Professional Documents
Culture Documents
For this inaugural edition, three jurors, each an expert in a different area of
the art world, selected six finalists from a pool of more than fifty applicants
representing all areas of the state, from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale to Central
Florida, Gainesville, and Tallahassee, among others. They carefully considered
the merits of each submission, finally putting together an exceptional roster of
artists of diverse backgrounds and experiences, who work in a variety of media
and themes. We are grateful to Omari Booker, Visual Artist, Los Angeles and
Nashville, Jonell Logan, Independent Curator and Vice President and Creative
Director of the McColl Center, North Carolina, and Liz Parks, Art Advisor and
Founder of Parks Fine Art, New York, for their time, commitment, and vision as
they juried each submission. Their participation and engagement in this process
has been invaluable. The expertise of each of the jurors, and their interactions with
the artists will contribute to expand their network and create dialogue as their
practice develops.
This year’s finalists: Eugene Ofori Agyei, Channing Gray, Aimee Jones,
Eric Ondina, Ivan Riascos, and April Webb, conform an artistic cohort that
represents the diversity of approaches to art making—from installation and
FOREWORD
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sculpture, to painting, photography, and collage, the works by these artists
reaffirm the vibrancy of the arts in Florida. As we congratulate the first winner
of the Carlos Malamud prize, we are reminded of how important it is to create
opportunities and to foster rigorous and sustained growth for artists.
We hope that this is the first of many editions of Pathways, and that we can help
prepare and nurture the path for many artists to come. In doing so, we will engage
our wider community, offer practical support for artists, and create new avenues
of engagement with the arts in Florida. “I am very pleased to have partnered with
these excellent institutions, that will help transform the emerging artists of Florida,
in the art and financial fields,” noted Carlos Malamud.
Our sincere gratitude goes to Mr. Malamud for bringing the concept of the
exhibition to the Rollins Museum of Art and providing the funding for the prize,
and to the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation, Presenting Sponsor of the exhibition at
Rollins, for generously funding the installation and catalogue.
The quality of selected and submitted artwork for the Pathways prize was
exceptional. Exposure, experience, and financial assistance are essential
steppingstones for emerging artists. Pathways is a well-rounded opportunity
that will greatly boost the selected artists’ careers.
I appreciate how Channing Gray connects the physical, spiritual, and universal
worlds. Her circular figurative works triggered my imagination and never let me
rest in one place. The mixed media elements as well as the stylized imagery create
realistic work with a dream like quality. Those philosophical questions that are
explored in her work give the pieces a lot of depth.
It was a pleasure participating as a juror for Pathways. As a New York based art
advisor who typically works with more established artists, I was truly overwhelmed
by the quality of the work presented by these young Florida-based artists. They
are testament to the vibrancy of the creative communities and cultures present in
their home state. I have no doubt that the finalists we have selected have bright and
promising art futures ahead of them.
The biting social commentary drew me in, the adept technique made me stay.
Eric Ondina uses imagery taken from the far reaches of social media’s lefts and
rights to comment on our fractured society, point out the absurd, call out the
inconsistencies. Painted using materials most often associated with the Old
Masters, from centuries ago, the contrast of contemporary with old school further
accentuates the dichotomy of incongruities within the current social and political
climate in the United States. Dare we deserve such revered treatment...of the type
typically reserved for the saints but not the sinners?
A sculptor from Ghana currently residing in the US, Eugene Ofori Agyei draws from
his past to circle the square of his present, exploring the emotional links between
the two places he calls home. There is much push-pull in the work - hard/soft,
handcrafted/machine-made, history/the here-and-now. The works function as
three-dimensional poems of Agyei’s emotions, with the ceramic signifying the body;
the batik, its skin; and the yarn, the link between two worlds, two identities. As the
heart and soul of each sculpture, the abstracted corporeal
ceramic forms illustrate Agyei’s technical mastery of clay. As
the skin, the batik helps shroud this form, protecting it, and
perhaps, at times, hiding it away. (And, with batik’s myriad
sites of creation and exportation around the world, it also
serves as a signpost for global trade, a linking of cultures.)
This link is fortified by the yarn, which makes a nod toward
hair braiding in Agyei’s native Ghana but also serves as the
connection to Agyei’s new home. All elements mix and
swirl and ultimately settle into a new hybrid identity.
Photo cred
it: Ira Fox
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High-key color and the fragmentary forms bring power to Aimee Jones’
paintings. Her use of familiar domestic objects and patterns contrast against
her representation, or in some cases, simple suggestion of the figure. These
fragments of the odd and familiar are a wonderful foil for her conversation about
mental health, femininity, and the vulnerability of the body.
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PATHWAYS
FINALISTS
4/28/22 5:20 PM
Eugene Ofori Agyei
is a ceramic sculptural artist and an educator originally from Ghana living in
Gainesville, Florida. He graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana with a BA in Industrial Art, majoring in Ceramics
in 2018. Prior to his MFA at the University of Florida, He was assigned as teaching
and research assistant in the same school where he received his BA for one year.
Eugene is the 2020/2021 recipient of the University of Florida Grinter Fellowship
award, 2022 Artaxis Fellowship award and has exhibited his work internationally
and nationally in Turkey, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (FL), GFAA Gallery (FL),
Coco Hunday (FL), Alvarez Gallery (CT), 4most SAAH Gallery (FL), Watershed
Center Gallery (ME), Grizzly Grizzly Gallery (PA), Taylor Hall Gallery (DE) among
others. He was the 2021 Zenobia awardee at Watershed Center for the Ceramic
Arts and gleaned Best of Show from The In Art Gallery’s social change and open
theme exhibition. Agyei is also the recipient of the 2022 NCECA Graduate Student
Fellowship and the 2022 NCECA Multicultural Fellowship award.
4/28/22 5:20 PM
Eugene Ofori Agyei (Ghanaian b. 1993)
Bond
2021
Earthenware clay, fabric, yarn
70 x 82 x 120 in.
Image courtesy of the artist
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Aimee Jones (American, b. 1992)
Vacation Mode
2021
Oil on canvas
48 x 72 in.
Image courtesy of the artist
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4/28/22 5:20 PM
Aimee Jones (American, b. 1992)
Kudzu People
2020
Oil on canvas
48 x 36 in.
Image courtesy of the artist
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Eric Ondina (American, b. 1988)
Hip
2019
Egg tempera emulsion on board
25 x 36 in.
Image courtesy of the artist
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4/28/22 5:20 PM
Eric Ondina (American, b. 1988)
The Dance
2020
Egg tempera emulsion on canvas
24 x 30 in.
On loan courtesy of Elias Posada
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Eugene Ofori Agyei (Ghanaian b. 1993)
I’m not sure
2022 Channing Gray (American, b. 1994)
Stoneware clay, fabric, yarn, paint Silver & Yellow Coat
50 x 11 x 36 in. 2020
Courtesy of the artist Charcoal and acrylic paint on canvas
58 x 59 in.
ON VIEW AT RMA Courtesy of the artist
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Eugene Ofori Agyei (Ghanaian b. 1993)
Complex Journey
2021 Channing Gray (American, b. 1994)
Stoneware clay, fabric, yarn Tools of Use & Rope
90 x 220 x 440 in. 2020
Courtesy of the artist Charcoal and acrylic paint on canvas
59 x 59 in.
ON VIEW AT UCF Courtesy of the artist
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Eugene Ofori Agyei (Ghanaian b. 1993)
Inside Out
2021 Channing Gray (American, b. 1994)
Stoneware clay, fabric, yarn, paint Collected Objects
15 x 8 in. 2020
Courtesy of the artist Color pencil, ink, and printed text on cardstock
paper; stitched together in hardcover board and
ON VIEW AT UCF leather
8 ¾ x 5 ¾ x 1 ¼ in.
Courtesy of the artist
Eugene Ofori Agyei (Ghanaian b. 1993)
In between ON VIEW AT UCF
2021
Stoneware clay, fabric, yarn, paint
19 x 11 x 22 in.
Courtesy of the artist
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Eric Ondina (American, b. 1988) Ivan Riascos (American, b. 1966)
Mr. Cagnos Guest Speaker 2 The Odd I See #5
2021 2020
Egg tempera emulsion on canvas Collage
24 x 30 in. 29 x 32 ⅞ in.
Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
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