Aurora Abzug
Meet the Curator of The September Collection
Very, Very Close Encounters
Collect Bean: What about this group of artists compelled you to curate them together?
Aurora Abzug: Aside from being a group of many of my favorite artists, the people who make up this show all have a sort of intuitive mysticism to their work. There’s something supernatural and quotidian at the heart of each artist’s aesthetics, as well as a deep study of subject matter that stood out to me.
Collect Bean: How has your taste evolved, especially while developing friendships with other artists?
Aurora Abzug: When I first started making close friends with other visual artists, they mostly were curated into group shows with me. Working with similar materials, these artists created work that spoke to me immediately. Over time, making artist friends at residencies and events in the city, I’ve encountered practices very different from mine and have learned to love sculpture, abstraction, surrealism, and print media. Not only has taste evolved beyond the figurative realism bubble I began in, but my own work has also expanded.
Collect Bean: What do you want people to take away from viewing this exhibition?
Aurora Abzug: This is such a challenging time to exist in the world. I really hope people view this body of work and feel like there is magic left on Earth and that we, as artists and humans, can create it and share it with each other.
Collect Bean: Please tell us more about the title, Very, Very Close Encounters, and how it resonates with you.
Aurora Abzug: Very, Very Close Encounters refers to magical, otherworldly, or sublime events witnessed up close. The works of art in this show don’t just have a vaguely mystical ambiance—they capture ephemeral, ethereal phenomena square-on and in vivid detail. As an artist, I frequently deal with close-ups and extreme detail. I wanted to curate a show with various possibilities for specific subjective focus, with a common theme of everyday magic running throughout.
Collect Bean: What gets you excited about discovering a new artist? What are you looking for?
Aurora Abzug: I feel excited when I discover an artist’s work, and my gut reaction is, “I wish I’d painted that.” But, I feel especially ecstatic when I see a piece and think, “I could never have painted that – I wouldn’t even dream to.” The artists in this show fall largely into that second category. I look for art with a mystery at its core – something about the subject matter or the technique that I can’t even begin to understand.
