About

Contracommon is proud to present Something Like Yesterday, an exhibition of work by Aria Brownell and Sidney Westenskow. The exhibition will run through April 2nd, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 6th from 6 - 9pm.

Aria Brownell and Sidney Westenskow are artists investigating memory and the pockets of messy nostalgia that define one’s self. Memory is packaged in a vague understanding of events described by fleeting moments, pictures, words, physical objects, and recollections. Both artists are working with a form of portraiture and self portraiture. The viewer is invited to experience a recapturing of consciousness, represented by the cutting and manipulating of discarded clothing by Westenskow and the reimagining of memories in oil paint by Brownell.

The reminiscence on display in their exhibition does not abide by a neat timeline, but rather is experienced all at once in unpredictable patterns. Recounting moments of emotional privacy, friendly intimacy, loneliness, longing, and play, Brownell and Westenskow are both the voyeur and the observed. Amorphous collections of thoughts are reflections of a past with and without them, a life as evidence of contact and separation. The artists are in conversation with sentimentality and familiarity, blurred recognition, and the deconstruction and reconstruction of self.

Aria Brownell graduated with a BFA in Painting from SUNY Purchase College in New York in 2015. She is a figurative oil painter currently living and working in Austin, Texas with a studio at Contracommon. She paints from photographs she has taken to emphasize her own female perspective. Everyday situations or moments in time act as windows that allow the viewer to see snapshots of Brownell’s life. Touching on small instances of contact, mischief, comfort, grief, and familiarity, she creates a myth behind a cast of painted characters.

Sidney Westenskow is a young, colorful, creative presence that changes her environment everywhere she goes. Her process often involves taking and manipulating the objects around her, and most recently those objects have consisted primarily of clothing. Her fascinations with portraiture and collage have merged whimsically in her latest body of work, consisting of large biomorphic fiber sculptures made with her clothes. Graduating with her BFA from Washington State University in 2020, is now living and working in Mesa, Arizona.

Something Like Yesterday will be on view at the Contracommon Gallery from March 6th – April 2nd. The gallery is open to the public on weekends from 12pm – 6pm, and weekdays by appointment. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 6th from 6 – 9pm, and is free and open to the public. For more information, or to make appointments or donations, please email contact@contracommon.org.