“Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality”
Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational
Curated by Vernita Nemec
October 18 – November 5, 2016
Reception Thursday October 20, 6-8pm
Poetry Reading & closing event Saturday Nov 5, 4-6pm
Alan Gaynor * Franz Fox * May DeViney * John Nieman * Kathleen King * Jan Davis * Bruce Rosen * Kathleen Shanahan * Sarah Riley * Joshua Greenberg * Katherine Ellinger Smith * Dave Dorsey * Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Ed Herman * Larry Zdeb * Naum Medovoy * Claudia Corò * Angela M. LaMonte * Erik Miller * Bernice Sokoll Kramer * Jackie Lima * Marcia Bernstein * D’Ann de Simone * Patricia Owsiany *Elizabeth Bisbing * Victoria Webb * Bryan Smith * Jenny Belin * Marjie Zelman * William Patrick Armstrong * David Yendes * Robert Cenedella * Irene Christensen * Fred Gutzeit * Craig Cheply * Richard Brachman*Len Rosenfeld * Michael Wolf * N’Cognita * Michael Reck *Philip Gerstein * Kyoyoung Keum * Marcia Lloyd * Ursula Clark
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality”, a Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational curated by Vernita Nemec. The exhibition continues from October 18th – November 5th, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, October 20th, 6-8pm & a closing party & poetry reading on Saturday Nov 5th, 4-6pm.
The impetus for this invitational exhibit arose out of the trying times of this moment of reality that is so filled with madness. The upcoming election with possibly our first female president vying for the office with a political neophyte, racial anger, immigration, gun & police issues, environmental catastrophes throughout the world are tensions and stress that perhaps only can be safely addressed through art.
More than 40 artists are addressing their concerns and thoughts both directly and indirectly about today’s world with their art. Ed Herman’s photo of Lincoln dissolved by water dripping from AC, Angela LaMonte’s collage accompanied by a quote from Frantz Fanon about the magic finally being in the hands of the people; Marcia Bernstein’s abstract construction “Hatred’s Rising”; Michaels Wolf’s lead flag, Larry Zdeb’s assemblage of things from daily life that continues despite our fears; Elizabeth Bisbing’s “Obama of Mercy” collage with crowd shots of rallies mixed with fragments of Poussin paintings, Alan Gaynor’s multiplied face of Trump with lips pursed; Len Rosenfeld’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”; Craig Cheply’s “Maddog” man in a suit; Franz Fox’s “Danseur” symbolizing the chaos he feels in our country; Sryvidya K Ramachandran’s “Proudhon, not Marx” abstraction about gradualism. Kyoyoung Keum explores the disparity between “reality” and what is “true”. Racism, labor, the environment, law, hope and oh yes, politics are all explored through art and images.
These artworks all carry a message filled with worries about tomorrow. Sometimes the message is made clear by the title, sometimes by the image and sometimes the meaning is not at all clear, but then, that is the nature of these times. This is not the first time that Viridian has presented an exhibit focused on politics or social concerns because art speaks beyond words. Nevertheless, the artists have also been invited to present a poem or two to close the exhibition- for words and image both help to clarify our communication. We hope you will join us and see the power of art to express what is on the minds of artists in today’s tumultuous world