I Feel Everything at a Moment’s Notice
Photos courtesy of Ed. Varie
Ed. Varie
184 East 7th Street
West Storefront
New York, NY 10009
February 25 - March 26, 2023
Ed. Varie is pleased to present I Feel Everything at a Moment’s Notice, a two-person exhibition showcasing works produced by Matías Alvial and Tin Nguyen, curated by Nakai Falcón. Sifting through the gem-like qualities of the human experience captured through painting and photography, I Feel Everything at a Moment’s Notice meditates on the subtle details and complexities that lay within instances of intimacy, embrace, benevolence, and care. The dynamics and states of being we encounter in both solitary and social spaces. Excitement and fear, sadness and wonder, joy and disappointment; vital elements that contribute to the sculpture of each individual and can be reflected through the works of Alvial and Nguyen. The gathering of photographs and paintings on display carry distinct narrative qualities that feel like fragments of several stories that the viewer can piece together while following the artists’ respective protagonists.
Nguyen’s painting practice explores acts of observation from every angle of their surroundings, and this is evident whether it be a landscape scene of fields and trees, a still life of flowers huddled together, or even the artist’s body lounging in sunlight. Often delving into their emotional states while grappling with the chaotic environment of New York city, the subjects of Nguyen’s paintings are frequently quiet moments that draw him inwards in a practice of self-inquiry. While painting enables the artist to interrogate his own memories and reflect on his subconscious world during the making-process, “the act” of making also provides a connection to his spiritual state by transposing himself into different scenes in time. In turn, creating a healing ritual that establishes a dialogue between past and present introspection. Nguyen’s work is autobiographical and with many of the pieces based on archival photographs that could have been taken a day, a month, or even a year ago, it is the artist’s natural approach to oil painting and use of warmer tones that evokes feelings of remembrance, comfort, and tenderness. Using a combinatory technique of calculated but loose movements, Nguyen’s hand enables the oil to sit with less restriction and engage with the canvas organically, making the paintings playful in their textural detail. Freedom becomes inherent within the work on a material and emotive level as the artist is able to uncover subconscious aspects to their lived experiences and enrich them in a new and expansive light.
As a multimedia artist, the root of Alvial’s work is in photography. Touching on identity and human connection through a documentary-style approach, the focus of his subjects often have the artist recording the activities of himself and others in and in proximity of the queer community. Chronicling movements in between functions as he meets up with friends and strangers, Alvial’s work is informed by a surrealist intentionality that captures scenes where figures from every walk of life appear as though they are all part of an interwoven community of individuals not confined to restrictions of time, place, or even worry. The artist’s photos act as freeze frames of liberated acquaintances and loved ones that meld elements from both the public and private spheres into singular harbors of intimacy. The essence of his photographs is captured through his “fly on the wall” viewpoints that embrace levity and sensual freedom in their candidacy, while peeling back the layers within his visuals to sit with their details. Drawing inspiration from old masters within the art historical vanguard like Caravaggio to more contemporary figures like those from the downtown NY art scene of the early 2000s, Alvial is transparent in his recognition for creatives of the past by exercising and questioning familiar symbols, gestures, and motifs within his own photography. It is through this combinatory lens that the artist creates a refreshing blend of acknowledgment for the past in movements and styles while expanding on their own practice grounded in communal love and a vital awareness for discussions surrounding the self, disruption of societal conventions, and the constantly evolving nature of queer lifestyle.
The works in this exhibition are meant to explore the emotional fluidity that permeates throughout the human experience and the connections we establish over time. Acknowledging how all the variables playing into the interactions between ourselves and our surroundings fall into categories of necessary under goings that can provide insight into things that we may not have recognized at first glance. I Feel Everything at a Moment’s Notice bridges these ideas together by following Nguyen and Alvial’s subjects through two distinct mediums that in the end, share commonalities within their differences and communicate these over themes of person/place relationships, sexuality, and identity.
Matías Alvial (b. 1997) is a Chilean multimedia visual artist, community organizer, and activist based in New York. He explores themes of identity, human connection, gender and sexuality. In Alvial’s words, his practice is compartmentalized, where he captures the real world through documentary-style analog photography and escapes reality through drawing & painting. Yet this dichotomy is unified by his wish to capture the essence of the queer experience. Alvial received a BA in ‘The Aesthetics of Commerce’ from New York University, and has exhibited in New York and Massachusetts, and abroad in Italy and Norway, while also having their work held in private collections.
Tin Nguyen (b. 1989) is a Vietnamese-American visual artist based in New York. He makes observational and autobiographical paintings of what has occurred within his space and surroundings. Working within spontaneous lines and relaxed but precise brushstrokes, the artist is engaged in capturing the beauty in the quotidian, reflecting in these softer moments of life, which otherwise could easily be overlooked. As Nguyen shifts the gaze towards himself, he aims to embrace its lens as a modality for self-inquiry, touching on themes of queer identity, intimacy, and vulnerability. Nguyen has received his BA from the University of Virginia, an AAS from Parsons School of Design and has exhibited his work in China, Greece, and New York while also being held in private collections in the USA, the UK, Europe, Africa, the UAE, and Hong Kong.
Matías Alvial, Orgy (Boy Beach, Provincetown, MA, 2022), 2023, Dye-sublimation on aluminum print,
16 ½” x 29”
16 ½” x 29”
Tin Nguyen, how do you grow into a body, as nature?, 2022, Oil on canvas, 30” x 24”
Matías Alvial, Election Day (Santiago Centro, Chile, 2021), 2023, Dye-sublimation on aluminum print,
15 ¾” x 9”
Tin Nguyen, moon gone, a cold december soiree, 2021, Oil on canvas, 16” x 12”
Matías Alvial, Untitled (For Caravaggio), 2022, Instant film, 3.39” x 2.79”
