Tăcut Ca O Cioară Vopsită (Silent Like A Painted Crow) marks the debut of the wife-and-husband duo Ana Popescu and Chris Mayes-Wright. Exploring ornamentation, maximalism, and curiosity, the artists invite audiences to question inherited narratives; to notice how stories are shaped, framed, and distorted depending on one’s perspective.

Popescu’s sculptural forms, each commanding its own spatial presence, are reinterpretations of historic objects: an Arch, a Capital and a Looking Glass. Popescu reframes these references to unsettle the legacies of conquest and authority embedded in their original designs. In this new visual language, familiar forms become speculative vessels—tools for examining how power, history, and meaning are constructed and retold.

Mayes-Wright’s sonic composition unfolds continuously, more like an environment than a fixed piece. Distributed across eight channels with both near- and far-field elements, the work creates a shifting auditory experience that changes with each visitor’s movement and position. No two paths through the installation sound the same. In contrast to the visual density of Popescu’s work, the soundscape is sparse and directional, shaped by fleeting gestures, spatial cues, and the reverberation of the room itself. The composition becomes richer and more detailed at close range, rewarding proximity, just as the sculptures do, and inviting a slower, more attentive form of engagement.

Ana Popescu is a Romanian-American artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute and later co-founded an immersive underground event company in New York City, producing site-specific installations and live performances. She earned her MFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2025. Working primarily in ceramics, her practice explores material experimentation through a blend of traditional processes, digital fabrication, and architectural references. Popescu has exhibited internationally, including in New York City, London, Bucharest, and Providence. This year she will begin teaching ceramics at The Steel Yard and serves as Artist-in-Residence at Rhode Island School of Design and St. Andrew’s School.

Chris Mayes-Wright’s approach is rooted in a deep affinity for technology. But his technique eschews high-tech software and DSP manipulation in favor of hardware minimalism and analogue channel manipulation, choosing to use technology sparsely and, often, crudely. He works within, and takes inspiration from these systemic limitations, preferring to convey emotion through timbre, dynamics, rhythm and melodic structure of his sounds. He is a technology marketer and audio / acoustics consultant who also designed and taught Environmental Sound at Rhode Island School of Design, in 2025.

OPEN is a place for things. This is our fifth exhibition. Learn more at openforever.org.