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Sabine Carlson
‘Cold world but for kindness’, 2024
Acrylic and collage on wood, 12” x 16” x 1.5”
Sabine’s painting is on view in “A Sense of Place”, the 36th Annual Prince George’s County Juried Exhibition
This exhibition was jurored by Nehemiah Dixon III, Director of Community Engagement at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
The show continues through Jan 11, 2025 at:
Harmony Hall Arts Center
10701 Livingston Road
Fort Washington, MD 20744
Here is a link to the Harmony Arts Website
Click here to view more information on Instagram
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
UNIQUE VISIONS”
Viridian Affiliates
Tuesday, December 24 — Saturday, January 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 11, 4–6pm
Closing Reception Saturday, January 25 , 4–6pm
Deb Flagel * Dorothy Shaw * Jenny Belin
Joshua Greenberg * Michael Reck * Sarah Riley
Sheila Smith * Stephanie Lempres
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Unique Visions,” an exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of the Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The show opens Tuesday, December 24 and continues through Saturday, January 25, 2025 with an Opening Reception on Saturday, January 11, 6–8pm and a Closing Reception on Saturday, January 25 from 4–6pm.
“Art is such a critical and unique aspect of human civilization that each artist has a desire and responsibility to present their ‘Unique Vision’ to the world at large” is something I’m sure has been said by many but interestingly, A.I. goes on to say: “An artist's unique vision is their own approach to art, which is different from other artists and allows them to create something extraordinary. Some say that artists have different brain structures than non-artists, which allows them to see the world differently and focus on the whole visual field. This can help them to see shadows and contours that others might miss.”
Each of the artists in “Unique Visions” create in their own way and with unique intentions, but in addition, each viewer undoubtably receives the art uniquely without knowing why or how the artist made it. Still, sometimes an artist’s verbalization about their work helps us understand or appreciate it more. Sometimes though, the intensity of the art experience can be changed by words that have been written about it, so read on…
In the sixties, Sheila Smith was exposed to and inspired by the great photographers of that era when she worked as a secretary to the creative director of Columbia Records. She went on to study advertising and design at SVA, ultimately becoming an Art Director. Working with top photographers, Smith went on to study photography at the New School while at the same time taking drawing and painting classes at the Art Students League. Painting for many years, she never abandoned photography and has continued to take photographs which have now become paintings as she alters and reconstructs them in photoshop.
Dorothy Shaw’s paintings are both abstractions and pictorial representations of places that she feels reside in her “memory and imagination, driven by observations of nature and a love of landscape – revealed through the transformative slow process of painting.”
Michael Reck’s paintings in this exhibit are very different texturally from his earlier work, but one can still see shadows of his earlier imagery. The paintings have the same repeated forms creating a visual language in each work, but now they have become almost three dimensional. About the work he says: "I wanted these new paintings to seem like undecipherable missives in a lost, obscure or alien language."
Jenny Belin is showing paintings of cats in gilded frames. The cat portraits come from the pages of a book that she is writing and illustrating titled “Sonnets for Sweet Potatoes: A Cat’s Guide to the ups and downs of NYC”. She began creating this project late last year as a compilation of painted and written portraits of the cats that she has known during her years in New York City.
Stephanie Lempres created “Winter Botanicals” as a series of images that explore the season’s minimalism. For her, they represent memories of childhood winters in Connecticut – grey afternoon light, frozen ponds and fading blue sky. Each unique piece on handmade paper offers the viewer a unique connection to nature during the season of spare beauty.
Sarah Riley’s art involves intuitive reactions to her subject matter. Color flow, line, and brushwork leave traces of those first moments in the finished work. She is after the surprise of what color, form and line can physically and mentally become.
Deb Flagel finds beauty in natural decay and repurposing. Drawn to abstract shapes, repetition, surface, she cuts, constructs, deconstructs, and layers until “I have an integrated surface, at which point I might choose to cut out areas of interest, scrap the rest for future projects and go from there.” Observing her surroundings, she seeks out bits of imperfection, like the Japanese Wabi Sabi and then her thought process immediately turns to stitching. “Once back at my studio, I pull out papers of all sorts, including food packaging such as cracker boxes, printed photographs I have taken, bits and pieces from past work, while sometimes cutting up finished works as well.” Traveling between Chicago and New York, she carries a portable studio with her, always being connected to her art practice as she seeks out exhibition opportunities, while making Viridian Artists, NYC her artistic home.
In The Colorful Whimsies, Joshua Greenberg uses photo-based imagery to create abstract art. In this series the works are dominated by large color fields showing abstract scenes in reds, yellows and blues. He wants the works to be light, humorous, surprising…and whimsical. To encourage viewers to interact with the art in a more focused and personal way, Greenberg uses his titles to give clues. Though photography has overcome the resistance it originally faced as “fine art”, in this series the artist illustrates how photo-based imagery may help extend the use of less explored dimensions of photography to create contemporary art.
We look forward to sharing these “Unique Visions” with you.
Jenny Belin’s painted portraits and epistolary prose have been published in the Winter Issue of Solstice Literary Magazine.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “cOLD Times,” Viridian Artists’ Annual Holiday Exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of Viridian Artists and invited guest artists. The show opens Tuesday, November 26 and continues through Saturday, December 21, 2024 with an Opening Reception on Saturday, December 7, 4–6pm and a Closing Reception on Saturday, December 21, 4–6pm.
This season, as our walls become filled and our pockets become leaner, the art in this exhibit is all priced at $500 or less and the size of each artwork no larger than 30 inches.
As the world becomes more and more technologically advanced, change has become nearly instantaneous and much of the cultures of the world and their traditions are changing so rapidly that we have lost a sense of many of our long-standing traditions. There is less talk about Santa coming down the chimney and more talk about the trees that are being salvaged for decoration at a time when all of nature is threatened. We must take the environment into consideration with every act, since global warming and climate destruction has become more real, more rapidly than we ever thought it would happen.
But within all the ceremonies lost, the memories remain and the giving of gifts remains an important part of the holiday season. We have so much and yet we want more and we want to express our caring by giving something special to those we are close to. We hope that giving art will become part of the solution and we look forward to seeing you as we celebrate an important tradition for all.
Marie–Ange Hoda Ackad * Steffani Bailey * Ayako Bando * Kristen Beazley * Jenny Belin Renée Borkow * Denita Benyshek * Annaliese Bischoff * Zoe Brown-Weissmann
Ellen Burnett * Sabine Carlson * Marc Chicoine * Irene Christensen * Judith Christian Matt Cohen * Sonia C. C. Colón * Sally J. K. Davies * May DeViney * Natalia Dovgaia Alexandra Downey * Stephanie Eins * Bernice Faegenburg * Arlene Finger
David Fitzgerald * Alan Gaynor * Wally Gilbert * Joshua Greenberg * Shingo Hayamizu Stalja Design * Miho Hiranouchi * Kazuo Ishikawa * Alex Katsenelinboigen * Kat King Kozy * Marco Lando * Angela M. LaMonte * John Lloyd * Beatriz Ledesma
Ellen Ludway * Stephanie Lempres * Grete Marstein * Gail Meyers * Rick Mullin
Mary Jane Murgolo * Fred P. Nelson * Vernita Nemec * Nancy Nicol * Shinichi Nomura Tom Papadopoulos * Brett Poza * Leonard Rosenfeld * Laura Rutherford Renner
Karen Roth * Sai * Melissa Schainker * Dorothy Shaw * Kathleen Shanahan * Susan SillsJ. Yvonne Skaggs * Zachary A.L. Stern * Meredeth Turshen * Jane Talcott * Bob Tomlinson
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12–6pm
For further information please contact: Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director
or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
visit us on Instagram @viridianartistsinc and see us on Facebook & YouTube at Viridian Artists Gallery
Click Here for More Information
“Playful Deciduous Dragon” by Kat King
‘witnesses’ by Sabine Carlson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
ALAN GAYNOR
“THE CITY”
October 29–November 23, 2024
Opening reception Thursday November 7, 6–8pm
Closing reception Saturday November 23, 4–6pm
Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present “The City” by photographer/architect Alan Gaynor. In this exhibit he presents arresting black and white views of New York City’s architectural patterns of concrete and steel. The show opens October 29 and continues through November 23, 2024. You are invited to meet the artist and celebrate the opening of this exhibit on Thursday, November 7, 6–8pm.
Alan Gaynor’s interest in photography arose from his interest and training in architecture and urbanism. In 1974, he founded his architectural firm with a vision of a working environment free of convention. His interest in buildings continues, but now he explores architectural structures through the medium of photography. Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once famously stated, "I call architecture frozen music”; Gaynor feels the same. As in compositions in music, Goethe's analogy suggests that architectural structures possess a distinct rhythm, harmony, and melody, emphasizing the importance of aesthetics and artistic elements in architectural design.
Gaynor is a photographer who translates his passions into images that convey the beauty of human-made structures, whether they are the concreteness at the heart of urban Manhattan or the mosaic artfulness of the mosques of Morocco. Creating his images of places in series, he previously has explored the subways of New York City, the ancient structures of India and the mosaics of Morocco.
On his website Gaynor states that he loves the mathematical basis of all architectural design. Gaynor’s photography of both contemporary structures and those of the past all convey a sense of the still majesty of buildings. That he rarely includes humans in his images (which might distract our attention) helps us to see more clearly what we do not see when walking the streets of Manhattan or Morocco. Often his focus has been on the layering of the buildings and in these images of New York, that focus continues.
Gaynor, whose work explores structures, lighting, and space, has become an award-winning photographer. He has studied with some of the acknowledged masters of the photographic medium including David Vestal, Jock Sturges, George Tice and John Sexton, and has received a host of awards for his photography including a Bronze Award in the 2012 International Loupe Awards, Terabella Media Urban Landscape, Epson International, Tank Photo Award and many others. His work has been featured in publications including Best of Photography 2012, The Photographer, and Photo Review to name just a few.
Gaynor has been exhibiting his photography since 2000 at many galleries, including FotoFusion, Black Box Gallery, Spectra '07, Saf-T-Gallery, Camera Obscura, Soho Photo. This will be his fourth solo exhibit at Viridian. We look forward to sharing with you these arresting black and white images of the beautiful shapes created by New York City architecture.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12–6pm
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com or instagram @viridianartists
Congratulations to Steffani Bailey who is showing two works at SITE BROOKLYN.
Steffani’s work is included in “The Power of Abstraction”:
an exhibition curated by Alexandra Terry.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
“ALTARS AND OFFERINGS”
CHRISTOPHER T. TERRY
October 1 – October 26, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday October 3, 6–8pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, October 26, 4–6pm; Artist Interview @5pm
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present Chris Terry’s “Altars and Offerings“, his first solo exhibition with Viridian Artists. On view from October 1 through October 26, the exhibition will feature a series of recent paintings. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, October 3, from 6–8pm with a closing reception occurring the last day of the exhibit on Saturday, October 26, 4–6pm.
Like many artists, Chris Terry’s influences and formative experiences are many, varied, and sometimes even contradictory. Perhaps the most profound influence comes from his growing up with a healthy dose of Roman Catholicism: parochial school, altar boy, and singing in the choir, and although the doctrines inherent in Catholicism stopped making sense, his fascination with the ritual continues. Perhaps it is nothing more than the human need for ritual and symbolic significance that we attach to certain objects, but Terry feels a personal need to create ritual in his own work. After making paintings not unlike those in this exhibit for more than 10 years, a viewer commented on the similarity to religious altars which they saw in his paintings. Though the similarity was not intentional on his part, it was clearly buried deep in his subconscious.
Working primarily in the still life tradition, the artist is fascinated with shape and the sense of invention when moving objects in the composition, overlapping and creating new shapes from the objects and the backgrounds in ways that cannot be easily done with landscape or figurative subject matter.
A third component of his creative practice is his interest in color. Terry has always been drawn to Bonnard, Diebenkorn, Klee, Matisse and many other artists who use color inventively. A chance meeting at California State University where he once taught, led to an invitation to teach as a Visiting Professor at Universität Essen in Germany. That experience deepened his interest in the Bauhaus and by extension, Albers. Over the years, he lived in Germany and traveled through Europe, spending 6 weeks in Rome at The American Academy in their “visiting artists” program.
Since that time he has taught at many colleges, though primarily at Utah State University where, in an extension of his teaching practice, he organized travel programs with students, enriching his own life experiences as well as those of his students.
Now the focus is on his painting and the works in this exhibit attest to his ongoing creation of altars and offerings in quiet settings and simple compositions. We are most often looking at a table with one or more objects sitting quietly in a blue or golden toned light, the light perhaps colored by the wall behind and the tablecloths always freshly unfolded, creating shapes that add texture to the compositions.
We look forward to sharing these “Altars and Offerings” with you in person and perhaps they will inspire your memories of formative moments in your own lives.
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12–6pm
For further information please contact: Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director
or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
visit us on Instagram @viridianartistsinc and see us on Facebook & YouTube at Viridian Artists Gallery
"Red Diamond Peak": 36" x 24" Panel on a Flush Mount.
Digital Sublimation Print on Aluminum with a Satin Finish
“Cats and Coconuts For The People”
at The Gowanus Wine Studio & Tasting Table
257 Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
September 16th–January 5, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 5th: 4–6PM
Glade by the Tennis Courts, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30"
Continuing: Detritus Upcycled at Viridian Artists
Detritus Upcycled features the work of artists who make exciting fine art from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R's: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle and especially "upcycling”. This exhibit reaches beyond the art world, serving as a message not only about art, but also about the environment.
By seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists have been creatively addressing the problem of too much trash by using it to create fascinating and unique art before it was even known to be an environmental problem. Artists have been using found objects to make art for eons, but now it has become ostensibly a political act.
Continuing through September 28 at Viridian Artists, 348 West 28th Street, #623, New York, NY
Viridian Artists is pleased to present the exhibit Detritus upcycled featuring the work of artists who make exciting fine art from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R's: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle and especially "upcycling”. The exhibit opens Tuesday, September 3 and continues through Saturday, September 28 with an opening reception Thursday, September 5 and a closing reception Saturday, September 28, 4-6pm when some of the artists will be present to talk about their art and its relationship with the environment.
This exhibit, Detritus upcycled, serves to enrich the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people because we all have too much trash. By focusing on recycling or "upcycling" as their method and source for creating, these artists have made their art-making serve as both an environmental message and creative inspiration. This exhibit reaches beyond the art world, serving as a message not only about art, but also about the environment. The art in this exhibit is not a solution, but it serves as a reminder that we must do something more than we are doing now to stop the proliferation of garbage and trash that is overtaking our environment. Plastic and paper are pervasive fillers of our landfills and our oceans with gyres of plastic detritus and now even cardboard boxes, so easily recyclable, are becoming an environmental issue.
Artists in this exhibit are opening a dialogue with viewers about the importance and usefulness of art as something beyond decoration. By seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists have been creatively addressing the problem of too much trash by using it to create fascinating and unique art before it was even known to be an environmental problem. Artists have been using found objects to make art for eons, but now it has become ostensibly a political act.
Art from Detritus, or art from trash, was first conceived and curated by Vernita Nemec in 1994 in Portland, Oregon during the annual conference of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). Presented there in the lobby of a recycled Sears Roebuck building and the corporate headquarters for municipal waste and recycling, the exhibit has re-occurred with funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Puffin Foundation and sponsorship by the NRC. The exhibit was presented in Pittsburgh at the Westinghouse headquarters, the Museum of Arts & Crafts and the AIA; in Kansas City MO at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Rockhurst College & the Writer's Place. Phoenix AZ, Turners Falls, MA and NYC have all been Detritus exhibition sites since those early years. In NYC, Detritus exhibits have occurred at the Henry Street Abrams Arts Center, Gallery 450, Synagogue for the Arts, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Farleigh Dickinson University, WAH (Williamsburgh Art Center) and many times at Viridian.
Vernita Nemec, aka Vernita N'Cognita, the curator and creator of Art from Detritus, is a visual and performance artist and has been the director of Viridian Artists since 2000. Her complete biography can be seen in Wikipedia.
We look forward to presenting this exciting exhibit of important art to you and hope to see you then.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
September 3 – September 28, 2024
Reception Thursday September 5, 6-8pm
Closing reception, Saturday, September 28, 4-6pm
Annaliese Bischoff * Zoe Brown-Weissmann * Ellen Burnett * Lindsay-Ann Chilcott * Irene Christensen
James Ciosek * Pam Cooper * May DeViney * Katherine Earle * Jodie Fink * Bess French
Debra Friedkin * Rachel Green * Eddie Hall * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Sandra Lapage * Eric David Laxman
Mia Loia * Gail Meyers * Elizabeth Morisette * Vernita N’Cognita * Carol Paik * Yuko Uchida
Gale Rothstein * Sylvia Schwartz * Rebecca Tuck * Courtney Lee Weida * Larry Zdeb
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the exhibit “Detritus Upcycled" featuring the work of artists who make exciting fine art from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R's: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle and especially "upcycling”. The exhibit opens Tuesday, September 3 and continues through Saturday, September 28 with an opening reception Thursday, September 5 and a closing reception Saturday, September 28, 4-6pm when some of the artists will be present to talk about their art and its relationship with the environment.
This exhibit, “Detritus Upcycled”, serves to enrich the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people because we all have too much trash. By focusing on recycling or "upcycling" as their method and source for creating, these artists have made their art-making serve as both an environmental message and creative inspiration. This exhibit reaches beyond the art world, serving as a message not only about art, but also about the environment. The art in this exhibit is not a solution, but it serves as a reminder that we must do something more than we are doing now to stop the proliferation of garbage & trash that is overtaking our environment. Plastic and paper are pervasive fillers of our landfills and our oceans with gyres of plastic detritus and now even cardboard boxes, so easily recyclable, are becoming an environmental issue.
Artists in this exhibit are opening a dialogue with viewers about the importance and usefulness of art as something beyond decoration. By seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists have been creatively addressing the problem of too much trash by using it to create fascinating and unique art before it was even known to be an environmental problem. Artists have been using found objects to make art for eons, but now it has become ostensibly a political act.
“Art from Detritus”, or art from trash, was first conceived and curated by Vernita Nemec in 1994 in Portland, Oregon during the annual conference of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). Presented there in the lobby of a recycled Sears Roebuck building & the corporate headquarters for municipal waste & recycling, the exhibit has re-occurred with funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Puffin Foundation and sponsorship by the NRC. The exhibit was presented in Pittsburgh at the Westinghouse headquarters, the Museum of Arts & Crafts and the AIA; in Kansas City MO at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Rockhurst College & the Writer's Place. Phoenix AZ, Turners Falls, MA and NYC have all been Detritus exhibition sites since those early years. In NYC, Detritus exhibits have occurred at the Henry Street Abrams Arts Center, Gallery 450, Synagogue for the Arts, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Farleigh Dickinson University, WAH (Williamsburgh Art Center) and many times at Viridian. You can see more information and images of past Detritus shows at www.ncognita.com.
Vernita Nemec, aka Vernita N'Cognita, the curator and creator of Art from Detritus, is a visual & performance artist and has been the director of Viridian Artists since 2000. Her complete biography can be seen in Wikipedia at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernita_Nemec.
We look forward to presenting this exciting exhibit of important art to you and hope to see you then.
For further information please contact
Vernita Nemec, Director or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director
Visit us on Instagram @viridianartistsinc, see us on Facebook & YouTube at
Viridian Artists Gallery or visit our website at viridianartists.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST
“The Crossroad”
August 12- 24, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday,August 15th: 5:30-7:30PM
=ARTISTS=
AyAkA kyA / Chieka Uruga / Chizu Suzu
Hanakko/ K.Junko / Kaori Nakamura
Kaz Shibata / Kiyokazu Ito / Kotomi
Kozy / Ku Watanabe / Maiko Kanzaki
Misaki Sato / Miwako K.
Morihiro Okamoto / Nana Midorikawa
Shingo Hayamizu / Shizuku
Takashi Ishida / Yuko Sato
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “New Arts Prospect: Artists from Japan Series XI 2024, THE CROSSROAD ” curated by Sai Morikawa. This exhibition will be on view from August 12 to August 24, 2024.
Renowned as a leading art scene globally, New York City is the backdrop for this mission-driven initiative, supporting the debut of Japanese artists in New York. Since its inception in the summer of 2014, the “New Arts Prospect: Artists from Japan” series has been instrumental in introducing Japanese talent to the vibrant Chelsea art scene. In 2024, the series celebrates its 11th anniversary.
The title “The Crossroad” signifies more than just intersections and roads; it embodies the essence of pivotal moments, convergence, opportunities, decisions, and journeys. In New York’s dynamic art scene, where exceptional talent from around the world converges, the distinctive works of Japanese artists resonate within a multicultural environment. This not only influences the participating artists but also impacts the diverse art scene, symbolizing the discovery of new directions and opportunities for everyone involved. With its rich history and culture, Japan is flourishing with unique aesthetics and exceptional craftsmanship. When these distinctive sensibilities and philosophies are projected onto the contemporary art scene, it leads to groundbreaking exhibitions that foster new creativity and inspiration.
This exhibition brings together the works of emerging artists who are making waves in the modern Japanese art scene, showcasing their unique perspectives and creativity. A variety of genres, including glass sculptures, paintings, and origami art, will be on display. The artworks, reflecting messages beyond national and linguistic boundaries, possess the power to touch hearts. We hope to encounter works brimming with originality, expressed directly by the artists themselves, without reliance on data or analysis.
For the sixth consecutive year, the New Arts Prospect artists and curator are gracing the Viridian Artists Gallery in Chelsea. Established in the late 1960s, Viridian Artists has championed exceptional yet lesser-known and emerging artists for over five decades. Following their triumphant exhibition last August, the New Arts Prospect artists have been invited once more to display their latest burst of creative expression, promising a captivating experience for visitors.
Curated by Sai Morikawa, this exhibition fosters and nurtures cultural exchange between Japan and the US. As a vital conduit for international cultural interaction, it propels Japan's art scene to new heights. Additionally, it signifies an important milestone for participating artists, shaping their burgeoning careers. Emerging talents will present an extraordinary array of artworks, each poised to send a resounding message to the world. Gallery hours: Monday– Friday, 11:30am–5:30pm. Saturdays appointment only,
Sundays closed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST
Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad * Matthew Cohen * Irene Christensen
Charles Hildebrandt * Beatriz Ledesma
Shawn Marshall * Vernita N’Cognita * Sheila Smith
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Moments in Time,” an exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The show opens Tuesday, July 9 and continues through Saturday, August 3, 2024 with an Opening Reception: Thursday, July 11, 6-8pm and a Closing Reception, Saturday, August 3, 4-6pm.
Time and timelessness are both constant considerations in our lives as we pass through different phases of living. When we are young, we anxiously awake summer vacation and when we grow older, time speeds along far too quickly. Creative acts as well, are moments that vary in length psychologically, spiritually, and emotionally as well as in actuality. These artists, each in their own creative and aesthetic ways are uniquely dealing with time.
Artist Beatriz Ledesma sees herself as a symbolist artist and is drawn to the spirituality and symbolism of ordinary objects. In our present era, she finds scissors to be particularly relevant and meaningful objects to contemplate, for in her research she discovered that scissors have been believed to possess protective powers, serving as a talisman against witchcraft and malevolent forces. In medieval times, scissors were commonly placed beneath doormats to ward off evil. The artist states that “In light of our current tumultuous and chaotic times, as inhabitants of this earthly realm, it is worth considering what things we would like to eliminate from our daily human existence. Therefore, it is worth considering the idea of keeping scissors under our doormats as a form of protection from unwanted influences.”
Matt Cohen’s mixed media works contain areas of layering paint, wire mesh, etched and painted plexiglass, and sections of drawings secured with thin, dark wires. Cohen’s art concerns the juxtaposition of time and timelessness. There is the sense of history in the making of his work as he incorporates layers to expose earlier decisions. He feels a connection with some Baroque painting and is influenced by the dark recesses and overlaying of painted grids. About the works in this show, he states that “these moments of memory are equally present with thoughts that are continuous in our moments of exchanges, activities, or observations in our physical present; they are not truly of the past – they are one of many thoughts we have throughout our lives and are there in our minds on an equal plane.”
Shawn Marshall is a Kentucky-based artist whose artistic process is significantly shaped by the integration of her multidisciplinary background in architecture and sculpture. She is concerned with consumption and waste and so collects discarded and found materials of paper, cardboard, etc. and then merges the carefully selected mixed media with paint to, as the artist says, “create intricate webs and imprints of our existence.” The artist sees each of her artworks as a dialogue between the present and the past. She goes on to say, that “it is through this rhythm of placement and removal that our intricate relationship with the world unfolds, leaving behind a tapestry of ideas, experiences, and memories that weave together to create new imprints and narratives.”
Sheila Smith’s first camera was a Brownie box camera. In the sixties, as a secretary to the creative director of Columbia Records, Smith was exposed to and inspired by the great photographers of that era. She went on to study advertising and design at SVA, ultimately becoming an Art Director and continuing to work with top photographers, including Richard Avedon. She studied photography at the New School while at the same time taking drawing and painting classes at the Art Students League. Painting for many years, she never abandoned photography and has continued to take pictures since 1997. Now, her photographs have become paintings as she alters and reconstructs them in photoshop. About her work Smith says, “I enjoy photographing a multitude of subjects which categorizes me as a “generalist."
Charles Hildebrandt lives and works in Winston-Salem, NC. His early artistic beginnings were in photography, but his creative work has grown to include mixed media collage and acrylic landscapes. Many of his mixed media pieces still involve his photographic work, but also include acrylic, sheet metal, and other materials. About his paintings, the artist says that “the majority of landscape paintings come from a memory, or an extension of an image from a photograph taken. However, few of them are literal translations of either; they are combinations of life experiences, observations, photographs, and interpretations.” Moments.
Irene Christensen manages to divide her time producing her work not only in her studios in New York City as well as in Oslo, Norway, but also for one month each year in Costa Rica. She has exhibited in both Europe and the United States since 1983. She participated in the Personal Structures exhibition organized by the Global Art Affairs Foundation and hosted by the European Cultural Center in the context of the Venice Art Biennale of 2017. Her work is represented in many museums and personal collections in Europe and USA. About the work in this exhibit, “Tomorrow We Meet The Alligator,” the artist states that “The alligators are predators but part of life on this earth. In my series of streamers I use 7”x5” hand dyed and drawn/painted paper, pasted on either old fax paper or muslin cloth or rice paper."
Montreal-based artist Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad sees the contradictions between what things look like or appear to be and what they actually are. Particularly in this time of fake reality and ‘alternative facts’ when almost anything can be falsified, she asks us to focus not on what we see but on the meaning that lies within. In the United States she has shown at the ISEA International Symposium of Experimental Arists, the Brownsville Museum in Texas, Center for Contemporary Art in Bedford, New Jersey and Viridian Artists in Chelsea NYC. Her work appeared on a billboard in central Los Angeles as part of the Billboard Creatives 2016 Exhibition. She participated in the Help Hope Nepal Mural project during Art Basel Miami 2015 and her portrait of Gradimir Pankov, former artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, won the Bronze Award in painting in the Art Forward international competition in 2016 and was featured in a film tribute to Pankov’s achievements.
Vernita N”Cognita, aka Vernita Nemec has been dealing with the environment through her art-making for the past 20 years, first with her Endless Junkmail Scroll and now with sculpture created from upcycled plastic food containers and other plastic detritus. She uses the aesthetics of Wabi-Sabi by focusing on the beauty of the discarded plastic’s physicality and uselessness and then creating art from it, saving it from enlarging the plastic gyres growing in the oceans, killing the coral and sea creatures who think it is food. These plastic objects from everyday life coalesce into compositions that speak to the chaotic interplay between our lives and the pervasiveness of plastic detritus that continues to grow with time. Nemec has been active as an artist, a curator, environmentalist and a feminist, organizing one of the first all-female art exhibits, “X-12”, in 1970. She was a part of Soho 20, a feminist cooperative gallery, in the 70’s & has presented more than 30 solo exhibits and performances in the US, Europe and Asia. More about the artist can be found on Wikipedia.
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12–6pm
For further information please contact: Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director
or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
visit us on Instagram @viridianartistsinc and see us on Facebook & YouTube at Viridian Artists Gallery