October 16, 2021 – February 5, 2022
Opening Reception: October 16, 2021, 4:00 – 6:00 PM

In the 4-channel video installation Paraíso, Tamara Rosenblum directs her father, Gregorio Rosenblum, a Chilean theater actor and director, in a performance of archetypes: cowboy, scarecrow, clown, Italian widow, aging actor, ship captain, as well as other characters he occupied during her childhood, revealing intimate and humorous exchanges between father as performer and daughter as audience.

Structured around short vignettes, the video consists of playful dialogs alluding to Gregorio’s own work as an artist, his relationship to the film canon, and his paternal style. Drawing from Absurdist theater traditions, the scenes are improvisational and lighthearted, nonlinear and nonsensical, and at times revelatory and profound. Much like an existential comedy, Rosenblum’s work presents moments of penetrating truth amidst a medley of amusing interactions. Poignantly, Gregorio, dressed as a clown, pretends to ice fish in the snow, catches a message in a bottle and states, “Don’t look for us, we already found paradise.”

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About the Artist

Tamara Rosenblum is an American artist working in video and photography currently based in Paris. Her central inquiries include the shapes our parent’s bodies made when they took care of us, the archetypes that are tentpoles of mother and father, and the performance of hero myths. Tamara has exhibited her work at La Mama New York City, The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, The Echo Park Film Center (L.A), Highways Performance Space (L.A), and The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Tamara’s work has been published by Powerhouse Press and The Village Voice.