The Infinite Figure: Figurative expression through the human form

March 18 – May 29, 2022

Beacon Gallery 524B Harrison Ave Boston, MA 02118

BOSTON, MA (January 1, 2022) – Beacon Gallery is pleased to present The Infinite Figure, a two artist show featuring Sima Schloss and Jamal Thorne. With a focus on figurative expression, the works on view will include those previewed at SCOPE Art Show Miami Beach 2021 as well as independent creations and collaborations.  

Despite the thematic similarities between their work, each artists’ work showcases their unique style and expression through paint and mixed-media forms. The artists' introspection on individual existence, identity, and our place within  society places this show into a larger context of how our physical bodies allow us to express ourselves. Schloss and Thorne both engage with these questions through their own unique viewpoint. Nonetheless, a constant theme of  ‘the individual in modern society’ as they struggle to define their dynamic and role in life. This theme is present in many of The Infinite Figure’s solo and collaborative pieces. 

New York-based Sima Schloss has been making art since childhood. She received her MFA in Painting at Lehman College and has been featured in exhibitions and art fairs throughout the United States. When not working as a professional artist she is also a professor of humanities, currently teaching Art History within the CUNY system.

Of her artistic practice, Sima shares: “My work is a bridge between abstraction and figuration. The abstraction of a figurative piece allows my mind to be free and unfettered. This allows me a sense of fearlessness because there’s no preconceived notion of what the end will be. With no preconceived notion of the end product, my figurative work is allowed to take its own shape and form in a way similar to how an abstract painting emerges from the canvas, rather than is planned by the artist…” Schloss’s work seeks to bridge the emotional content individuals, particularly women, seek to dissimulate under a smooth facade. Her work seeks to delve beneath the pretense and explore the incalculable facets of the human psyche. 

Jamal Thorne is a Boston-based artist known for his use of appropriated imagery, symbolism and interactivity in his investigation of post-colonial identity theories through highly textured mixed-media pieces. 

Drawing on investigations into popular culture, history, religious beliefs, and socioeconomics, Thorne explores influences on identity. He says of his work, “I use my work to express a personal journey towards understanding the origins of behavioral patterns, and the dynamic between context and performance of identity.” 

Thorne received his B.A. in Photographic Media from Morgan State University in 2008 before relocating to Boston where he became the pioneering student in a newly formed cooperative M.F.A. Program of Northeastern University and The School of the Museum of Fine Art. His work, externalizing what is often an internal struggle of  identity and performance, is meant to both inspire viewers and prompt moments of self-reflection. Ideally, he hopes these moments will foster an elevated sense of cultural awareness by asking viewers to acknowledge the multilayered nature of their identities. Thorne also appeals to viewers to reject overly simplistic labels society often uses as substitutes for our multilayered identities. 

“While my conceptual interests are based in post-colonial identity theory, my practice is inextricably linked to the trauma that partially defines the African American experience. Identifying as an African American male, my interest has shifted towards questions about how emotional and physical trauma shape external expressions of identity. Considering how human beings use specific behavior patterns for survival and how those behavioral patterns endure over the course of generations, I use my work to investigate their traumatic origins.”  – Jamal Thorne

The Infinite Figure explores the human role and relationship to culture and society, as well as the ever-changing nature of self and identity. Artists  Schloss and Thorne hope to engage viewers on a more personal, reflective level through authentic works focused on figurative expression through the human form. Generating relevant discussion of social bounds, expectations, self-preservation, and effective contemporary expression, The Infinite Figure is an embodiment of evolving human experience and contemporary manifestation of human forms.

Beacon Gallery will host preview days of The Infinite Figure during March’s standard gallery hours, with an artist reception on April 1st, 2022 from 5-8 pm. Artists will be present to engage and answer questions.