Sonja John

inflorescence, n.

botany. 

the mode in which the flowers of a plant are arranged in relation to the axis and to each other; the flowering system

Sonja John curatorial projects and The Yard, Williamsburg are pleased to present Influorescence, a solo show featuring eight new still life paintings by Gabriella Moreno.

Still life painting relies upon acts of mutual recognition: the artist recognizing her objects of study, and the viewer recognizing the artist’s intent. It relies on the viewer’s faith that the objects being arranged on the illusory plane of canvas are exactly what they say they are, and behave in ways recognizable as still life: that is, they quietly occupy the familiarity of domestic spaces, hinting at, but not shouting out, their myriad stories.

That this recognition might still provoke moments of miscommunication is an integral aspect of Gabriella Moreno’s playful approach to still life, and to painting in general. 

Gabriella Moreno paints plantains--or bananas, depending on the point of view. These fruits, ever present at any Latin or Caribbean dining table, serve as shorthand for both Moreno’s Cuban cultural heritage and the body. The ambiguous shape of the plantain offers itself up for dozens of fleshy interpretations--even the terminology for the growth patterns of banana cultivars conjure up human anatomy: a finger of plantain, a hand of bananas. Over and over, her fruits mirror and arch over each other, the fingers of each fruit leaning heavily against each other, falling precariously from imaginary tables, stacking over each other until the shadow of one fruit is indistinguishable from the substance of its neighbor.

Her work is vividly arresting, irresistibly tactile. Slippery and evasive, Moreno trades the material bulk and viscosity of painting for dynamic, rigorous mark making, lending her images an energy that can only be fully realized through the directness of drawing. Using materials such as fluorescent puffy paint, glitter glue, and satin, she evokes both a sense of artless, whimsical girlhood and the tactile sensuality of skin. Using reflective and translucent materials to her advantage, her plantains slide in and out of view, as if winking coyly from their reclined positions. Looking at her work is a giddy experience, as if one has just raided the craft store, or been caught up in the flush of flirtation. With a rush of color, Moreno invites us into a world of serious play and hedonic ambiguity, where a hand and a family heritage and an inflorescence of plantains resonate as one and the same, branching off into a fractal array of meaning.

Gabriella Moreno has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of Visual Arts, where she was awarded the Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship. She has exhibited in New York, Glasgow and Rome, and co-founded an independent curatorial project that focuses on challenging conventional narratives in the contemporary market. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.