In early March, Rava Films co-founders Rafa Salazar and Ava Wiland got the coronavirus.
While bed-ridden for over a week, they were lucky to experience only some of the more mild virus symptoms. Within two weeks, they were feeling like themselves again. Well, sort of.
Feeling antsy and anxious about the future, the recovering filmmakers turned to the things they love – art and storytelling – to help them see through. The lockdown compelled them to quickly reinvent and adapt creatively, so they set out to reconnect with their artist community by making a short documentary using only the remote tools at their disposal. Thus, #StudiesinQuarantine was born.
Episode 1 peeks into the world and studio of sculptor Ruby Sky Stiler. We learn about her path as an artist, her inspirations and work process, and the challenges of homeschooling her two children during a lockdown. Ruby brings a wonderful sense of humor, life and love of art to the film – and don't we all need art and good humor during these very challenging and isolating times?
We turn our lens to Brooklyn-based Chilean-American multidisciplinary artist Claudia Bitran in Episode 2. Claudia explores our obsession with pop culture often by including herself in her work, or recreating sensations like Britney Spears’ music videos or James Cameron’s Titanic. “Studies in Quarantine” will virtually visit her basement studio to take a look at what she’s obsessing over during the pandemic.
About the artist:
This episode of "Studies in Quarantine" features Brooklyn-based artist and sculptor Ruby Sky Stiler. Her monochromatic sculptures and reliefs draw upon a wide range of cultural references, evoking the forms of classical antiquities and the fractured aesthetic of Cubist painting and collage. Rather than using marble, stone, or ceramic, Stiler works with foam core, acrylic resin, plaster, and discarded elements from her studio, incorporating both the monumental and the cast-off and exploring questions of authenticity, authority, value, and taste.
You can learn more about Ruby's work here:
https://nicellebeauchene.com/artists/ruby-sky-stiler/
About the artist:
In a do-it-yourself effort to emulate, remake, and rewrite the hyperbolic world of pop production, Bitran assumes multiple roles (painter, director, actress, editor). The obsessive act of remaking is always accompanied by an examination of the component parts used to construct products of mass popular appeal. She fantasizes in the role of the fan and projects herself (and the people around her) into these spectacles, frantically imagining how to reconstruct and introduce her subjectivity (and humanity) into the highly calculated systems of mass consumption.
Bitran holds an MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design (2013), a BFA from the Universidad Catolica de Chile (2009) and is currently an artist in residence at Pioneer Works, New York. She has also held residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine (2014), the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in New Mexico (2016), Smack Mellon Studio Program in New York (2017), Outpost Projects in New York (2018).
To learn more about the artist visit: Claudiabitran.com