LOS ANGELES 2020 | LOS ANGELES 2021 | ITALY 2021 | BERLIN 2021
×

About Suturo

suturo.com is a new dynamic and interactive website that reacts uniquely to each visitor as they navigate the site, allowing for exploration that fosters new formal and conceptual perspectives between the art, the poems, and the viewers.

Project Team
Steven Wolkoff
Alexandra Wiesenfeld
Eugene Ahn

Website
VAMA Creative

×

Suturo mailing list

Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2020

George Orwell barely escaped the vortex in the Gulf
of Corryvreckan, called Charybdis Brecani by St. Adamnan.
To take the name Orwell keeps the whirlpool close.
 
These Lacassine cities grew out of loathing: Opelousas,
prettier than a row of crape myrtles the grazing horses.
George Orwell barely escaped the vortex. In the Gulf,
 
the Gator Chateau, near Evangeline, serves Hurricanes.
Calcasieu: a kid's throwing bottle caps at the fuel pumps;
the fizz of it keeps the whirlpool close.
 
Trucks haul carnival rides, coils of chain link fencing,
portable generators. An army convoy goes by;
who knows if they escaped the vortex in the Gulf.
 
A washed dollar comes up pale fuschia, like a spoonbill.
In these parts, fuschia blooms without hoopla
but its radial symmetry keeps the whirlpool close.
 
The cormorants shuffle feathers like a deck,
then land on the stern where coil the ropes.
George Orwell barely escaped the vortex in the Gulf.
To take the name Orwell keeps the whirlpool close.

Artwork
George
24 x 24 inches
Acrylic, serigraph, and custom code on wood
Sean Noyce @sean.noyce

Poem
Eric Arthur Blair 2014
From "Privacy Policy: The anthology of surveillance poetics" Edited by Andrew Ridker Black Ocean
Ange Mlinko

Explore more in Artists and Poems

Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2020

Presented with Durden and Ray

Exhibition Team
Steven Wolkoff
Alexandra Wiesenfeld
Jenny Hager

Artists
Eugene Ahn, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Arezoo Bharthania, Jorin Bossen, Debra Broz, Nancy Buchanan, Gavin Bunner, Ismael de Anda III, Jacci Den Hartog, Yasmine Diaz, Tomory Dodge, Tom Dunn, Roni Feldman, Yrneh Gabon, Bia Gayotto, Mark Steven Greenfield, Kio Griffith, Gronk, Jenny Hager, Katie Herzog, Geraldine Hudson, Phung Huynh, Carmine Iannaccone, Bryan Ida, Ichiro Irie, Ben Jackel, Monica Juarez, Alexander Kroll, David Leapman, Constance Mallinson, Dakota Noot, Sean Noyce, Claudia Parducci, Lara Porzak, Rebecca Ripple, Gabby Rosenberg, Christopher Russell, Liza Ryan, Roland Seto, Theodore Svenningsen, Holly Tempo, Doug Wichert, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Steven Wolkoff, Torie Zalben

About Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2020

×

Curatorial statement

Early in the pandemic, several facebook friends posted that they were looking for poems to read at a funeral. Given the number of deaths around the world, this request was probably too common.

We often turn to poetry to mark big occasions, to help give these moments more meaning, to better convey the sentiments we feel but cannot express, or to help make sense of things we don’t fully understand.

In the middle of this pandemic, and all the other crises running alongside it, when so many moments are limited to words shared at a social distance, the need for poetry seems much greater.

In Artists and Poems we are inviting artists to pair their work with a poem that has meaning for them given the current state of their world. The pair of works – poem and visual art – are presented together.

Artists and Poems creates a platform for contemplation, responding to the turmoil of recent events through a lens of art and poetry. The juxtaposition of visual art and verse provides insight into both the artists’ work and the poems they have chosen.

The first show was a survey of Los Angeles artists in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election. The second show, Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2021, covers the period from Election Day until Inauguration Day. Future shows will explore other cities and other curatorial frameworks, and will include additional curators.

--- Steven Wolkoff, February 2021