‘Asymmetry’, a two person exhibition by Andrew Samuel Harrison and Nico Cathcart
December 9, 2022 – February 18, 2023
Assembly | 400 Granby Street | Norfolk, Virginia
The CAN Foundation is honored to announce a curatorial and programmatic partnership with Assembly. The collaboration will consist of quarterly exhibitions and monthly curated programming to broaden support for the arts while strengthening our local communities and economy. This partnership will begin with ‘Asymmetry’, a two person exhibition including new work by Andrew Samuel Harrison and Nico Cathcart. The exhibition opening reception will take place on December 9th at 7 pm at Assembly in Norfolk, Virginia, and will run through February 18, 2023.
Asymmetry is defined as a lack of equality or equivalence between parts or aspects of something. The two person exhibition is a demonstration of asymmetry as it pertains to the pairing of the artist’s styles, from line drawing to realism.
The contribution of Andrew Samuel Harrison’s work for ‘Asymmetry’ represents an expansion of the visual language which began with his line drawing in pen and ink as a gateway to radical self acceptance. Throughout 2022, Harrison has explored the oil medium, allowing it to dictate subjects itself as he familiarized himself with it’s uses. Additionally, the notion to somehow create artworks with alternatively sourced materials led to experiments with traffic cones and consideration of authority in technique and commercialism in art practice. The most recent series of drawings in oil seizes upon raw expressive marks and serves as a restatement of the intention of his line work while reaching back to some of his great influences.
Nico Cathcart’s highly realistic work speaks about current issues that affect our daily lives. Operating under the feeling that art can and should create larger conversations, her Symbiotic Skull series takes on the nuances of climate change. Using the traditional Memento Mori genre that was born out of early European painting, Nico uses skulls, paired with botanicals, and natural elements to explore the immediate connections between humans and the environment. In the work presented in ‘Asymmetry’, she delves into global warming, sea rise, pollinator health, and glacial melt in a way that contemplates both the beauty and destruction we are experiencing in contemporary society.
Exhibition programming will include an artist talk in conjunction with a CAN Foundation Collector’s Association meeting in January and a panel discussion focused on topics explored in Nico Cathcart’s Symbiotic Skull series in February. The exhibition will close on February 18th.
About The CAN Foundation
The CAN Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that engages communities through artist development, arts education, and public art projects. The foundation works with artists, educators, community groups, and local governments to create a vibrant arts culture. Its goal is to raise public awareness of the arts as a unifying force within Hampton Roads and beyond.
About Assembly
Assembly (www.assemblynfk.com) is an iconic building campus for creators and technology innovators in Downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Tenants range from global category leaders to aspiring startups, all sharing common values and a drive to create the world’s foremost products and services built on creativity and innovation. The multi-building campus features curated event programming and inspiring common spaces designed to connect its community, and empowering its tenants to go further, faster by sharing world-class amenities like a rooftop deck, event space, podcast studio, bike share, board room, and more. Assembly is an adaptive reuse of three historic department store buildings totaling 103,000 square feet of office, retail, and collaborative space. Phase 1 opened May 2021 and Phase 2 will begin in 2023.
Andrew Samuel Harrison Bio
At the heart of Andrew Samuel Harrison’s practice is a driving confrontation of self. Engaging the physicality of medium and examining body image as it relates to identity enables him to find expression of personal vulnerability and to open empathetic channels. His work spans abstract figure drawing and painting, biomorphic color-block collage, ready-made assemblage, and studio photography.
Nico Cathcart Bio
Nico Cathcart is a painter and muralist hailing from Toronto, Ontario, and currently living in Richmond, Virginia. She strives to discuss Intersectionality and climate change in her highly-colorful realistic works which often include local flora and fauna. The artist is in the process of going deaf, relying on hearing aids and lip reading to communicate. She often includes birds in her work as a nod to her disability. You can find a TEDTalk about her work, and disability on the youtube TedTALK Channel. An experienced mural painter, she has worked on walls across the country, Most recently in Rochester, Birmingham, Napa, Memphis, Atlanta, and Basel Miami. Nico has been shown at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, and the Hermitage Museum in Norfolk, as well as galleries across the continent. In 2020, Nico was honored as an Agent of Change for her use of activism in her art by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. You can also find Nico discussing her work in the emmy-winning documentary Mending Walls on PBS.