Untitled 14: SooVAC’s 14th Juried Exhibition

Untitled 14 Artists: Lamia Abukhadra, Wen-Li Chen, Justine Di Fiore, Mara Duvra, Lisa Gordillo, Ralph Hanggi Jr., Chris Heidman, Caitlin Karolczak, Dana LeMoine, Yijia Li, Brady McLearen, Edie Overturf, Lindsay Splichal, Dustin Steuck, Mic Stowell, Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, and Forrest Wasko

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Untitled 14 marks the fourteenth year of SooVAC’s juried exhibition series. Untitled provides opportunities for artists working in any medium and at any stage of their career, resulting in a survey of varied perspectives and provocative work. Each year SooVAC invites guest jurors to select the work, this year it was Teqen Zea-Aida and Gabriel Ritter. Every juror provides a unique aesthetic and curatorial viewpoint, giving the public an opportunity to view fresh artistic voices with every new installment of Untitled.

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This year’s exhibition will feature work of 17 artists from many disciplines, compelling materials and thought-provoking concepts. The work ranges from an installation of Trenzando (braiding) exploring U.S. complicity with violent actions taken during the Guatemalan civil war to a digital new media projection piece that recontextualizes perceptions of narcissism and queer identity. Untitled 14 allows themes to emerge organically; migration, identity, and the body play prominently in this year’s exhibition.

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About Untitled 14’s Jurors:
Teqen Zea-Aida is the founder and director of City Wide Artists, which seeks out work that is contemporary, controversial, and deeply rooted in the ongoing experiences of his selected artists. Looking out across several mediums, his curatorial focus is on emerging inner-city artists of color from within the local community and diverse international voices. City Wide Artists featured over 65 artists from 7 countries. Teqen was born in Colombia, raised in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and lived in between edgy emerging artistic talent as a long-time collector, independent curator and founder of City Wide Artists.

Gabriel Ritter is the Curator and Head of Contemporary Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). Ritter has organized Now Where Were We?, with LA-based artist Dave Muller; A Place We Share, with New York-based artist Aliza Nisenbaum; as well as the world premiere of artist Anne Collier’s Women with Cameras (Self Portrait); and upcoming presentation of video work by artist Kenneth Tam. Prior to his appointment at Mia, Ritter served as the Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art where he oversaw the long-running Concentrations series focusing on internationally emerging and underrepresented artists including Lucie Stahl, Margaret Lee, Chosil Kil, Slavs and Tatars, and Stephen Lapthisophon. Ritter holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also earned his M.A. in art history.

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Special thanks to our jurors, Teqen Zea-Aida and Gabriel Ritter, for all of their work and care with selecting the artists out of hundreds of submissions. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.