Exhibition Curated + Produced by Ronaldo
Patiño & Sam Elkind of Sights & Sounds
Patiño & Sam Elkind of Sights & Sounds
Art by Armon Naeini (Entroplay) & Usman Jamil (Vohua Mana)
Hosted by Secret Riso Club
Riso Prints by Secret Riso Club
Brooklyn, New York - Dec 2024
DTHRR is a new media exhibit featuring digital sculptures, immersive installations, and audio/visual works by artists Armon Naeini (Entroplay) and Usman Jamil (Vohua Mana). Part of Et al., the Sights & Sounds sub-series that spotlights individual visual or auditory components for focused exploration, the exhibit delves into the art of dithering—a technique in print and Risograph that uses halftone dots to create gradients and textures. In the digital realm, dithering mimics this by blending colors through intricate patterns of light, bridging physical and virtual aesthetics.
Grand opening was held in Secret Riso Club on December 17th, 2024 from 7:00 to 11:00pm. On view until Jan 10th.
Photos by Henry Vogt @votehank
Works on Display at DTHRR
DTHRR showcases six captivating works by Entroplay (Armon Naeini) and Vohu Mana (Usman Jamil), exploring the convergence of analog and digital techniques.
Entroplay’s interactive installations and AR/XR experiences delve into identity and chaos, transforming the halftone patterns of print into dynamic, light-based visuals. His works invite viewers to engage with shifting perceptions of self through real-time digital interactions.
Entroplay’s interactive installations and AR/XR experiences delve into identity and chaos, transforming the halftone patterns of print into dynamic, light-based visuals. His works invite viewers to engage with shifting perceptions of self through real-time digital interactions.
Vohu Mana combines design engineering and digital art to craft video-driven LED installations that merge precision with play. His immersive works reinterpret halftones as vibrant landscapes of color and movement, reflecting the harmony of form and function.
Presented across screens iterating through a diverse range of visuals, the six pieces bridge the tactile and the digital, offering a sensory exploration of ink, pixel, surface, and screen.
Presented across screens iterating through a diverse range of visuals, the six pieces bridge the tactile and the digital, offering a sensory exploration of ink, pixel, surface, and screen.
Artists Bio:
Armon Naeini (Entroplay) is a multimedia artist, creative technologist, and educator. His work navigates the paradox of embodiment and dissociation through the augmentation of self-image. Armon produces interactive installations, AR/XR experiences, real-time visuals, and experimental software to explore the relationship between identity and chaos.
Usman Jamil (Vohua Mana) is a design engineer and artist based in Brooklyn. Through design and the art of engineering, he explores the space between play and work, form and function. Usman seeks to integrate his many skills through video art, dance music, andinstallation work into a broader narrative of humans in the digital age.
https://www.sightsandsounds.io
Brooklyn, New York
A project in combined action by Can Can Press (CDMX) & Secret Riso Club (NY)
September 2024
We celebrated both studio’s 7 year anniversary to showcase the longevity, creativity, abundance and richness of practice that is amplified through friendship, connection and resource sharing.
The International Risograph Coalition, a combined action by Can Can Press (CDMX) & Secret Riso Club (NY), is an initiative that brings together artists, designers, and Riso studios to create a community of sharing and mutually beneficial practices. The IRC activities include workshops, pop-ups and collaborations that celebrate the spirit of independent publishing and use of Risograph which connects across borders and cultures. Pushing against capitalist principles that breed competition and whisper notes of scarcity, the ethos of the alliance is that one cannot do this work alone and are better together, with a growing network of supporters, collaborators and friends.
For the past seven years, Secret Riso Club and Can Can Press have grown their practices in New York and Mexico City respectively. Both born from the idea of growing a creative art practice that centers art and design, connects with community and embraces experimentation, the parallel practices have met at many intersections.
"Blue Plate Special" (BPS) – a photographic series that is printed on handcrafted ceramic plates, using Cyanotype technique and accented with silver-coated rims.
by Youvalle Levy
September 2024
Secret Riso Club Gallery
The plates are produced in a limited edition of 6+ap, with each plate being unique due to the long process of making them. The process begins with taking the photographs, mainly on 35mm film, which are then transformed into 1:1 negatives. These images are delicately printed onto the Bisque ware plates using cyanotype method. This process ensures that each plate becomes unique for a distinct interplay of variables, ranging from the subtle idiosyncrasies of the ceramic surface to nuanced factors like exposure duration and chemical mix.
In 2021 Levy started taking photographs of food; Her subjects ranged from dishes found in restaurants, home-cooked meals, fresh produce from local markets, pastries, and even the bounties of her own garden. Infused with personal narratives, each photograph resonates with memories of gatherings with loved ones or just simple breakfast. By immortalising these snapshots on ceramic plates, Levy elevates the significance of these instances, creating souvenirs-like items from day-to-day events.
The distinct Prussian Blue hues, of the cyanotype printing on ceramics, corresponds with traditional Chinese porcelain ware or “fine china”, which are common collectable items that usually depicts beautiful nature scenes. A nuance surfaces as Levy's photographes of pizza slices or English breakfasts against this backdrop of refined blue ceramics, creating an interplay of contrasts that adds a bit of humour to the photographic series.
The name Blue Plate Special draws from the Diners in North America where the term 'Blue Plate Special' means Today's Special or Dish of the Day.
The BPS installation is a site-specific exhibition featuring six plates arranged on a dining table with a white tablecloth and silverware. Additionally, three plates are displayed on the wall, and one plate is positioned on a plinth. Each of the ten has a unique print.
The name Blue Plate Special draws from the Diners in North America where the term 'Blue Plate Special' means Today's Special or Dish of the Day.
The BPS installation is a site-specific exhibition featuring six plates arranged on a dining table with a white tablecloth and silverware. Additionally, three plates are displayed on the wall, and one plate is positioned on a plinth. Each of the ten has a unique print.
Born in 1991, Youvalle Levy is an artist, photographer, and the co-founder of Replika Publishing.
After studying photography at BTK Berlin and architecture at Universität der Künste, Youvalle developed an interest in urbanism, exploring the beauty found in the abandoned and ignored aspects of everyday life. Her diverse body of work spans photobooks, installations, printmaking, video, and ceramics. Each piece invites viewers to reconsider their surroundings and appreciate the often-overlooked elements of urban environments.
After studying photography at BTK Berlin and architecture at Universität der Künste, Youvalle developed an interest in urbanism, exploring the beauty found in the abandoned and ignored aspects of everyday life. Her diverse body of work spans photobooks, installations, printmaking, video, and ceramics. Each piece invites viewers to reconsider their surroundings and appreciate the often-overlooked elements of urban environments.
Twist Book Launch & Exhibition
by Grade Solomon
August 2024
Secret Riso Club Gallery
My more recent journeys to Cuba and Mexico happened on the heels of a rough winter in Salt Lake City. For me the sun has not only been a symbol of stability but also asource of health and vitality. I always noticed a shift in my temperament during extended periods without direct exposure. That winter was the beginning of the end of the caterpillar. Starting with Cuba and then making my way to the Yucatan where its virtually summer year round. For this reason, the Sun is a recurring visual motif in this edition.
The 0’s and 1’s interspersed throughout the book are a reference to Diloggun a binary Afro Cuban divination system that originated in West Africa. It exists in Cuba today as a spiritual system with amalgamation of African and Indigenous influences. This Cuban adaptation of Odu mirrors the journey and transformation of the word “Lagniappe”. It underscores how individuals, much like “lagniappe” and the caterpillar undergo transformation while retaining a core essence.
During my travels in the Yucatan, I discovered the Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation storythat details the Mayan cosmology and much like most ancient creation stories, it aims to explain the origin of everything through allegory and storytelling. One notion that resonated with me was that there is no distinction between human beings and nature. Rather, everything exists within a network of relationships. The Popol Vuh shares many similarities with other ancient creation stories.
For example, Grandmother Moon (Xmucane) and Grandfather Sun (Xpiyacoc) created men of clay, much like the Tore in the Efe creation story of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Enki from the Sumerian creation epic. The way the Mayans viewed color was a huge inspiration in this book. The Maya envisioned the universe as four-sided, each corner marked by a Ceiba tree colored according to the direction it represented: red for the east, white for the north, black for the west, and yellow for the south, with green representing the center. The colors blue and green share the same glyph, rendering them almost interchangeable in the eyes of the Maya. For Lagniappe, these hues were not just aesthetic choices but a reference to a rich and deeply connected ancient culture whose legacy still lives on today in the Yucatan, reflecting their reverence for nature and the cosmos and serves as a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things in our world.
“For Lagniappe, these hues were not just aesthetic choices but a reference to a rich and deeply connected ancient culture whose legacy still lives on today in the Yucatan, reflecting their reverence for nature and the cosmos and serves as a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things in our world.”
