About this Event
Beyond Baroque presents the launch of Mouths and Nostrils, a collaborative art book between Renée Petropoulos and Victor Albarricin Llanos. By isolating mouths and nostrils from historical paintings and contemporary portraits, the visual art of the book explores the expressive possibilities of human countenance. By removing these features from their original contexts, she invites viewers to consider expressions without knowing whether they convey prayer, screaming, lamentation, or something else entirely.
The project began in 2016, following the election of Donald Trump, when Petropoulos rediscovered an early 1990s painting of a praying mouth floating in a green field, inspired by a mouth in a Renaissance painting by Simone Martini. Haunted by the image, she began extracting mouths and nostrils from historical paintings. As the project developed, she invited friends to submit photographs of the lower portions of their faces without identifying the emotions they conveyed.
Bringing these contemporary portraits into conversation with historical imagery, including works by Caravaggio, Petropoulos creates a continuum of human expression across time. Mouths and Nostrils reflects on the private emotions that surface in isolation and the difficulty of maintaining a sense of civility amid a political climate marked by public aggression and hostility.
Mouths and Nostrils includes art by Renée Petropoulos paired with responses in poetry by Victor Albarricin Llanos. Petropoulos will read excerpts of the book, and discuss with graphic designer Lorraine Wild, followed by book signings.
About Beyond Baroque
Beyond Baroque is one of the United States' leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public's knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.
Livestream: If you can’t join us in person the event will be livestreamed on at the scheduled time of the event. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.
If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Please arrive early.
Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, staff, fellow attendees, or performers.
Event venue & nearby stays
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, United States
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