In BODILY BODIED, the human body serves as the structure upon which artists Kitty Taniguchi, Marc Salamat, and Othoniel “Otto” Neri delve into the intersection of myth-making and politics, as well as the spectrum of emotion and bodily desires.

Kitty Taniguchi’s paintings are a visual expression of her personal mythology as an artist. Taniguchi’s iconography, which involves mythical creatures and animals (such as the unicorn, black bird, lion, and cheetah, among others), depicts the sensuality and sensibilities of a woman in an urban setting. Such pictorial idiom is evident in her work “In the Street of New York” where the artist seeks to establish the act of sightseeing as a way of telling narratives and projecting one’s identity in a foreign place. When all of these elements are viewed as a whole, Taniguchi’s poetic tendencies make meaning out of their metaphorical sense by alluding to a certain emotion or idea.

The overarching credo that informs Marc Salamat’s work is: “we are all one, and we are all connected”. This manifests in his meticulously detailed representations of the human body that intermingle with nature and the cosmos, illustrating the interdependence of all things. Salamat’s work “The Divine Play” is inspired by the divine of play or lila in sanskrit, an idea of accepting one’s role in the world and an appreciation for the joy of living. This idea penetrates much of the core of his works in the exhibit, all of which speak to a deep and encompassing bond to everything that transcends even our worldly physical being.

Othoniel “Otto” Neri’s compelling figurative work demonstrates an impeccable command of color and texture. In “Piece of Mind”, Neri masterfully toys with word play and visual imagery. The work, featuring a dove resting atop a skull with seaweed-like tendrils surrounding the whole canvas, speaks to the nature of human mortality, the power of transcending our physical bodies in death, and the peace that follows our passing from this world to the next.