The works of “Aphist Sid” invite viewers to explore the intersection between painting and photography, forming a body of conceptual paintings that encompasses three distinct stylistic approaches within a single exhibition. The artist is interested in the processes through which disparate elements are assembled into what we call “identity” or “self.” Rather than presenting a coherent subject, the works foreground incompleteness, instability, and an inner void that cannot be fully resolved. What emerges is not a finished individual but a state of becoming — a presence defined as much by absence as by appearance. The portraits thus operate as figures of personhood in formation, existing in a condition of ongoing construction rather than completion.

Black-and-white photographs serve as representations of bodily presence that appear formally intact yet severed from their original context, site of perception, and referential ground. These images are then subjected to digital processes before returning as paintings, revealing the figure as an object that can be produced, dismantled, and reassembled. Visually, the works combine realism with pop sensibilities and contemporary collage, while remaining grounded in a rigorous conceptual framework. This approach resonates with the painterly investigations of Gerhard Richter, the German artist known for bridging photography, painting, and conceptual inquiry.

Rather than offering an idealized vision of humanity, the exhibition poses a question about the conditions of selfhood itself. If identity is constructed from lack, desire, and the pressures of surrounding contexts, what remains of the self? And can the fragments that persist — traces, residues, unfinished images — still be called “us”?

Friday RSVP Evening: March 6th, 5-8pm
Show: March 6th - 20th