"Art from Detritus: Recycling with Imagination"
Curated by Vernita Nemec
January 31- February 18, 2017
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 6-8PM
Closing reception & poetry slam last Saturday, February 18, 4-6PM
William Patrick Armstrong * Marcia Bernstein * MJ Bono * May DeViney * Kiffi Diamond *Fred Gutzeit * Kathryn Hart * Ed Herman * Kathleen King * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Gail Levin * Kazuko Miyamoto * Vernita N'Cognita * Petronia Paley * Carol Quint * Elizabeth Rhoades Read * Matakia * d'Ann de Simone * Sara Wiener * Larry Zdeb * Philip Zuchman
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the exhibit “Art of Detritus: Recycling with Imagination" featuring fine art made primarily from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R's: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle and especialy "upcycling" which is the essence of making art from trash. The exhibit will open January 31st and continues through February 18th with a reception Saturday, February 2nd, 6-8pm. There will also be a closing reception/ poetry slam on Saturday, February 18, 4-6PM. Let's talk about trash!
“Art From Detritus” 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 artmaking serve as both a message and inspiration. This exhibit reaches beyond the art world, serving as a message not only about art, but also about recycling for the good of the environment, a goal becoming more and more pressing as we continue to discard packaging and take a new plastic bag each time we buy. The 5 cent charge per plastic bag to be imposed soon will begin to address a small part of this environmental calamity.
Since 1994, the changing group of artists in this exhibit has opened dialogues with viewers about the importance and usefulness of art as something beyond decoration. Artists often cannot afford studio assistants, expensive materials and equipment for art making, but seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists creatively deal with the problem of too much trash by using it to create fascinating and unique art. Artists have been using found objects to make art for eons, but now it has become political.
“Art from Detritus”, or art from trash, was first conceived and curated by Vernita Nemec, an artist/ curator 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 head quarters for municipal waste & recycling, the exhibit has re-occurred with funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Puffin Foundation andsponsorship by the NRC. The exhibit waspresented 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 for the thirds time at Viridian. (See more information and images of past Detritus shows at www.ncognita.com.)
Vernita Nemec, a.k.a. 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 2005. Her complete biography can be seen on wikipedia.
gallery hours Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM. For further information phone 212-414-4040 or email viridianartistsinc@gmail.com. View our