As I continue to practice my craft, my work has visually settled in-between beauty, darkness and humor. Through my eyes, our world is in a perpetual state of “Carnival”, and so my work takes on that visual to aid in communication on social, political and environmental themes. The sensibilities of ‘carnival’ feel very approachable, its humorous side allowing viewers to examine and probe my works without intimidation.

I am a firm believer in what Elizabeth Gilbert calls “the arrogance of belonging”, and it is within this statement that I deliver my thoughts and passions on what I see as the important topics of our day. I only have two things I can share with the rest of the world, my art and my convictions. I celebrate us, and our absurdity. We are beautiful, horrid, tragic, and profoundly funny.

Installation Statement
Silent Stories is a 50’ x 20’ interactive forest made from objects we throw away every day. Take a short stroll through Silent Stories, where each and every object has gone through the same processes/experiences of –

being thought of
being designed
being created
being ‘packaged’
admired
desired
owned
used
handled
thrown away
forgotten

This Forest was inspired by Marcel Duchamp, the master of allocating an ordinary object in a way that brings about a different approach to ‘seeing’ or ‘contemplating’ the object. The installation is also meant to give us room to think about just how much we consume and discard.

It is also a thing of beauty

Suprina
Meet Me in the Forest
May 18 – June 22, 2024
Opening Reception Sat, May 18, 4-7pm

About Exhibition
As I continue to practice my craft, my work has visually settled in-between beauty, darkness and humor. Through my eyes, our world is in a perpetual state of “Carnival”, and so my work takes on that visual to aid in communication on social, political and environmental themes. The sensibilities of ‘carnival’ feel very approachable, its humorous side allowing viewers to examine and probe my works without intimidation.

I am a firm believer in what Elizabeth Gilbert calls “the arrogance of belonging”, and it is within this statement that I deliver my thoughts and passions on what I see as the important topics of our day. I only have two things I can share with the rest of the world, my art and my convictions. I celebrate us, and our absurdity. We are beautiful, horrid, tragic, and profoundly funny.

About Suprina
Suprina studied sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia but gained the bulk of her knowledge of her craft from working in the field of promotional, prop making. Her clients included Annie Leibovitz, Apple Computer, Bloomingdales, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After 9/11, having lived in the neighborhood at the time, Suprina decided she would focus solely on her own artworks, which discuss environmental, social and political issues. She has won numerous grants including 2 Puffin Foundation, a LMCC, NoMaa, Individual and Community Decentralization grants and was awarded Art in Public Places by Dutchess County Executive Arts Awards in 2021. Currently, Suprina has a public sculpture titled DNA Totem in Poughkeepsie and a Micro gallery at 299 Main st named CONVEY/ER/OR that shows social, political and environmental art.

EVENTS RELATED TO THIS EXHIBITION

SAT, May 18, 4-7pm
Opening Reception

Sat, June 1, 1-2pm
Artist Talk

This is an informal artist talk where Suprina will go around the gallery discussing her pieces in the show. Participants will get a better understanding of Suprina’s message and inspiration behind the pieces in the show.

Sat, June 1, 2-5pm
Object donation event for forest (Silent Stories)

Free to the public, Jane Street and Suprina will be inviting the public to bring an object they would normally throw away and donate it to the Silent Stories forest forever. The participants will be photographed with their object and asked to write about the object in a journal. Then Suprina, dressed in her plastic bag outfit, will escort the person and object into the forest. Suprina will pick a place to ‘plant’ the object. Once she and the participant are done, Suprina will ask the person to ‘say a few words about the object’ …..kinda like a memorial. This is how Suprina grows her forest for the next art installation. She states, “you’d be surprised at how people react to this ritual of sorts.”

Sat, June 1
‘They Speak to Me’
Saugerties on-site performance video will be complete and installed at Jane St. Art Center

This is a site-specific piece that talks about our consumption. Suprina will be shooting May 1-8 with Rock Wilk, an incredible filmmaker also living in Poughkeepsie.

The storyline-
Suprina will start her travels at the Saugerties Library, then move to the 15 Minutes of Frame, the Lighthouse, Arm of the Sea, and possibly Opus 40 and other sites while wearing her plastic bag outfit. As she travels from one place to the next she comes upon different “objects”; that have been left behind, abandoned or castaway. These objects ’talk’ to her, they tell her their stories…. Who owned them, when they were purchased and why they were left behind. As each tells her their story, she picks them up and places them into her broken (also a discarded object) red wagon.

After visiting all these location’s, Suprina walks into her Silent Stories forest art installation at Jane Street Art Center to ‘plant’ her new found objects. This finished video will be on view at Jane St. Art Center from June 1 to June 22.

Sun, June 16, 1-3pm
Object donation event for forest (Silent Stories)