mono no aware
April 12 – May 25, 2024
Galleries One and Two
  • Opening Reception
    Friday April 12, 2024 / 5–8pm
  • Artist Talk
    Saturday April 13, 2024 / 12pm

Exhibition Text

(PDF)

ANDREW RAFACZ is thrilled to announce mono no aware, a solo exhibition of new paintings, drawing and ceramics from Soumya Netrabile. The exhibition opens Friday, April 12th and continues through Saturday, May 25th, 2024. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

The Japanese idiom mono no aware translates to ‘the pathos of things.’ It is a uniquely Japanese phrase that describes the feeling of sadness that is irrevocably connected to the beauty and impermanence of our lives and the objects in it. It is also specific to the transience we witness in the natural world.

At the center of Netrabile’s exhibition is Mothership, a 7 by 24-foot painting in four panels—the artist’s largest work to date—that envelops the viewer in her unique mark-making and immersive imagery. She also presents two paper scroll works installed with her ceramic objects, also inspired by her experiences in nature and the formal language of her paintings.

SOUMYA NETRABILE (American, b. 1966, Bangalore, India) lives and works in Chicago, IL. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University. Recent solo exhibitions include ANDREW RAFACZ (Chicago, IL); Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles, CA); Gana Art (Seoul, South Korea); Pt.2 Gallery (Oakland, CA); and The Journal (New York, NY). Recent group exhibitions include ANDREW RAFACZ (Chicago, IL); Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles, CA); Rachel Uffner (New York, NY); Trinta Gallery (Santiago de Compostela, Spain); Indigo + Madder (London, UK); and Karma (New York, NY). Netrabile has exhibited in art fairs in Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Seoul, and Hong Kong. Her work is in the public collections of Orange County Museum of Art (Costa Mesa, CA); Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA); University Club of Chicago (Chicago, IL); and Museu Inimá de Paula (Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

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