"VIRIDIAN AFFILIATE ARTISTS"
January 31 to February 18, 2012
Opening reception Thursday February 2, 6-8PM
Thursday, February 16th, there will be a performance art presentation by N'Cognita at 7pm
Rosemary Lyons * Nancy Macina * Vernita N'Cognita * Lauren Purje * Sarah Riley * Katherine Ellinger Smith * Sheila Smith *
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "VIRIDIAN AFFILIATE ARTISTS" an exhibition of outstanding art by seven artists who are part of the Affiliate program at the gallery. The exhibit will continue from January 31 to February 18, 2012, at our new location at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street on the 6th floor. There will be an opening reception Thursday February 2 6-8PM and on the final Thursday of the show, February 16th, there will be a performance art presentation by N'Cognita at 7pm. The Viridian Artists Affiliate program is a special gallery program that is an important aspect of Viridian's mission to expand exhibition and sales opportunities for outstanding contemporary artists. Sheila Smith has been creating a series of photos she has been taking of wall surfaces in the streets of New York City for ages. After photographing her image digitally, she then reconstructs it in Photoshop to create an abstract painterly look. To complete the work, she then prints them on canvas and glues it to a gesso board so that the photographic image "becomes" a painting. Sarah Riley is the Head of Printmaking at Southeast Missouri State University. Her book on mixed-media printmaking techniques was published in December 2011 by A & C Black, London. Her artwork, too, is an exploration and mixture of media and techniques that combine drawing, collage, printmaking and paint. Many of her works contain feminist overtones and are drawn from myth, literature and personal history; the juxtaposition of images suggests both memories and re-imaginings. Rosemary Lyons is enthralled by the multitude of Latin phrases still in use centuries after the language was declared dead. Her illuminated manuscripts are inspired by that 'dead' language but she uses Latin with contemporary imagery to create Illuminated Manuscripts of 'Renaissance choir books with an ironic twist. These images are part of a larger Manu Scriptus Series. Lauren Purje's current paintings are part of what she calls "the disaster series", a series of paintings of children thrown into disastrous-looking landscapes. She sees the content of the paintings as allegories and metaphors for her own anxieties and fears: fear we all share like the fear of death and anxiety over circumstances out of our control. The characters in the works are hopeless and accompanied by universal symbols of death and/or impending doom in backgrounds loosely inspired by 19th century romantic paintings. Nancy Macina paints the great cities of the world and their environs, focusing on their beauty and how the light of nature falls upon them. Her hope is to capture the ethos of a place and how its history has evolved into the present through our perception and memory. As she travels and paints, she is recreating these places with imagination and in some situations, a sense of surreality. Katherine Ellinger Smith's new series of paintings and drawings is an exploration of her favorite films with female characters like Rebecca or Bette Davis in 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane' who have double-edged personalities. To begin the development of a painting or drawing, she first photographs film “moments” with a digital camera while viewing the movie on television and then edits the shots until she finds an image that she feels directly connected to. Her intent is to draw the viewer directly and powerfully into the content of the piece. She is a tenured art professor at South East Missouri State University. Vernita N’Cognita is a visual/ performance artist/ curator who has exhibited her art throughout the world. Her artwork ranges across a variety of disciplines, from creating installations, m/m collages and tangible art objects such as the “Endless Junkmail Scroll to the creation of performance art that conceptually investigates theatre and its edges – using language, space, and time, silence and stillness as well as movement and voice as instruments of self-expression. In 1995, she assumed the name VERNITA N’COGNITA in homage to under-recognized artists. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 12 - 6 p.m. For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212.414.4040 or info@viridianartists.com or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com