SIDE QUEST | ODETTE GRASKIE
Side Quest showcases a visual narrative of Odette Graskie's natural gravitation towards human connection, play, poetry and curiosity. Layered with an obsessiveness in exploring mediums through portraiture - in this reflective method of making, Graskie shifts towards her own curiosity about her practice (currently and as far as her childhood) as the driving force. This in itself serves as a “side quest” for Graskie in exploring a more nuanced view of human interaction and her role in this.
Will those portraits hold a bit of us together?
Graskie’s love for meaningful interaction and human connection is made clear in the process as she constantly considers the viewer experience and encourages them to be active participants in her artworks. Viewers are invited to enjoy the visual narrative laid out before them and in addition can choose to embark on side quests to discover their innate curiosity and affinity to play. This becomes a moment to delight in the now, being present and enjoying the artworks for what they are and the thrill of being part of what they can be.
A kaleidoscope of accumulated portraits - merging, meshing, weaving, overlapping and
layered - the tactile and organic nature of the artworks mimic the nature of human
relationships itself. The delicate and subtle embroidered / threaded surfaces speak to the fragility of connections - the nurturing and efforts put into maintaining and strengthening ties. In “Fibers of a Universe” we see how the layered drawings and dense ink parts highlight the complexity of building, nurturing and growing our outlook and bond with people around us. The titles of the works serve as a prompt or clue to the kind of uncertainties we collectively face.
On a deeper level, the exhibition questions the connections we make and perhaps it's not
always important and it’s not always purposeful but it’s fun right now. A true delight for the
curious and compassionate, Side Quest is an exhibition of reflection and curiosity – a sidestep into connections made (or not made) on the road less travelled.
Welcome to a short interlude, a moment outside your main mission.
Ring the bell to start.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
This body of work is an ode to uncertainty.
Within the making process, all the work felt like me trying to answer a different question every time, each work leading to more and more questions.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
The tunnels, the embroidery, the hanging paper works are diaphanous, each one more see-through than the previous, each one an attempt at playing with the very specificity of the solo gallery space’s large windows on one side.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
Beyond the main world
These pieces, while separate, thread together in this space and become site-specific attempts at embracing the light and the location. The solo gallery space located at the end - the last step in exploring the gallery, has also inspired the idea of the Side Quest. A short interlude, beyond the main world of the gallery, but also beyond the main mission of the viewers.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
Where do these tunnels lead?
Side Quest dives into the theme of uncertainty, of playing until I find an answer to some of my questions. Of never really knowing those answers. An game set up for viewers is an attempt to convey this uncertainty, sitting in discomfort and finding joy in the exploration itself. These questions, a play on the academic research question grappled with in my previous body of work, ask things like “how can someone feel this?”, “where do these tunnels lead?”
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
The road less travelled
On a deeper level, the exhibition questions the connections we make and perhaps it's not always important and it’s not always purposeful but it’s fun right now. A true delight for the curious and compassionate, Side Quest is an exhibition of reflection and curiosity – a sidestep into connections made (or not made) on the road less travelled.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
Artist Blnaket
Threaded Together
To fold.
A layering together of parts.
The blanket is folded, unfolded,
You are enfolded.
I wrap you up
in soft embrace and warm thoughts.
like I layer my drawings
in celebration of those sweet beings.
The blanket is a soft enfolding,
of thoughts, ideas and wishes,
of drawn faces woven together,
of threads tucked in together,
of comfort and rest.
By Odette Graskie
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
Artist Book
Unfolding together
A wonderful feature of portraiture is getting to see another person through different eyes. Looking at someone to make a drawing can open our eyes to seeing them in more detail than we do in the day-to-day, revealing and re-revealing a person to us in surprising ways. This process can be a beautiful unfolding of a person, an opening up and emergence.
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
Image Courtesy of Berman Contemporary
