Videos

The Space Between:
Video Installations by Alba Soto, David Gumbs, Edison Peñafiel
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 21, 2016, 7pm

The Screening Room is pleased to present The Space Between a multi-media exhibition by Alba Soto, David Gumbs, and Edison Peñafiel, curated by Crisveth Ortega and Jesus Petroccini.

The Space Between brings together three abstract videos that reveal various states of consciousness, where unsettled inner conflicts arise from personal experiences and one’s own unique perception of those events.  While each video is presented in three different contexts, the feminine form, water, and political unrest, they all share qualities of the subconscious, without dialogue, and only dreamlike sequences.  These video works fill the space between reality and illusion, a kind of comfort zone, where their moving images come together to form a new idea.

Alba Soto explores her femininity through the nature of memory and the layering of objects that create an illusion, which would otherwise not exist.  For Soto, these illusions are a form of escape between reality and her memory of what occurred.

Inspired by the French Philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s studies in Water and Dreams, David Gumbs takes on a personal interpretation of water in the magical bond that gives life and that connects the living. On contact it can purify during sacred rituals. As part of the natural balance in nature, water gives and takes life. In this video series, it depicts micro and macroscopic universes of underlying memories, a recollection of transforming fluids where water is linked to earth, air, and fire.

Edison Peñafiel’s work explores experiences of social injustice, and ideas about displacement and the worldwide migrant crisis caused by economic, political, and religious instability. His practice consists of combining techniques that include photography, drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and found objects. Through the language of movement, he draws from German Expressionist Films, Russian Constructivism, and de-constructivism, producing surreal settings and sharp edge architecture.  Peñafiel’s multi-media installations, layered with political satire and excerpts from contemporary songs or poems, place us on a timeline, reminding us of the absurdity of todays’ current events.
 
Biography

Alba Soto
Alba Soto holds a Ph.D in Fine Arts from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.  She studied Visual and Scenic Arts and is a specialist in interdisciplinary and performing tools for creation and teaching practice.  From 2009 to 2016, Dr. Soto served as the chairperson and as a professor of Fine Arts at Universidad Nebrija. Dr. Soto has conducted workshops and seminars at a number of universities around the world, including the Kymenlaakson University of Applied Sciences in Finland, the UCA University for the Creative Art in the UK, Hochschule für Künste Bremen in Germany, and Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. Dr. Soto’s work is underpinned by intuition, spontaneity, and surprise as a survival strategy and her performances, video art and drawings have been showcased at a number of national and international festivals and exhibitions.
 
David Gumbs
David Gumbs is a multimedia artist from the island of Saint-Martin. In 2016, Gumbs won the Award winning Davidoff Art Initiative Beijing Artist Residency in China. His work was shown at Video Islands in New York, and at the opening exhibition of the Memorial Acte Museum in Guadeloupe, in 2015 (Macte). In 2014, at the Trinidad+Tobego Film Festival – New Media, at the Transforming Spaces - Bahamas, at the Beep Bop Boop New Media Festival - Florida. In 2013, at the BIAC Biennal - Martinique, at Art Bémao New media selection - Guadeloupe. In 2012, at Happy Island Project Biennal - Aruba. And in 2009 at the prestigious Latitudes, Paris City Hall. Gumbs has taken part in numerous new media festivals in Europe, for example, the Arborescence Festival in Aix-en-Provence, France.
 
Edison Peñafiel:
Edison Peñafiel (b. 1985, Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Miami. Peñafiel’s work has most recently been in a solo exhibition at Centre Gallery at the University of South Florida and multiple group shows, including the Atlantic Center for the Arts, NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Art and Culture Center, and Little Haiti Cultural Center, amongst others. Peñafiel holds a BFA from the Florida International University.