Crit Group 2020
Nov 14 – Dec 13, 2020 @ grayDUCK gallery, Austin, TX

Featuring: Annie Arnold, Rakhee Jain Desai, Lydia Garcia, Sean Ripple, Alexandra Robinson, Saul Jerome E. San Juan, Michael Stephen, and Cheyenne Weaver

The Contemporary Austin and grayDUCK Gallery are pleased to present the exhibition Crit Group 2020, featuring work by eight artists who participated all year in the museum’s Crit Group—a program that combines group critique with professional development to support the holistic artistic practice of local artists. Now in its seventh year, the program aspires to build a supportive community of Austin artists and to strengthen their practices with input from each other and established professionals in the field. In the past, program participants met monthly over nine months for discussions and group critique of new work in progress, culminating in an exhibition. Despite the challenges 2020 posed, this year’s participating artists willingly extended their commitments to the program and each other an additional three months—an inspiring example of the resilience of the creative community.

The culmination of this year’s Crit Group program, the exhibition includes a diverse range of sculpture, installation, textiles, photography, video, and painting. Dynamic and relevant, it features work by these eight talented Austin-based artists who challenged themselves to grow their art practices in new ways and respond to the current moment: Annie Arnold, Rakhee Jain Desai, Lydia Garcia, Sean Ripple, Alexandra Robinson, Saul Jerome E. San Juan, Michael Stephen, and Cheyenne Weaver.

The artists were each invited to participate in the program for a variety of reasons based on the range of their artistic development, moment in their career, and the overall composition of the group. While their art takes distinct forms, a number of themes—including cultural identity, the significance of place, and contemporary issues—have emerged and unite their group exhibition…

While Crit Group 2020 is diverse, each artist is connected by an intense desire to hone his or her artistic practice, a rigorous investigation of the creative process, and support for an artistic community in this moment. More information about each artist and the program can be found atthecontemporaryaustin.org and at grayduckgallery.com.

If you want a good laugh at my amateur-hour video artist statement, click here.