ELIZABETH ARZANI
FOOTNOTES

PRIVATE PRICE LIST

OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2025
5-8 PM

ON VIEW
AUGUST 22 - SEPTEMBER 20, 2025

FOR INQUIRES
Please contact hello@chefasprojects.com

PRESS

Chefas Projects is proud to introduce Portland-based interdisciplinary artist Elizabeth Arzani with her debut solo exhibition, Footnotes. In this compelling new body of work, Arzani redefines the boundaries of storytelling, memory, and materiality through a deeply personal exploration of found objects—most notably salvaged tin.

What began as a chance encounter eleven years ago—following a hand-drawn map on receipt tape in search of Seattle-based artist Bill Herberholtz’s studio—culminated in an unexpected gift: a vast collection of vintage and discarded tin. These remnants of bygone objects, from retro dollhouses to retired signage, became the raw material for a practice rooted in curiosity, paradox, and collaboration with the unknown.

“I see stories in the cracks, stains, and rust of physical objects,” states Arzani. “When I work with found fragments, I’m as interested in the absences as I am in what’s present. It’s about mapping presence through loss.”

Guided by the tension in homonyms like hole and whole, the artist’s work exists in a liminal space where meaning shifts depending on perspective and placement. Through layering, mark-making, and intentional recontextualization, each piece becomes a visual footnote to the secret life of a former object—bearing witness to the hands, grief, and joy that once touched it.

This exhibition is both a tribute to a forgotten collection and an invitation to see beauty in the overlooked. Visitors are encouraged to examine the works closely—not just for what they are, but for what they once were, and what they might still become.

The opening reception for Footnotes will take place at Chefas Projects on Friday, August 22, 2025, from 5-8 pm. Located in Portland, Oregon, at 134 SE Taylor Street on the first floor of the Taylor Works building, Chefas Projects invites the public to explore this exhibition, which will be on view through September 20, 2025.

Elizabeth Arzani (b. Charlotte, NC) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. Her work has been exhibited nationally at venues including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; the Center for Contemporary Art & Culture and Carnation Contemporary in Portland; SOIL in Seattle; and the Seattle Art Fair with The Vestibule. Internationally, her work has been shown in Luxembourg and Australia.

Arzani is a member of the Portland-based artist collective Carnation Contemporary. She has participated in residencies at Kulturschapp in Walferdange, Luxembourg, and the New Harmony Clay Project in Indiana. Her practice has been supported by a Career Opportunity Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission with backing from the Ford Family Foundation, as well as two project grants from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).

She holds an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art and a BFA in Painting and Art Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

ARTWORK

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