Play to Escape

Sometimes, we can’t hold heavy things. Tired of grief, tired of seeing the world in chaos. So perhaps take a moment, and enjoy Play to Escape curated by Shannon Finnell with artists R.A. Fedde, Jingyao Huang, and Soleil Piverger. Slow down and take in the bright and vibrant colors of Fedde’s Quarantine Cats, the playful body collages within the dreaded zoom space created by Piverger, and the peaceful abstract installation of sunrises and sunsets by Huang. Here’s your permission to take a break from the big overwhelming world and breathe. 

R.A. Fedde is a filmmaker, visual artist, and yoga teacher who is endlessly fascinated by the magic of the mundane.  In any medium, she’s seeking to tell a story along with, rather than to, the viewer.  She paints everything from fluorescent cats to strange quarks. Her documentary work has shown at major film festivals and has aired on HBO, PBS, and others.  Her 2018 feature, Five Faces of Shiva, has played to audiences around the world. The film combines her interests in mythology, fine art, mass media, and travel. Her drawings and paintings have been shown at various galleries, primarily in New York City. She spent March of 2022 at an artist residency in Finland. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, lives in Brooklyn, and enjoys travel, competitive fencing, and poetry.

Jingyao Huang (b. 1995, Guangzhou, China) is a visual artist who lives and works in New York City and China. She graduated from the Photography and Video program at the school of Visual Arts (BFA) in 2019. Her works have been exhibited in the United States and China. She is currently an MFA Fine Arts candidate at the School of Visual Arts and will graduate in 2023. 

Soleil Piverger’s (b.2005) practice includes site-specific installation, performance, sculpture, painting, writing, and dreaming. She cares about intention and tunnel vision. Her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards in the categories of photography and ceramics. Themes throughout her work include wordplay, distortion, oneness, and the unnatural. Theatre of the Absurd and Dadaism are heavy influences to Piverger’s work while finding inspiration from artists Marina Abramovic, Gloria Anzaldzúa, Salvador Dalí, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Hayao Miyazaki, Matthew Barney, Dante Alghieri, Yoko Ono, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

While strongly believing that the key to social change is compassionate relationships that lead to genuine support, Shannon Finnell’s work attempts to embody that lesson through the exploration and deconstruction of supportive gestures and moments. Pulling from her BA in Studio Art and Peace Studies from Goucher College in Baltimore, MD, the marriage of visual art and questioning oppressive social structures is where Finnell finds inspiration for her work. She received an MFA in Fine Art Photography from the Parsons School of Design at The New School in 2018 and continues to engage with concepts of support through experimentation of video, installation, photographic practices, collaboration with dance, and curation. Finnell is the Founder and Director of Arts Connective, an arts organization that aims to strengthen international arts conversation through hosting pop-up shows and sharing resources. 

Photo: The Sun by R.A. Fedde