Responding to The Abundance strives to present realities of present day excess through the often silenced, and overlooked voice of the artist in the present day patriarchal society in which we inhabit. 

Speaking on the works by women in this exhibition, one recognizes that historically women have knitted, woven, taken family photos for specific reasons - protecting and recording their loved ones, today, though, these same creative endeavors have left the comfort of the home and photo album and have stampeded into the mainstream showing that women, and their voices resonate and need to be heard. Looking back to the Ancient World, one sees that even there it was the female voice, as seen through Lysistrata that was able to identify an issue, and find the most obvious and simple solution - stop fighting as when some suffer, ultimately all suffer. Today, artists such as Aurora Molina, Bego Santiago, Rosana Machado Rodriguez and Natalia Schonowski, through their mediums display the results of excess, be it an excess of one class against another, be it an excess of words and memories that stain the present, or be it the lack of individuality through cookie-cutter social identities. Combined these four women and their works speak on society and our places in society - the way society guides us, leads us astray, and in so doing they elevate social consciousness and take on the role Cassandra, being the ones to foresee, to predict and to struggle with truths apparent to all but ignored by most. Simply put, in a world of excess, there are always those enjoying that excess, but there are also those damaged by that same excess - be it through a loss of self love and an idolization of objects, be it through the labor of others to enable a select few to enjoy the excess - be it through an inability to connect and find oneself through the myriad of the excess.
Being the only male artist in the exhibition, Stefano Ogliari Badessi and his Inflatable Wall Sculpture looks at the excess from a different point of view as a vehicle of self discovery, Ogliari Badessi’s work, while still firmly rooted in the excess finds ways to take that notion of excess and internalize and redefine it to a place where the self can shine and reflect. This is mostly seen in his large scale inflatable site specific works, but here, he has taken the idea of these large scale works and placed it comfortably inside.

Melanie Prapopoulos and Andres J. Mora