ampersand international arts is thrilled to announce an exciting new group exhibition, Play House, inspired by the uniqueness of the gallery/home space. Play House, featuring works by five mixed medium Bay Area artists, Alise Anderson, Malcolm Kenter, Terry Powers, Sofie Ramos, and Maryam Yousif, opens Friday, May 4th, 2018.

For her curatorial debut, Sofie Ramos invites local artists currently examining the juxtapositions of functional, decorative and conceptual artworks surrounding domestic themes. The exhibition will feature Alise Anderson's textile and rug manipulations, Malcolm Kenter's miniature replicas of different dwellings, Terry Powers’ observational paintings of lived spaces, Sofie Ramos's site-specific installations utilizing re-purposed household materials, alongside Maryam Yousif's surreal pottery and macramé — each artist spotlighting a deeper interpretation of the notion of “home” and the familiarity, chaos, beauty and melancholy that often surrounds it.

Join us at ampersand international arts' live/work venue May 4th through June 1st for Play House, featuring Alise Anderson, Malcolm Kenter, Terry Powers, Sofie Ramos, and Maryam Yousif, curated by Sofie Ramos.

Alise Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. From 2007 to 2009 she studied Modern Dance Performance and Choreography at Utah Valley University. With her work, there is a subtle humor in everything she creates, even if it stems from a darker memory, story or feeling. She uses fiber art practices, often painstaking and time-consuming, labors of love to tell these stories, adding another layer to the work's interplay between things tender (soft) and severe. This year her work was showcased in KnitWit Magazine and Kole Magazine, both fiber and textile publications. This Summer she has been invited as an artist in residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Anderson currently lives and works in Oakland.

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Malcolm Kenter was born in San Francisco, CA in 1987. His artwork is a narrative account and portrayal of his observation and experience of urban industry and modern architecture. He has created miniature replicas of buildings for public art display, video and commission. His work has been shown at the Spring/Break Art Fair, New York, NY (2018), Kiosk Museum, San Francisco, Ca (2017), Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, Ca (2016), Ratio 3, San Francisco, Ca (2015).

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Terry Powers is a painter who lives and works in San Francisco. Terry received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003, and his MFA from Stanford in 2013. When he isn’t teaching, or taking care of his newborn son, Terry makes paintings concerning how the world looks, how it can be translated into oil paint.

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Sofie Ramos was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1990 and now lives and works in San Francisco, CA. She graduated with an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley in 2015 and received a BA in Visual Art from Brown University in 2013. Known for her colorful and chaotic installation-based paintings that incorporate the architecture of the existing space as well as sculptural constructions and found objects, she explores spatiality in painting as a physical and tangible experience and exposes/amplifies the connections and relationships between works of art and their physical and social contexts. She has exhibited recently all over the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, and randomly in Mechelen, Belgium.

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Maryam Yousif is an Oakland based artist working in ceramics, painting and instillation. She received her BA in Visual Arts from the University of Windsor in Canada and her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute. Her work is inspired by American and Iraqi kitsch and pop aesthetics alongside ancient forms and structures particular to Mesopotamia. She has exhibited at R/SF Projects (San Francisco, CA), Brilliant Champions Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), CTRL SHFT collective (Oakland, CA) and Guerrero Gallery (San Francisco, CA). She is a member of CTRL+SHFT Collective.

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Play House

Alise Anderson
Malcolm Kenter
Terry Powers
Sofie Ramos
Maryam Yousif

Closing Reception:
Saturday, June 2nd
1pm-4pm

Exhibition Dates:
May 4th - June 2nd, 2018

Gallery Hours:
Thursdays and Fridays
12pm-5pm
or by appointment