In a statement accompanying work from her Yale MFA studies (grad ’22), New-Orleans-based artist Ashley Teamer cites the batture – the constantly shifting land between low tide and the levee along the Mississippi River – as inspiration. Her dynamic image collage ‘4912 St Bernard Ave’ in the group show ‘We Buy Gold’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery is a highlight of an exhibition described by its curator as being about change, slippage and breakthrough. A figure in pink shoes and dress (like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz) appears to plunge down into a tangle of branches both photographed and drawn while above, among the clouds and in another realm, is another figure with their back to us. Teamer tempts viewers to ask what will transpire next in this evocative story. (Curated by Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels. The exhibition is also at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea space through Aug 11th.)
