Do Not Bend

Kiera Faber and Jes Reyes collectively explore the question, ‘Where do I end and you begin? Do Not Bend is an interdisciplinary body of work stemming from a desire to reach out beyond the individual artist and to share artistically with one another through visual dialogues, embracing vulnerability, trust, and the uncomfortable. What started as a visual response to the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow in mediums and scale through intention and care.

Their unique practice of working back and forth on an individual piece, responding to the other’s mark and expression, has generated a raw, distinct visual vocabulary formed through blending their own individualistic styles into a unified language. Vibrant textile works incorporate salvaged remnants, creating something new from discarded materials; cyanotypes, blue prints made from the sun and fixed by water, are the foundation from which these creations bloom. Delicate works on paper highlight their collective iconography and rich intuitive art-making process. Exquisite corpse poetry is the foundation for their time-based investigations, metaphorically transforming the written word into visual motifs.

Meet the artists at the opening reception on Tuesday October 22nd from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Alice R Rogers and Target Galleries of Saint John’s University. Artist talk will start at 6 p.m.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Thursday: 2 – 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 2 – 6 p.m.