Elizabeth Chatham

Lower East Side, NYC (February 16, 2024) - Untitled at 3 Freeman Alley and Azure Arts proudly unveil their limited-time exhibition, ‘For the Love of,’ with an opening in the hotel’s Gallery on February 16, 2024. A captivating visual survey of the multifaceted ways in which humans experience and express love, this exhibition expands outwards from conventional notions of love, inviting viewers to explore its other varied and nuanced manifestations through the work of three distinct New York City-based artists: Ana Garces Kiley, Francesca Schwartz, and Raouf.

What do we mean when we talk about love? Researchers have identified 27 distinct types of love, suggesting that "love" encompasses a broad spectrum of abstract concepts and human experiences. For example, these manifestations sometimes even transcend the interpersonal human realm to include the
cosmos or world around us. Yet could it be that attempts to contain concepts of love are made in vain?

In this exhibition, we refrain from exhaustive efforts at categorizing the myriad forms of human love. Such an endeavor proves futile due to the subjective essence of love and its resistance to linguistic bounds. Rather, we aim to simply present love’s imagery as imagined by the artist. From Raouf's poignant captures
of romantic bonds to Ana's exploration of metaphorical reflections in featured mirror works, we traverse from classical representations to more abstract and esoteric interpretations. Into even further abstraction into near conceptual, the viewer is invited to experience Francesca’s multimedia works fashioned from
elements of bone, ink, chiffon, wax, wood, metals, and images–that, when in conversation, tell the story of how we experience our bodies in the world and those of others. “We love, and then we try to remember. Love shows itself in many forms: ultimately, the love for another is cannibalized and held dearly within,” she says.

About The Artists
Raouf
Belgian-born photographer Raouf honed his craft under notable photographers like Raphael Mazzucco and Don Flood. His work has graced the pages of Marie-Claire, Elle, and Italian Vanity Fair. Renowned for his keen eye and dramatic flair, Raouf swiftly became a sought-after photographer for celebrities such as
Courtney Love and Ashley Greene. Drawing from his background in dramatic arts and dance, Raouf brings a unique visual dynamic to his photography, seamlessly directing models like actors. He currently resides and works in New York City.

Ana Garces Kiley
Ana Garces Kiley, holding an MFA from Columbia University and a BFA from the University of Houston, boasts a prestigious background. As a LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies fellow, she has garnered accolades such as the Joan Mitchell MFA award and the Kimbrough Fund award from the Dallas Museum of Art. Ana's talents have earned her residencies at esteemed institutions like the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts and the AIM program at the Bronx Museum of Art. With teaching experience at renowned institutions like Columbia University and Parsons The New School, Ana's work has graced exhibitions across the globe. Originally from Colombia, she currently resides and creates in New York City.

Francesca Schwartz
The work of Francesca Schwartz is that of a New York-based artist and psychoanalyst whose work rests on her fascination with the contents and materials that make up the body. Initially working in bone, her work has expanded to include paint, wax, metal, found objects and textiles, finding expression in collage and assembled works. Her art-making addresses many of the same questions confronted in her practice, finding meaning through the articulation of the unconscious and the necessary preoccupation with the body, its disappearance, life’s beginnings and death. Schwartz boasts several solo shows, including Mu Gallery in Chicago in 2022, M. David & Co. Gallery in
NY in 2021, and at Studio 1608 in Miami in 2018. She has participated in several art fairs, including Works on Paper, Market, Art and Design, and The Other Art Fair.