On Saturday, Copro Gallery pulled back the curtains for “Suggestivism: Chronology” (previewed here), curated by Nathan Spoor. This is the fifth installment of “Suggestivism”, Spoor’s moniker for fantastical, figurative work that ‘suggests’ to be more than it seems. In the 1890s, art historian Sadakichi Hartmann defined it in his writings as a style “of poetic mysticism and psychological intensity.” Spoor chose 42 contemporary artists whose work shares a surreal, poetic-like quality, such as Aron Wiesenfeld, Chet Zar, Nicoletta Ceccolli, Dan May, Hsiao-Ron Cheng, Naoto Hattori, Charlie Immer, Gregory Jacobsen, Sarah Joncas, and more. It seems like every time we caught up with an artist, they were working on a piece for the show (see Ken Garduno’s studio visit).
The “Suggestivism” series has previously exhibited in Rome, New York, and Los Angeles. It was even published as an art book in 2011. With “Chronology”, this year sparks a conversation about the influences behind a growing modern style of art. For example, Yoko d’Holbachie, who is exhibiting at Copro next month, pays homage to Italian Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci with her reimagining of the “Mona Lisa”. Afterall, future visual explorations become impossible for artists without the map laid out by their predecessors. Drawing from such influences, this new crop of artists present vivid scenes that leave narrative to both the imagination and history.
