Opening Party & special Live Painting Event Friday 20th October 6pm - 9pm REFRACTIONS: Beyond What Meets the I is an exhibition of new works, shedding light on how both artists have developed their process and practice over the years to encapsulate themselves, but also their surrounding creative communities. Through very different lenses, both Jaffar Aly and Sam Wootton continue to reveal and evoke feelings of a person far beyond what the eyes can see and determine. Jaffar Aly continues to redefine the relationship between sitter, painter and outcome through short quirky bursts of personality, supported by his multidisciplinary approach to the canvas as an extension of these complex feelings of capturing exact moments and essences of people; almost frozen in time. The reactionary, live elements and playfulness of Aly’s process can result in many varied visual nuanced representations of time and space through his embodied performative pieces. His paintings highlight various abstracted forms of portraiture and tow the lines of hyper-surrealistic painting, sculpture and performance. Sam Wootton explores the uncanny psychological and emotional space of his sitters, through dark, condensed highlighting and layering techniques to depict the complex characters or narratives of the people he observes, knows personally or has experienced in real time. Through considered painterly movements; whether it be shading or skewed dimensions, whilst referencing the technique of the old master painters, his final outcomes are a definite nod to the digital space in it’s form, colour choices and integrity. By spending prolonged intimate time with his canvas, Wootton tends to dive deep into the ideologies or potential visual representations of the internal mind-space as an active and participatory 3D environment. This exhibition seeks to reveal two artists’ deep reflection and representations of people’s internal lives, monologues and (self-) interventions. With the eyes as a window to the soul, both Jaffar Aly + Sam Wootton, though opposing aesthetic and technical practices, have been able to interpret people intensely and vividly through paint as a chosen medium. These artists are sitting at the front of what it means to reimagine themselves and others through a dedication to portraiture and what that can reveal about human kind at its core. Friday 20th October - Monday 20th November Curated by Pacheanne Anderson Hosted by Koop Projects, Kemptown Brighton, BN2 1EE Artist Biographies Jaffar Aly Jaffar Aly (b.1998, UK) is a visual artist and anthropologist living and working in London, UK. Aly's work mixes visual arts with his academic background and research in anthropology and Black British Studies to produce striking and assertive pieces. Through his energetic and colourful brushstroke Jaffar Aly explores the concepts of race, gender, class and the experience of diasporas in London. Aly's practice extends from painting, photography, and writing, tackling contemporary socio-political issues. In his abstract storytelling, the artist aims to educate and depict unheard stories. His caricature-like portraits focus on the human experience, away from classical canon representations and anchored outside of Eurocentric values. By giving a voice to diasporas in London, Aly's work decolonises and decentralizes what is known as common knowledge and rather creates 'parallel forms of knowledge'. Jaffar Aly studied at Goldsmiths University in London and holds a BA in Anthropology and MA in Arts and Politics. His most recent show was THIS IS A GROUP SHOW (2023) at Liquid Gold Studios (London). Jaffar Aly had numerous exhibitions around London and England among them is a group show at the Black Cultural Archive (2022-23); the annual exhibition of The Discerning Eye charity at Mall Galleries (2022); the emerging art prize exhibition at Saatchi Gallery (2022). Sam Wootton Sam Wootton is a 24 year old fine artist based in both South London and the West Midlands. Having been commissioned by Gucci, i-D magazine and Axel Arigato to create work, Sam's practice operates at the intersection between fashion, music and fine art. An existing client-base is constituted by creative directors, fashion designers and musicians; Maisie Williams, Saint, Reuben Selby and Etta Bond are a handful of current owners. Conceptually, Sam's work often leans upon artifice as a reclaimed source of pride. We're in an age now where 'real' has fallen through, with the worlds of technology, Al andpost-modernism seeping into the cracks. Sam relishes constructing this slow substitution as an act of magic; the future doesn't have to be a dystopian hellscape, but can be conceptualised as an increasingly magical space wherein we can reimagine what it means to be human. There's therefore an optimism at the centre of his oeuvre, setting him apart a s the voice of an emerging artistic class. About the Curator Pacheanne Anderson is a curator, writer and consultant who produces arts and cultural events with the goal of putting Queer, Trans*, Black & POC Artists in spaces where they’re more likely to meet collectors, journalists and other artists and curators. Anderson’s central focus is to dispel any restrictions and barriers to entry for artists who have previously been underrepresented in the art world through nurturing their practice and art world knowledge outside of institutional frameworks. About the KOOP Projects Koop Projects is a neighbourhood gallery with an international outlook. The gallery believes in Contemporary African art and artists as a dynamic source for learning and change, promoting sustainable art practices through an interrogation of materiality and the contexts in which artists across Africa make and show their work. We support our local art community through the gift of space. Opening doors for artists, curators and creative people with stories to tell, by providing them with space in which to realise their projects. In the future, the gallery hopes to develop connections and conversations between creative communites in Africa, Brighton and beyond. Founded in 2022 and based in Kemptown, Brighton.