‘Dirty Pink’, a new exhibition curated by Tina McCallan, opened last night in Russafa. Bay is excited to be showing her paintings ‘Allegory’ and ‘Confession’ alongside work by twelve international women artists.
The exhibition will be open at Sporting Club Russafa every weekend until 31st July 2021.
With sincere thanks to photographer Rosie Mayell for the photographs of the opening inauguration below.
Bay is delighted to be exhibiting in this summer’s collective show ‘Dirty Pink’ in Sporting Club Russafa, Valencia. The exhibition, curated by Tina McCallan is an exhibition of thirteen international women artists responding to the controversial colour pink.
The exhibition opens on Friday 2nd July at 18.00 until 22.00 and will run until 31st July.
Tina intends to pose important questions through the exhibition, including whether gender is a performance and the reality of a “feminine or feminist aesthetic”. As she explains,
“Over the centuries, society’s perception of the colour has changed, at times being considered feminine, erotic, kitsch, sophisticated or transgressive.
According to Valerie Steele the author of Pink: the history of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Colour, The 150-year-old notion of pink as synonymous with fragile femininity is being challenged. We’ve seen the rise of millennial pink as an ‘It’ hue, but also its appropriation by feminists around the world as a powerful, socio-political mark.”
The participating artists will address this ambiguity alongside their own individual styles and concerns:
Dirty Pink will inaugurate on Friday 2nd July at 18.00 until 22.00, and then be open to visitors on the dates below:
Saturday 3rd /10th/17th/24th/ July 11am -2pm
Bay Backner will participate in ¡Abril Despierta! (April Awakes!) at The Jan Royce Gallery in Valencia. Bay will show five new works alongside paintings by Valencia artist Tatiana Roig and Russian Aleksandra Istorik.
For ¡Abril Despierta! Bay has made five figurative artworks in oil paint and hand-embroidery on canvas. These explore how identities are being shaped by this year’s pandemic, specifically how its experiences affect our subconscious minds. Truth expresses how many of us looked inwards during isolation; Trust, the creative relationship between our conscious and subconscious; Expectation, how we balanced hope with reality; Ice, the complicated nature of solitude and Untitled, the freedom of imagination while confined.
The Jan Royce Gallery exhibits contemporary art from around the world, presenting a “fascinating, broad selection of artists and works. Stimulating, cutting-edge works by established contemporary artists, as well as intriguing works from young emerging artists, who may not have yet gained public acclaim.”
Jan Royce Gallery director Cornelius Moon affirms that the space “recognises the importance of supporting local talent and believes that the development of the Arts in any community is paramount in creating a society with character and soul.”
Artist and journalist Tatiana Roig writes that ¡Abril Despierta! is “an art exhibition where three artists from different nationalities reflect on the influences of being born in different countries and their very diverse way of conceiving art. Three women come together in a post-pandemic era to show their art and its origins.”
“Unusual textures and textiles, blending cotton and wood, shape a multicultural exhibition in the heart of the city of Valencia.”
The show will open on 10th April 2021 and run until 30th May.
Bay is now showing Blancanieves, her new large-scale embroidered oil painting at Galeria Cuatro, Valencia. The work is part of collective exhibition Sexto Sentido, on show at the gallery until 3rd March 2021.
Other participating artists include Alba Lorente, artist and editor of contemporary art magazine La Novicia; Luis Salvador, artist and director of La Trini art space; painter Miguel Castillo Oñate and artist-curator Jose Lapasió.
Blancanieves was painted in response to the current restrictions in Valencia. With one of the highest incidences of Covid-19 in Spain, all cultural events have been postponed and gatherings of more than two people are prohibited. When gallery director Miguel Castillo Gómez invited Bay to participate in Sexto Sentido, he asked for a work that would be impactful and colourful as a response to the challenges the current situation presents.
Blancanieves (Snow White in Spanish) is an expression of the joy we can find in creativity. No matter what we encounter in the external world, our internal worlds can be one of magical stories, enchanted mirrors and self-expression. The painting is part of Bay’s wider ongoing series of paintings exploring our hidden selves.
Blancanieves is 146 x 114 cm in oil paint with hand-embroidery on canvas. At 1900Eu the painting is expect to sell to Bay’s collectors in Valencia. To check that the painting is stil available before your visit, call Galeria Cuatro on 963 51 00 63
The gallery is open daily in line with current restrictions, from 10.30am until 6pm.
Galeria Cuatro, Carrer de la Nau, 25, 46003 València, Valencia
Bay is showing new work in the latest exhibition at Valencia gallery Galería Cuatro. The show, Sexto Sentido, will open this Thursday, 29th January. Bay will debut her latest large-scale embroidered painting Blancanieves (Snow White), a 114×146 canvas which will be featured on this site after the exhibition opens.
Following current restrictions for Covid-19, there will be no traditional inauguration. The works can be viewed in person at the gallery between 10am and 6pm until 3rd March 2021.
Galería Cuatro’s director Miguel Castello was yesterday interviewed by newspaper Las Provincias. He discusses the challenges facing our city’s art scene and the importance of making galleries relevant for the younger generation. You can read the full interview in Las Provincias Culture here.
Galería Cuatro is a well-established and pioneering Valencian gallery, having opened its doors more than forty years ago in July 1980. Initially it was a parallel space to the historic Theo Gallery, concieved to support the work of emerging Valencian artists.
Some of the artists that Galería Cuatro supported in their early careers include important names like Francisco Lozano, Joaquín Michavila, José María Yturralde, Jordi Teixidor and Artur Heras.
The gallery overcame Spain’s 2008 economic crisis and is facing current challenges with innovative exhibitions and new artists. These are being led by Miguel Castillo’s son David, who has taken on the role of gallery curator.
Bay is delighted to be participating in the gallery’s program this year.
Galería Cuatro
Carrer de la Nau, 25, 46003 València, Valencia
Sexto Sentido
29/01 – 03/03
10am – 6pm daily
When I moved my studio from London to Valencia in 2017, the city’s art scene was almost entirely hidden from fresh immigrants like me. There was IVAM and the extraordinary Bellas Artes Museum, but smaller galleries and arts festivals like IntraMurs seemed entirely impenetrable. Websites were infrequently updated, emails were unanswered and press releases were pages long and arrived just days (or often hours) before an event.
So I began a Meetup group for women called Art Nights Out. I contacted the galleries for details of their opening nights, and created events to bring international women to the evenings. Galleries like SET Espai d’Art, Shiras Gallery, Galeria Cuatro, Luis Adelantado, Galería Vangar, Tuesday to Friday and the wonderful (now closed) espaivisor welcomed the opportunity to bring new people to their exhibitions.
It’s now three years since I founded the group and I have over 1,000 members. I met extraordinary women at the events I organised and many of them have become cherished friends. But in 2020 the art world here in Valencia irreversibly changed. Ongoing covid restrictions mean that I cannot bring more than six people together, and events in alternative venues struggle to define just what we can safely do. As artists we are challenged to become even more creative about sharing our work – whether it be through micro-happenings in alternative spaces, or timed entries into immersive, yet socially-distanced gallery installations.
In these new models, Meetup.com simply doesn’t work. When organising an Meetup event for 20 attendees, I would open the RSVPs to 30 – knowing from experience that 30-40% of attendees would cancel in the hour before or simply not turn up. In a fluid Meetup for a traditional gallery opening this is fine, but a bespoke poetry reading for just two tables of six? It’s unfair to everyone involved.
In addition, ever-changing restrictions meaning that our events have to be flexible. This means fail-safe communications with our guests. I need to be able to Whatsapp our RSVPs to say that we’re moving outdoors (bring a coat!), or ask them to arrive half an hour earlier to stagger our social distancing. Meetup.com keeps all of the contact details of my members, so that the only way I can contact them is through the platform. This means the discussion boards which many never check, or “group emails” which many are unsubscribed from. Pre-Covid, this was a minor black-mark against the strengths of Meetup.com. Now, it’s a dealbreaker.
So Covid has forced my hand. I believe in creating beautiful, memorable art events in Valencia, even if it is just for an audience of six or an “aforo” (venue capacity) of three….. with the rest of us patiently socially distancing outside. Within whatever we can safely and legally do, we can create. But it needs new models and a new immediacy in the relationship between organiser and audience. Art events must become art happenings again – intimate, flexible, occasionally chaotic and all the more unforgettable for it.
And I think where we start is with a good, old-fashioned mailing list. So here it is. Add your email and I will send you invitations to the art happenings we’re organising in this amazing city. They are small, extraordinary and just may be rather historic. You are an even more significant part of making them happen. Let me tell you about them now.
By submitting your email you agree to receive art event details and invitations from me, Bay Backner. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in these emails. (I’ll meet you at an underground, covid-responsible art event this year).
Bay curated a series of weekly covid-responsible art events throughout October 2020. In collaboration with art collective Colonia Roma, the events included artist talks, art workshops and discussions. Highlights were artist Emma Shapiro‘s discussion on social media censorship and Tina McCallan‘s workshop on shamanistic journeys into the subconscious.
Bay Backner 