kevin McNamee-Tweed, Vessel (Earth), 2022, glazed ceramic, 6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.

Mary Lum, Curtain, 2021, gouache and photo collage on paper, 11 x 14 in. unframed, 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. framed. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson.

Mary Lum, Queens, 2021, acrylic, found paper, color pencil, and photo collage on paper, 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. unframed, 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. framed. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson.

Mary Lum, Surface, 2021, acrylic, watercolor, gouache and photo collage, 10 7/8 x 14 in. unframed, 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. framed. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson.

Michele Abramowitz, Hunter, 2019, oil and black gesso on polyester canvas, 48 x 44 in. Courtesy of the artist and Kate Werble Gallery, New York.

Sanou Oumar, 02/26/2022, 2022, pen and marker on paper board, 40 × 32 in. unframed, 43 x 35 in. framed. Courtesy Gordon Robichaux, NY and Herald St, London. Photo by Ryan Page.

Sanou Oumar, 03/01/2022, 2022, pen and marker on paper board, 32 x 40 in. unframed, 35 x 43 in. framed. Courtesy Gordon Robichaux, NY and Herald St, London. Photo by Ryan Page.

Sean Sullivan, Summer monotype 01-09, 2022, all oil on Kitakata paper mounted on panel, 6 x 8 in. each.

William Burton Binnie, Empire (of dirt), 2022, black gesso on canvas, 36 x 18 in.

William Burton Binnie, Pink Flag, 2017, acrylic and gesso on canvas, 48 x 36 in. unframed. 50 x 37 3/4 in. framed.

William Burton Binnie, Untitled (Forest), 2022, black gesso on canvas, 8 x 10 in. unframed, 10 x 12 in. framed.

William Burton Binnie, Untitled (Wildfire), 2022, black gesso on canvas, 8 x 10 in. unframed, 10 x 12 in. framed.

ADDRESS

112 Water St.
Williamstown, Mass.
01267

INSTAGRAM

@northloop.art

HOURS

Thursday: 11 – 6pm
Friday: 11 – 6pm
Saturday: 11 – 6pm
Sunday: 12 – 5pm