COMA is pleased to present Sahara Longe (b. 1994, UK) and Francisco Rodriguez‘s (b. 1989, Chile) two-person exhibition Familiar Strangers, curated by Charlotte Eytan, on view 25 November – 16 December, 2023 at our Darlinghurst space. Acting as a portal into the past and delving into the fluid realm of memory, mundane instances from everyday life are extracted and transformed into palpable recollections, in turn capturing the essence of the human journey and inevitable change over time.
Longe and Rodriguez’s works capture all aspects of growing up: classroom tumult, intimate bedroom encounters, complex emotions felt during teenage years and fleeting public interactions as independentbeings. Chaotic classroom memories from Rodriguez’s early life in Chile come to life depicting the vigor of youth and the hurdles of adolescence. Bedrooms metamorphose into private sanctuaries of teenage years, evoking feelings of vulnerability, curiosity, and self-discovery. Drawing inspiration from a range of sources such as Egon Schiele and Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as western comic books and Japanese animation, Rodriguez’s creations serve as investigations into the potency of images. The integration of posters into his artworks illustrates the pervasive influence of images in our environment, molding our perception of the world. In Rodriguez’s scenes drawings adorn walls, some crumpled on classroom floors like in March Riot I (2023) and March Riot V (2023). Notably, several of the sketches featured within the paintings are authentic cartoons crafted during the artist’s school days. Within the paintings, these casual drawings blur the line between reality and the meticulously constructed facade of the surrounding world, akin to cinematic shots in an urban film.
Longe, too, freezes memories in time, turning them into what she calls “snapshots of people.” Her characters, whether depicted in the ordinary act of walking by each other, caught in contemplation, seen in Blue Dress (2023), or engrossed in a moment of interaction as depicted in Jealousy (2023) and Teenagers (2023), serve as vessels embodying universal experiences. Longe’s figures inhabit an unstable place between alienation and belonging. While Rodriguez’s pieces mostly feature distinct locations, Longe’s backdrops deal in ambiguity. Her figures are suspended within vibrant blocks of color and geometric form, much like puppets on a stage waiting to be manipulated. Their unresponsive expressions, accentuated by the blur of color and shape surrounding them, convey a sense of disengagement. This also points to the projection of memories and the spatial inconsistencies evident within them.
Longe and Rodriguez create an atmosphere in which ordinary tasks take on an uncanny quality, reflecting contemporary urban life with its accompanying tensions laid bare. The theatrical nature present in both of their works brings to the fore the malleability and performative nature of social roles that are altered according to external forces and influences. The common flatness to how both artists approach their paint, with compositional contradictions that blur reality and imagination, leaves viewers with an uncomfortable mixture of familiarity turned forebode. Rodriguez’s painting White Shirt (2023) and Longe’s Blue Dress (2023) have titles reduced to their essential components: attire. By stripping away elaborate descriptions and character individuality, these become simple placeholders for viewers to project their own stories, experiences, and identities.
Familiar Strangers explores the contradiction of its title. Memories and everyday life share an eerie relationship: from quiet moments in our childhood bedrooms contemplating our uncertain adolescent years to bustling city streets filled with strangers carrying unique personal histories. By investigating shared collective experience, Longe and Rodriguez depict the balance between being familiar and feeling unfamiliarity. Their works force viewers to confront the tangible memories in their own lives, the power of seemingly trivial events that shape the world, and the common emotional threads connecting us all, despite our differences.
– Charlotte Eytan
