# Expo Chicago 2023 | Booth 201

URL: https://vielmetter.com/fairs/expo-chicago-2023/
April 13 — 16, 2023 · Artists: Raffi Kalenderian, Bari Ziperstein

**Installation photo credit: Mikhail Mishin**

**Raffi Kalenderian & Bari Ziperstein**EXPO Chicago, Booth 201
 **April 13 – 16, 2023**

Vielmetter Los Angeles is pleased to present a two-person presentation of new works by Raffi Kalenderian and Bari Ziperstein for EXPO Chicago. Both based in Los Angeles, Kalenderian and Ziperstein, work in highly patterned and intricately detailed modes in painting and ceramics respectively. In the spirit of collaboration, Kalenderian and Ziperstein conceived of their works for this presentation to be in dialogue with each other– Kalenderian’s paintings depict the imagined interiors of Ziperstein’s ceramic buildings, referencing Soviet-era architecture and design.

Kalenderian, known for his portrait paintings that depict friends, family, and a milieu of local artists and creatives builds up densely elaborate compositions that transform interior and exterior spaces into ornate, nearly dreamlike scenes. In his newest works, Kalenderian takes inspiration from Ziperstein’s practice which centers on a highly researched interest in Brutalist architecture and Soviet-era design, placing his portrait subjects into interiors based on archival images and patterns from the same time period. Kalenderian’s style melds seamlessly with the highly decorous interior spaces, textiles, etc. that are often the source material for Ziperstein’s work making for an unexpected collaboration that delights in exuberant colors and richly ornamented interiors.

Since 2015, Ziperstein has focused her research-based practice on Brutalist architecture and Soviet propaganda along the lines of posters, textiles, and everyday domestic items. Her research intersects both her interest in exploring her family’s history and the politics of aesthetics. Transmuting the forms of Brutalist architecture and patterns of Soviet-era textiles and design into discrete sculptures and wall works in ceramic, Ziperstein’s works are heavily detailed with intricate surfaces, raucous colors, and complex structures. Her suite of sculptures acts as a miniature city of bijoux buildings tessellated with carved shapes and patterns, reconstructing their distinct forms into objects that interrogate and contradict her source materials’ original intentions. In a series of wall works, the shape of which is inspired by 1980s TV sets, Ziperstein’s ceramic sculptures use a singular form to underscore the seriality of the Soviet agenda and reimagine their forms into highly decorous surfaces that relish in the play between her choice of color, mastery in glazing, and ornamental carving and convey the desire to transmute a unifying message.