Paradigm Gallery is pleased to announce the grand opening of its new location in Old City at 12 N. 3rd St. on Friday, April 7th, 2023. The 7,000 sq. ft., 5-story building was purchased by Paradigm founders Sara McCorriston and Jason Chen in Fall 2022. In addition to serving as the gallery’s new, permanent home, the mixed-use commercial space will actualize McCorriston and Chen’s mission to further grow and contribute to the arts and culture landscape of Philadelphia.
The opening of the new space will feature two exhibitions: on the first floor will be Nazeer Sabree’s debut solo exhibition Pursuit of Healing, curated by Ginger Rudolph of HAHA Magazine. The second floor will present a solo exhibition by Jason Andrew Turner, entitled Welcome Home.
Sabree’s first solo exhibition will explore the process of healing from the artist’s perspective, building upon his previous work in the “False Face” series. Rudolph’s curation is informed by her intimate understanding of Sabree’s practice, having mentored the artist since 2020 in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists Program. In addition to an expanded body of work from “False Face”, the exhibition will premiere a new series of predominately black and white photo collages entitled “Transgenerational Rorschach Fragments 1998” (“TRF-98”), and a striking video work that tells a transformative story about Black masculinity in three acts – life, death, and rebirth. With photographs and clippings sourced from his family’s archives and broader cultural and historical references, Sabree shares a blueprint for what healing might look like from within a Black body. Vulnerability, pain, and hope collide in Pursuit of Healing, charting an ascendent course from trauma to radical empathy.
Turner’s exhibition will showcase his gestural, process-based practice and its surface applications from furniture to textiles. Interior vignettes within the gallery’s expansive second floor will set a rhythmic flow throughout the exhibition, punctuated by bold and intimate painted portraits. Turner often begins with a sketch in sumi ink, redrawing and repeating the lines of the brushstrokes in countless iterations. In each phase, the artist attempts to make sense of a messy, maximalist, overwhelming reality; mental health and the nature of perception are key themes in Turner’s work. Intuitive color relationships and intentional spontaneity permeate the exhibition in a visual representation of organized chaos.
Welcome Home highlights Turner’s collaborations with Philadelphia artists and designers, as well as Paradigm’s commitment to nurturing and showcasing innovative crossovers between creative disciplines. Stained glass works made by Flannery Cronin from Friend of All and felted textile works made by Krysta Knaster of Camphill Soltane bring Turner’s hard-edge style to their respective mediums. The collaborative works compound upon the visual density of the exhibition and complement Turner’s work while introducing new textural and technical elements.