FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
“Art of Detritus: Recycling with Imagination"
April 21–May 21, 2020
A Virtual Show Exhibition
Denise Adler * Annaliese Bischoff * Penny Armentrout Brooks * Ellen Burnett * Angelyn Chandler *
Irene Christensen * Harry Delorme * May Deviney * Katie De Young * Kiffi Diamond * Céline Downen *
Emily Eihoffer * Myrna Minter Forster * Pauline Galiana * Alan Gaynor * Rachel Green *
Fred Gutzeit * Chris Tucker Haggerty * Hannah Ehrlich Haney * Ed Herman * Halona Hilbertz *
Kazuo Ishikawa * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Geoffrey Krist * Lynne Mayocole and Sam Wiener *
Gail Mitchell * Vernita Nemec * Carol Quint * Elizabeth Rhoads Read * Len Rosenfeld * Dani Schuller * Kathleen Shanahan * Brittany Sievers * Kasia Skorynkiewicz. * Courtney Weida * Helen Zajkowski *
Larry Zdeb * Philip Zuchman *
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to virtually present the exhibit “Art of Detritus: Recyclingwith 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 especially "upcycling" which is the essence of making art from trash. During this time of seclusion, though most galleries, museums & public spaces are closed because of the Corona pandemic, we will remain open virtually to present art and messages of hope through art & communication. The exhibit will be featured virtually on our website, www.viridianartists.com.
“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 art making 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 that has become more pressing as we continue to discard packaging and take a new plastic bag each time we buy. Finally, we are beginning to address practically the issue of too much trash by charging for plastic bags, but more must be done. The art in this exhibit intends to serve not as a solution, but 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.
Artists in this exhibit are opening a dialogue with viewers about the importance and usefulness of art as something beyond decoration, but the battle began decades before with artists who used discards because they couldn’t afford the new or because they saw the beauty that encompassed the aged and broken. Artists often cannot afford studio assistants, expensive materials and equipment for art making, but seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists have creatively dealt 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 an ostensibly political act.
“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 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 for the fourth time, at Viridian. 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.