CURE/RATED: Bigotry, A Societal Cancer

CURE/RATED: Bigotry, A Societal Cancer is the latest installment in HOFA's ground-breaking exhibition series focused on spotlighting the portfolios of select art collectors. It is jointly curated by Las Vegas-based oncologist, Dr. Fadi Braiteh, and New York-based physician and entrepreneur, Dr. Dan Nguyen, who share a deep passion for contemporary art and a conviction in the transformative, redemptive power of art.

Drawing parallels between the debilitating effects of metastatic cancer and the cancerous suffering and discord brought on by deep-rooted bigotry, both curators have chosen to feature artists whose works dissect the troubling schisms in society through the narrative perspectives of marginalized groups.

Fadi and Dan share mutual admiration for the thirteen emerging artists whose artworks will feature in CURE/RATED: Bigotry, A Societal Cancer. These include Iranian American painter, Amir Fallah whose politically charged painting, Remember This (2020), draped the facade of the Institute of Contemporary Art San José, California, during the 2020 US elections.

The exhibition will highlight select portraits from Amir’s From the Primitive to the Present collection which pay homage to the universality of human experience across place and time through the intentional relegation of the superficial. Also set to feature is Alannah Farrell whose vivid narrative paintings, like the controversial Sam and Richard (2019), celebrate queer identity and sexuality while also challenging some of the conventional assumptions that fuel gender-based prejudice.

Alongside will be Christian Ruiz Berman; multi-talented artist, curator, poet, and academic whose magical realist collage paintings are infused with the vibrance and symbolisms of his native Mexico. His meditative dissections of personal and collective experience will be on display during the exhibition, providing a glimpse of the artist’s scathing renditions of the root causes of bigotry.

Select works by Katelyn Ledford, Lindsey Kircher and Jacob Hicks will also appear in the upcoming HOFA exhibition, representing multifaceted perspectives on sexism and the tireless effort of women to overcome it. While Katelyn Ledford's deconstructed portraits incorporating collaged symbols from pop culture and historical portraiture throw light on the unfair and unrealistic expectations western society places on women, Lindsey Kircher portrays resilient women whose thick limbs and fulsome bodies challenge western conventions of beauty while also amplifying the power and dominance of the female presence.

In a similar vein, Jacob Hicks challenges the objectification of women by creating female icons in a transcendent, cross-cultural style that combines influences from multiple sources including renaissance art and sacred iconography.

Solomon Adufah, Eric Foss, Kezia Harrell, Brian Robertson, Carlson Hatton, and Michael Cline complete the outstanding ensemble of contemporary artists billed to showcase their works in CURE/RATED: Bigotry, A Societal Cancer.

Though their differing approaches range from celebratory self-expression to satirical social criticism, revelatory deconstruction, and critical self-portraiture, these artists recognize identity as a key locus of the violence of bigotry. Their narrative portraits invariably affirm the power of agency innate to everyone irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, or culture.

Speaking on this upcoming exhibition, PAVE Contemporary co-founder Elio D'Anna said, "The response to our Curated exhibition series has been amazing and working closely with art collectors like Fadi and Dan who are passionate about discovering and supporting emerging artists is very exciting."

He adds, "CURE/RATED: Bigotry, A Societal Cancer takes on a topic that's at the forefront of people’s minds everywhere in the world today. Art can help us heal and grow in awareness, and we hope that viewers will be open to examining how they see people who are different because this is an important step towards embracing diverse identities and pushing back against bigotry in all its form."