"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
"NEW VIRIDIAN ARTISTS"
"NEW VIRIDIAN ARTISTS"
Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff + Stacey Clarfield Newman + David Dorsey + Darryl Moody + Kiyoshi Kawaguchi + Valerii Klymchuk
January 3 to January 28, 2012
Reception : January 5, 6-8 pm
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "NEW VIRIDIAN ARTISTS" an exhibition of outstanding art by six of the newest artists to join the gallery's ranks. The exhibit will continue from January 3 to January 28, 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, January 5, 5-8PM. These 6 artists each have unique and fresh ways of looking at the world and translating their revelation onto paper, canvas, clay and whatever other materials they find necessary to elucidate and illuminate their interpretation of reality.
Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff works in multi media, sculpture, painting, (both oil and acrylic), printmaking, and occasionally, writing. She feels she is continually learning and for her, it is all about the journey and the road remains unending. The artist quotes Edvard Grieg, the composer, who said that, "Art is really the surplus of longing that cannot find expression in life or in other ways." This, for Hoff, is a succinct description of why she makes art.
A collagist and painter, Stacey Clarfield Newman has developed a unique method of recycling ephemera to create striking hand-painted papers. She then uses them as painterly “brushstrokes of paper” to produce lyrical collages containing abstracted “mindscapes” and whimsical social commentary. Most recently, Ms. Clarfield Newman spent two months living and working in Kolkata, India at the Udayan School, a welfare and rehabilitation school for children of leprosy patients.
In David Dorsey's paintings one sees objects as they really are. The artist has a dual purpose as he paints—to show objects, figures or scenes in a way that’s faithful to how they look in the world, but also with an emphasis on achieving certain color harmonies. Dorsey is an award-winning painter who has exhibited internationally. He works in a tradition that began with the Impressionists and continues in work by artists as diverse as Thiebaud, Dine, Porter, Fish, and Mattiasdottir, as well as many currently emerging painters.
Darryl Moody's digital images capture the visual remnants and torn fragments of found street posters that reveal current history worn by weather and random disfigurement. New Yorker magazine art critic Peter Schjeldahl once wrote: Moody's images are "visual paintings . . . photographically akin to the work of Aaron Siskind." The artist goes on to say "as the residue of life has continued to collect upon my creative vision, I have found the camera to be the most reliable tool in the revelatory process of meaning making. Revisiting urban settings to study public surfaces I focus on markings left behind by the ebb and flow of humanity."
Kiyoshi Kawaguchi's paintings of urban life synthesize with irony and humor the exuberance and rhythms of city life in paintings that are a perfect blend of his native Japan's love of Jazz improvisation and the classical sophistication of early modernist painters of the 30's. He returns to Viridian, showing here last in 1978, with paintings that are stronger and more enigmatically telling than before- the craziness of today's world.
Born in the Ukraine on the anniversary of the October Revolution, Valerii Klymchuk was the first in his family to earn a college degree and went on to earn a Masters in Systems Analysis. He is very ambitious and has decided to save the world with art, both a high and a noble calling. He says that his paintings are a result of subconscious transformations of thought and when he is painting, feels he can see beyond appearances of physical reality, a goal that all artists may seek unconsciously. His work was among those selected by Elizabeth Sussman for our 2010 Juried Competition.
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates Exhibition
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates Exhibition
December 28 - January 15, 2011
Reception: Saturday, January 8, 2011 4-7pm
Mary Wells * Carol Brookes * Katherine Ellinger Smith * Sheila Smith * Lynne Johnson * Lynne Mayocole * Rosemary Lyons * Bernice Sokol Kramer *
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by new Viridian Artists & Affiliates. The exhibition features a wide variety of art by these exciting artists recently represented by Viridian Artists. The exhibit opens Tuesday, December 28th and extends through Saturday, January 15th with a reception Saturday, January 8, 4-7 PM. Each artist in this exhibit has been given approximately 10 linear feet of wall space to present a mini solo of their recent art. Carol Brookes and Mary Wells are yet to have a solo show at Viridian, so this will give viewers an introduction to their work which will be featured in solo exhibits next season. The other six artists are Viridian Affiliates, some like Rosemary Lyons, Katherine Ellinger Smith and Lynne Johnson returning to the gallery roster. The works by Carol Brookes are from her Construct Series, a group of frame-like boxes which are in essence wall sculptures, material driven and inspired by everyday objects. When arranged together, these ordinary materials are transformed, becoming precious and jewel-like. Katherine Ellinger Smith is showing 2 large scale polyester film images, one entitled "WATCH OUT FOR THE DEER", inspired by an article about deer attacking students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale who were supposedly taking shortcuts through a wooded area where the deer resided... "I find it amazing how similar we are to animals, emotionally, in some ways...there goes the image of deer as being non-violent and disney like…" Mary Wells creates paper mosaics of cut acrylic painted papers, which because of their intricacy and realism, appear at first glance to be photographic images. These delicately precise collages go far beyond the usual concept of cut paper and roam into the realm of ultra-realism. Bernice Sokol Kramer creates sculptural works of recycled newspapers and other mixed media sometimes painted, sometimes not. Her standing and hanging forms speak both of the figure and all that covers it. Lynne Mayocole usually thinks of her art as a sort of story. This one features "Screaming Mimis", small wall sculptures, scattered around watercolors celebrating the vibrant summer last year in Provence. "Are the "Mimis" celebrating a season seen last year but far in our snowy future? My stories leave interpretation up to the viewer!" Sheila Smith's digital photographs are from a series of images taken of New York City at night that often approach the abstract. The series is entitled "N.Y.C. After Dark", but the light that the artist has captured, speaks of the movement and excitement of the city at night. Lynne Johnson's prints and drawings focus on texture and on the many forms line can take, both in the natural landscape and in the man-made landscape of waste and recycling. She is concerned in her work with those forms & textures that bear witness to the effects of nature and time passing, as well as the odd juxtaposition of discarded objects of humans with natural forms which she feels mirror the randomness of life. Johnson was also a winner in Viridian's last Juried Exhibition. Rosemary Lyons, a Buffalo NY artist, has been making contemporary illuminated manuscripts with political overtones for a number of years. The four in this exhibition are among her most recent comments on culture and language.
"Holiday Presence" Viridian Artists & Friends
"Holiday Presence" Viridian Artists & Friends
December 6th to December 31st, 2011
Opening reception Thursday December 15th, 6-8PM
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "Holiday Presence", an exhibition of art by Viridian Artists & Friends, December 6th to December 31st, 2011, 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 December 15th, 6-8PM. In addition, Viridian is bringing back its Holiday Store of art cards, prints, artist books, small art, art jewelry etc., all available for under $100. The winter holidays, over time, have come to focus more on gift giving & exchange, than on the religious origins of this time period. So, with this exhibition, "Holiday Presence" Viridian has taken the liberty of playing with the idea of "presence" to go beyond the thought of giving "presents" and presenting a more all encompassing sense of holiday "presence". The holiday season is much more for us all. It's a time of coming together with our families & friends, a time to take a break from work & spend a few days away, a time to celebrate another year almost over and a time to find just the right gift to let those close to us feel our caring. A time to write that letter about all that's happened this past year and mail it along with our holiday greetings to our whole address book. It’s a time of celebration and promises to make the future better. A time for hot mulled cider and eggnog, a time for old fashioned memories & doings, a time for home baked cookies and a time for sending greetings to those far away but still close in our hearts. It’s a time to come together with a holiday spirit and presence. Oh, and those presents of art would be the perfect! Each year, in a spirit of holiday giving and sharing, Viridian Artists take this time to enlarge their holiday presence by inviting guest artists to show their creations along with us and to give them all an excuse to create some small but special artworks to share during season of celebration, contemplation and giving. Feel free to dress up in tails black ties & beaded dresses to add to the holiday or, just come in you jeans. Come and add your holiday presence to our celebrations on Thursday December 15th! Or if not the, hoping to see you sooner or later!
"Picture Perfect: Director's Choice" "Director's Choice"
"Picture Perfect: Director's Choice"
"Director's Choice"
Artists from our 1st International Juried Photo Competition
curated by Vernita Nemec
November 8th to December 3rd, 2011
opening reception Saturday November 19th, 4-7PM
Matthew Derezinski * Gordon Gilbert * John Haines * Barbara Hillerman * Chris Jordan * Andrea Kemler * Thomas Krueger * Jane McWhorter * Darryl Moody * Shirley Pasternak * Vera Sprunt * Soni Wallace
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "Picture Perfect: Director's Choice", an exhibition of photographically based art to occur November 8th to December 3rd, 2011 at our new location at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street. There will be an opening reception Saturday November 19th, 4-7PM Although these artists/photographers were not “winners” of Viridian's 1st International Juried Photo Competition juried by Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum, Vernita Nemec, the gallery director of Viridian felt the images of these twelve photographers to be as uniquely interesting as some of those chosen by the Whitney Curator. And as we all know, professional opinions vary widely regarding what is the "best" art, for in the end it is a question of taste even in the eye of the professional and one of Viridian's missions is to provide meaningful exposure to underknown artists. Previously, these images were shown only in a power point presentation during the Juried exhibition last season, but Nemec felt the images to be worthy of their own exhibition and hence we bring the actual works together now. Each of these artists has their own personal obsession in their search for images in reality to record, capture or alter which they then transform into their own reality. Many of these artists work with enhanced & nearly surreal color changes and imagery, while others take the reality of reality and leave it as is. Andrea Kemler's still lifes look like Renaissance paintings, Shirley Pasternak duets with Romantic painters while Soni Wallace creates layered photomontage of fragments from nature which she photographs with a 35mm film camera and calls still lifes. Thomas Krueger's imagery focuses on the mundane and overlooked, creating gelatin silver prints. John Haines, Vera Sprunt and Gordon Gilbert all deal with nature but Sprunt adds acrylic to her layered images while Haines captures his version of the beauty of nature as he sees it in his surroundings and Gilbert heightens his colors to a surreal pitch. Jane McWhorter focuses on the sky and nothing else in the series presented here. More urban are the images of Barbara Hillerman who captures overlooked images in the reflections on automobiles and Darryl Moody who finds torn fragments of street posters from the walls of city buildings which he isolates and gives new meanings. Matthew Derezinski's images are filled with a haunting gothic aura and Chris Jordan, a photo professor at Alabama University, gives us his view of a sublime suburbia.
NAMIYO KUBO Water Series Vol 19 'The Ocean of light'
NAMIYO KUBO
Water Series Vol 19 'The Ocean of light'
October 18-November 5, 2011
Opening reception Tuesday, Oct.18 5-7p.m.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present its first solo exhibition in its new space at 548 W 28th Street: the new work of Namiyo Kubo. Her exhibition of painting on paper entitled Water Series Vol.19 'The Ocean of Light' continues from October 18-November 5, 2011 with an opening reception Tuesday, Oct.18 5-7p.m
This will be Tokyo artist Namiyo Kubo’s second solo exhibit at Viridian Artists, but instead of covering the walls of the gallery with tiny collages of camellia blossoms as she did in January of 2010, this time the artist has filled the gallery walls with large collages of blue and gold painted paper that put the viewer in the midst of a watery world. It a combination of color and the rippled painted paper that creates the textured surface of oceans.
“The Ocean of Light” is about many things. The artist states that she is continuing to create about nature, sometimes about the sea, a drop of rain, rivers, the waves of lakes, oceans and bays, but this work is also about cities and the human- made world. The “light” of stars, meteors, electricity reflecting off the waves & ripples of water reveal the cities of the world. One can discern the silhouettes of skyscrapers & the lights of Tokyo, Shanghai, London, New York City and other cities one recognizes by the shapes conjured by the “Ocean of Light” the artist has filled the gallery with. The artist “sees” twelve lights on the oceans of the Earth and the spirituality inherent in the symbol of light & water, of rebirth, discovery & unity is especially critical in our time of tsunamis, political and religious strife and nuclear disasters. Despite the calamities of our times, this ambitious artwork reminds us that meteors, falling stars and “oceans of light” are signs of the enormity of and power in the Universe.
Namiyo Kubo is active in Japan creating murals, working with children in Iwate and doing much volunteer work in connection with art and the recent disaster in Northern Japan. Viewers not only will see her art, but will also have a chance to meet her as well at her reception on Tuesday, October 18th, 5-7PM. We hope to see you there.
"Moved"
"MOVED"
Gallery Artists Group Show" (celebrating our new location)
September 20th - October 15th, 2011
Reception Thursday, September 22, 6-8pm
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "MOVED", a Group Show of Gallery Artists celebrating the move to our new location at 548 West 28h St, suite 632. The exhibition continues from September 20th through October 15th, with an opening reception Thursday, September 22, 6-8PM. It’s always amazing how quickly time flies, but then we all feel that - young & old - in this age of quick upgrades and electronic gadgets that are out of date before they are worn out. Viridian’s ten years following our move from 57th Street to Chelsea, also has just ended. We remember our beginning here in Chelsea too well, for it was Sept 2001. This September, many galleries are having shows to do with the 10th anniversary of this immense tragedy but we did our Elegy to 9/11. Thanks to the encouragement of our President Emeritus, Barbara K Schwartz, the year after it happened we presented an exhibition incorporating an immense project of artists’ proposals commemorating that tragedy, curated by the sculptor Mary Miss. So let others commemorate that moment now and let us celebrate our move and the upcoming years at our new location, 548 West 28th Street, and also accessible from 547 West 27th Street. Now the Highline has an entrance on our block and Viridian continues to continue and move forward, as do the artists of today, responding to their personal realities and the realities of the world, whatever they might be. And so our show to open this 2011-12 season is called “Moved”. We have asked our gallery artists to select works that address the concept of “moved” in all its various ramifications, whether they be emotional, physical or other. Included in the show are: JANET L. BOHMAN, RENÉE BORKOW, CAROL BROOKES, JOHN CULLEN, MAY DEVINEY, ARTHUR DWORIN, DAVID DORSEY BERNICE FAEGENBURG, TAZUKO FUJII / OI SAWA, ALAN GAYNOR, WALLY GILBERT, ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF, KATHLEEN KING, KIYOSHI KAWAGUCHI, YOUNG SAM KIM, VALERII KLYMCHUK, NAMIYO KUBO, ROBERT MIELENHAUSEN, DARRYL MOODY, BRUCE ROSEN, BARBARA K. SCHWARTZ, SUSAN SILLS, VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT, ROBERT SMITH, DEBORAH SUDRAN, BOB TOMLINSON, MEREDETH TURSHEN, MARY WELLS
Alan Gaynor "City Views & Other Things"
Alan Gaynor
"City Views & Other Things"
June 7- 25, 2011
Opening reception Thursday June 9, 4-7PM
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by Alan Gaynor. His exhibition of photographs entitled "City Views & Other Things," continues from June 7 through June 25, 2011 with an opening reception, Thursday June 9, 4-7PM.
Alan Gaynor's evolution as a photographer is an outgrowth of his interest in architecture and urbanism. As architecture is often said to be "frozen music", Gaynor feels his photographs demonstrate that in a city, it is the layering of the buildings played against one another elements that create an overall ensemble that one could say resembles music.
The artist has studied with the master photographers George Tice (urban landscapes), John Sexton (black & white imagery of nature and Ansel Adams' assistant) & Jock Sturges noted for his B&W photographs of Naturists & beautiful people.
Nevertheless, and perhaps because he is a licensed architect, Gaynor's constant focus to date in his photography is an encompassing examination of the architecture of the urban landscape. Looking at his photographs, the viewer is made aware of the structural elements and the repetition of patterns and form in man made design.
Combining traditional photographic equipment with digital processing, Gaynor created color and black and white photographs in the show using 4"x 5" T Max 100 Film with a View Camera, or with a medium format digital back on a view camera. The photographs were output with professional inkjet printers.
This will be the artist's first solo exhibit at Viridian, though he has exhibited previously at FotoFusion, Spectra '07, Saf-T-Gallery, Black Box Gallery, Camera Obscura and Soho Photo, when in 2002 & 2003 respectively, he was awarded 1st & 3rd prizes in the Members Shows. He also received a Think Tank Photo Award in 2007.
Robert Mielenhausen “ROME"
Robert Mielenhausen
“ROME"
Mixed-Media Reliefs
May 17, - June 4, 2011
Reception Saturday, May 21st, 4-7p.m.
Artist's Talk, Thursday, June 2, 6-7pm.
Chelsea, NYC. Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present "ROME", an exhibition of mixed-media reliefs by the artist Robert Mielenhausen. The exhibition opens Tuesday, May 17th and continues through Saturday, June 4th. There will be a reception on Saturday, May 21st 4-7pm. The artist will be present to give a talk on his work Thursday, June 2, 6-7pm. All are invited and admission is free. Mielenhasusen's latest body of work explores architectural remains of ancient Rome. The artist ingeniously conjures fragments of temples, villas, and scenographic walls that are scattered throughout the Italian peninsula. As a result, the Viridian Artist’s gallery space is transformed into a sumptuous departure of times past. The conceptualization of these artworks is derived from photographs of what once stood and still does which the artist has taken and gathered while traveling in Italy. Acting almost as a visual historian or anthropologist, Mielenhausen depicts visual elements and rhythms found in early Roman art and architecture. Through his compositions, the artist investigates spatial relations, textures, and atmospheric light which he feels set the stage for western art to follow. ”Villa Poppea”, a prominent work of the group, and recently published in the April 3rd issue of The New York Times is imbued with a sense of both solidity and decay. This theme of impermanence is reflected throughout the exhibition. The artist has layered the surfaces of his art works with glue, polyurethane and textural materials along with his photographs and occasional found objects. Mielenhausen’s intent is to interpret in a contemporary manner, by means of construction and deconstruction, what has come before. The art embraces both the literal as well as the abstract and gives the contemporary viewer a fresh look at the ancient world, stepping outside the realms of trend and sensationalism. This is Mielenhausen's first solo exhibition at Viridian, though he has previously had solo shows at Adelphi University, the Old Watermill Museum, Michael Peter Hayes Gallery in East Norwich and other locations. His art has been featured in numerous group shows throughout New York City and Long Island including OK Harris Works of Art. Most recently his work was featured along with a select group of Viridian Artists at Onward Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. His work is in numerous public & private collections.
Dorothy Dierks Hourihan "The Flower Show"
Dorothy Dierks Hourihan
"The Flower Show"
April 26 - May 14, 2011
Reception: Saturday, April 30, 2011 4-6pm
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present a retrospective exhibit by Dorothy Dierks Hourihan spanning over 40 years. The watercolors & oils in the exhibit focus on flowers not imitated, but interpreted as energies of growing things. The exhibit opens Tuesday, April 26th and extends through Saturday, May 14th with a reception Saturday, April 30th, 4-6 PM. Dorothy Dierks Hourihan is an artist who uses her art and artmaking to celebrate life. A painter and educator, her passion for painting she says is "like a natural high that comes from interpreting and transforming visual perceptions." Her studio production is determined by her obsession with energy as a symbol of life opposing stagnation and death. In 2009 she had a 50 year retrospective in New York City at The Pen & Brush Club and continues both through her painting and her writing to pursuit a life lived passionately. Over the years she has created images both realistic and abstract covering the wide range of topics of life: Politics, sports, landscapes, living creatures, patterns and just plain energy. Again, in the artist's words, "Energy fields, both terrestrial and celestial, observed and imagined, seem to me expressions of spiraling, meandering, cascading and rippling in life itself, as well as a reminder of the beauty in nature's taking on a similarity of patterns in all flowing forms." Hourihan, like many passionate artists, sees communicating through art as "perhaps as strong a human need as drinking, eating and loving." Alejandro Anreus, Associate Professor of Art History, first met her in the mid 80's when he was an assistant curator at the Montclair Art Museum. Though art for her is a celebration of life, for her, as for us all, life also has had its darker moments with the loss of her husband Tim and her son. Anreus saw her struggle and survival through those times. He stated in the catalog from her 2009 retrospective, "through it all, her paintings have remained banners against despair constructed through her hard earned vision of survival through transcendence". The artist has a Doctor of Education degree from Columbia University and is the retired Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Professor Emeritus at New Jersey City University. Her paintings can be found in numerous public and private collections and she continues to paint and write in her Blairstown NJ home and studio. Though now a septuagenarian, retirement is not on her agenda. She has written a novella, "1919, A Kansas Tale", available on Amazon, but is already working on a full length novel, that she works on while not painting
Robert Smith: "The GRAND minute"
Robert Smith
"The GRAND minute"
Color Photographs
April 5 - 23, 2011
Reception Thursday, April 7th, 5 - 8 p.m.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new photographs by Robert Smith. Entitled “The GRAND minute” and referring to size, not time, the exhibition opens Tuesday, April 5th and continues through Saturday, April 23rd. There will be a reception on Thursday, April 7th, 5 - 8 p.m. Smith relates a narrative of his mind’s eye consciousness within each image. The uncropped photographs are all comprised of relative close-ups of the undisturbed landscape in Point Lobos State Reserve in Carmel, California and on Monhegan Island, Maine. If you would accompany Smith on his journey through the landscape, chances are you would not be aware of what he is seeing. He has practiced a discipline, “Sensory Awareness,” for more than four decades. It has been called the Western Zen and through quiet centers him in the present moment. He acknowledges that it has given him a special way of seeing and informed his work. His fertile imagination encompasses both the whimsical and utmost seriousness and he lets the unaltered landscape reveal his own transformative storytelling. To assist the viewer, Smith has diligently crafted titles for each photograph to encourage others to share his personal vision. Needless to say, he believes there is a rich visual world right at our feet that simply goes unnoticed. He is out to open our eyes with these unusual photographs. Robert Smith lives and works in New York City and has a summer studio on Monhegan Island. There, in recent years, he has led groups in Steps to Seeing walks, sharing his way of viewing the landscape and offering the gift of greater visual awareness to others. Smith has had a wide range of solo and group exhibitions and is included in numerous private collections in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and throughout Europe.
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates Exhibition
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates Exhibition
March 22- April 2, 2011
Reception: Saturday, March 26, 2011 4-7pm
Nancy Treherne Craig * John Cullen * Young Sam Kim* Vernita N'Cognita
Sarah Riley * Don Zurlo
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by new Viridian Artists & Affiliates. The exhibition features a wide variety of art by these exciting artists recently represented by Viridian Artists. The exhibit opens Tuesday, March 22nd and extends through Saturday, April 2nd with a reception Saturday, Saturday, March 26, 4-7 PM.
Each artist in this exhibit has been given approximately 10 linear feet of wall space to present a mini solo of their recent art. Three of these artists, Nancy Treherne Craig, Young Sam Kim and John Cullen, deal with landscape or cityscape, but all do so with very different and unique approaches.
John Cullen and Young Sam Kim are both exhibiting at Viridian for the first time. John Cullen is a painter of abstracted landscapes, and in fact calls himself an "abstract impressionist". His landscapes focus on water reflections. When looking at his paintings on panels, one sees clearly the swirling currents and the splashes of color and texture that allude to watery realms, unidentifiable in reality but more clearly understood inwardly. Cullen who received a Masters degree in Art Education from Pratt in 1970, has since taught on a college level and worked as a professional artist.
Young Sam Kim is a digital photographer who received his B.F.A. in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2002. Of Korean heritage, he has been afflicted since youth with a hearing impairment and came to the US to study and explore his creative impulses here. His art of arresting pictograms are created ofurban buildings and scenes overlaid with fragments of photographs of people, sky, trees and planes, reminding him of dreams and memories of his youth. These, he has digitally collaged and layered into city scapes that speak of humans trapped in urban landscapes and forests of buildings yearning to fly away and to be free.
Nancy Treherne Craig who first had a solo exhibition at Viridian in 2008, aspires to paint more than pretty pictures. Her fascination with the natural world is focused on metaphysical movement and our life journeys. Composition is her most crucial tool when she paints, as she attempts to minimize gesture & aim for an appearance of anonymity. The work is intended as a reminder of the paths available to us if we will wake up and be aware. The artist studied with Elaine de Kooning at the Pennsylvania State University and received an Award of Excellence from the Kenan Art Center of Niagra Falls in 2004.
Don Zurlo, after study at Rutgers with Allan Kaprov and exploring a wide array of media & techniques, has returned to a minimalist approach in his painting in which ambiguity is presented through simple acrylic images resembling the torn paper compositions of his student years at Rutgers. Still as philosophical as he was then, his paintings echo his view of reality, for he states, “In many ways form is an illusion - our interpretation of an infinite variety of relationships between fields of energy".
Sarah Riley is the Chair of the art department at Southeastern Missouri State University and is finishing a book about various approaches to printmaking that combines a range of media. Her artwork too is an exploration and mixture of media and techniques combining drawing, collage, printmaking and paint. Many of her works contain feminist overtones, some alluding to autobiography while others, just moments in the life of an artist.
Vernita N'Cognita is a mixed media and performance artist who has been working and exhibiting in New York and throughout the world for more than twenty years. She came from Ohio to NYC in the early days of feminism, was part of that movement and has continued to explore through her art practice, the trials and concerns of contemporary women. She is also deeply involved with curating and creating as well with environmental activism, exhibits of art from recycled materials (Art from Detritus) and continuing to create since 2006, the "Endless Junkmail Scroll".
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 - 6PM
For further information please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or info@viridianartists.com
Wally Gilbert : "Geometric Series: Squares, Triangles, and Lines"
Wally Gilbert
"Geometric Series: Squares, Triangles, and Lines"
March 1 to March 19, 2011
Reception, Saturday, March 5th, 4 - 7 PM
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists presents new work by Wally Gilbert, representing a new departure for the artist, who has moved away from the digital photographs of his last two shows into a realm of abstract images printed as archival prints on paper. Entitled "Geometric Series: Squares, Triangles and Lines", the exhibition opens March 1st and continues through March 19th, 2011. there will be a reception on Saturday March 5th, 4-7PM. Although these images are derived from simple abstract geometric figures, such as a triangle or a square, Gilbert has built up images of great complexity and exciting colors. His method is to work by hand on the computer first, using the computer to hold the alterations and modifications of the underlying line shapes as a series of superimposed layers, and then using its power to access the colors available electronically to create novel color patterns. About this work, Peter Frank, art critic for the Huffington Post and Adjunct Senior Curator for the Riverside Art Museum, has written: "In the "Squares and Triangles" series, as the name implies, Gilbert takes basic geometric forms, enmeshes them in digital halls of mirrors, and systematically unfolds entirely unassuming shapes into elaborate scintillations. Rhythmic pulsations echo into endless patterns, intricate structures unfurl and implode into gem-like apparitions; colors swell and fade into one another, all tickling the eye into a vibrant thrill. The structures begin simply, but quickly diversify. Where Gilbert could have followed an orthodox minimalism formula, working out a particular schema into all its iterations, he takes a discretionary path determined by taste: a taste for beauty and for optical fascination."
Deborah Sudran "Paintings"
Deborah Sudran
"Paintings"
February 8th- 26th, 2011
Reception Saturday, February 12th, 4-6 PM
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by Deborah Sudran. Entitled “Paintings”, the exhibition opens Tuesday, February 8th and extends through Saturday, February 26th with a reception Saturday, February 12th, 4-6 PM. Deborah Sudran finds infinite inspiration in nature and has been experiencing that inspiration for decades. She's not an ordinary nature painter, but paints out of a love for the colors, forms and space that nature presents, particularly up close. There is no horizon line seen in these works for the viewer's vision is immersed in the elements and forms of plants, and though her paintings are painterly, her allover composition creates almost a carpet of color and texture. The works don’t have the sense of being painted from photographs though Sudran first photographs her subjects. Not focussed on the specific subject matter of nature, the artist is instead fascinated by the abstraction and hues of nature seen up close, whether in gardens, deserts or forests. Sudran studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Michigan. Though the artist has shown in numerous group and solo shows including the Aldrich Museum, the Museum of the Hudson Highlands and Cornwall on Hudson, this is her first solo since 1996. She is in numerous prestigious corporate collections, including AT&T, IBM and Pfizer. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Sat
Viridian Artists' 1st International Juried Photography Exhibition
Viridian Artists' 1st International Juried Photography Exhibition
Juried by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
January 18, - February 5, 2011
Reception: Saturday, January 22, 4:00 - 7:00 pm.
Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present their inaugural International Juried Photography Exhibition. Curated by Elisabeth Sussman, Senior Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the exhibition opens January 18, and continues through February 5, 2011. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Saturday, January 22nd, 4:00-7:00pm. This exhibition is a diverse gathering of 26 photographers from the United States and abroad. They share a common interest in capturing a specific moment and situation. Their goal is to share their personal point of view and instincts with others. Curator, Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum viewed many images sent to Viridian from around the world. The photography chosen communicates a broad range of sensibilities instilling in the viewer a feeling of joy and possibility. The show encompasses a wide range of photographic media including silver gelatin, digital, ink jet, mixed-media, and installation. In her curatorial statement, Sussman talks about the breadth of photography today and the multiplicity of choices in the kind of camera the artist can use as well as the range of manipulation now possible, making photography an exciting and ever-changing part of the visual landscape of art media today. But despite the wide range of choices, she says, " all the photographers, I think share a basic concern, which I would describe as a conviction that photography has a dual role: that a photograph is both an aesthetic object and a conveyor of information." There is so much interesting and exciting work being done today in photography today that Viridian Artists' director, selected the images of twelve photographers not selected by Sussman to be shown in an ongoing "Director's Choice" Power Point presentation during the exhibition. She states that "the multiplicity of creative expression in photography today is staggering." Group Exhibition First Prize: Van Chu Second Prize: Donna Pinckley Third Prize: Lualhati Doctor Honorable Mention: Sophie Alexander * Brad Browne * Howard Heyman David Anderson * Michael Borek * Robert Carley * Jerri A. Castillo * Liz Clayman* Barbara Habenstreit * Brad Haberman * Ira Haskell * Stephen Komp * Illa Loeb * Harry Longstreet * Ricardo Murrillo * Vesna Pavlovic * Stan Raucher * Tony Savino * Mark S. Schmidt * Veronika Schmude * Eniko Szucs * Debbie Teicholz * Khach Turabian * On Power Point: Director's Choice Matthew Derezinski * Gordon Gilbert * John Haines * Chris Jordan * Barbara Hillerman * Andrea Kemler * Thomas Krueger * Jane McWhorter * Darryl Moody * Shirley Pasternak * Vera Sprunt * Soni Wallace *
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates
New Viridian Artists and Affiliates
Exhibition December 28 - January 15, 2011
Reception: Saturday, January 8, 2011 4-7pm Mary Wells
* Carol Brookes * Katherine Ellinger Smith * Sheila Smith * Lynne Johnson * Lynne Mayocole * Rosemary Lyons * Bernice Sokol Kramer *
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by new Viridian Artists & Affiliates. The exhibition features a wide variety of art by these exciting artists recently represented by Viridian Artists. The exhibit opens Tuesday, December 28th and extends through Saturday, January 15th with a reception Saturday, January 8, 4-7 PM. Each artist in this exhibit has been given approximately 10 linear feet of wall space to present a mini solo of their recent art. Carol Brookes and Mary Wells are yet to have a solo show at Viridian, so this will give viewers an introduction to their work which will be featured in solo exhibits next season. The other six artists are Viridian Affiliates, some like Rosemary Lyons, Katherine Ellinger Smith and Lynne Johnson returning to the gallery roster. The works by Carol Brookes are from her Construct Series, a group of frame-like boxes which are in essence wall sculptures, material driven and inspired by everyday objects. When arranged together, these ordinary materials are transformed, becoming precious and jewel-like. Katherine Ellinger Smith is showing 2 large scale polyester film images, one entitled "WATCH OUT FOR THE DEER", inspired by an article about deer attacking students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale who were supposedly taking shortcuts through a wooded area where the deer resided... "I find it amazing how similar we are to animals, emotionally, in some ways...there goes the image of deer as being non-violent and disney like…" Mary Wells creates paper mosaics of cut acrylic painted papers, which because of their intricacy and realism, appear at first glance to be photographic images. These delicately precise collages go far beyond the usual concept of cut paper and roam into the realm of ultra-realism. Bernice Sokol Kramer creates sculptural works of recycled newspapers and other mixed media sometimes painted, sometimes not. Her standing and hanging forms speak both of the figure and all that covers it. Lynne Mayocole usually thinks of her art as a sort of story. This one features "Screaming Mimis", small wall sculptures, scattered around watercolors celebrating the vibrant summer last year in Provence. "Are the "Mimis" celebrating a season seen last year but far in our snowy future? My stories leave interpretation up to the viewer!" Sheila Smith's digital photographs are from a series of images taken of New York City at night that often approach the abstract. The series is entitled "N.Y.C. After Dark", but the light that the artist has captured, speaks of the movement and excitement of the city at night. Lynne Johnson's prints and drawings focus on texture and on the many forms line can take, both in the natural landscape and in the man-made landscape of waste and recycling. She is concerned in her work with those forms & textures that bear witness to the effects of nature and time passing, as well as the odd juxtaposition of discarded objects of humans with natural forms which she feels mirror the randomness of life. Johnson was also a winner in Viridian's last Juried Exhibition. Rosemary Lyons, a Buffalo NY artist, has been making contemporary illuminated manuscripts with political overtones for a number of years. The four in this exhibition are among her most recent comments on culture and language.
“Art*Thought*Gift” Viridian Artists & Guests Holiday Show
“Art*Thought*Gift”
Viridian Artists & Guests Holiday Show
December 7th to December 24th, 2010
opening reception will be on Saturday, December 11th 4-7PM
Chelsea: Viridian Artists Holiday show this season is called “Art*Thought* Gift” and extends from December 7th to December 24th. The festive opening reception will be on Saturday, December 11th 4-7. We’re hoping that those planning to come will “sparkle plenty”—both in personality and dress! Holiday time is fast approaching and what better way to spread the cheer and deal with gifting, but with art. Viridian Artists have invited guest artists as well to share their latest artworks in this group show whose title - "Art*Thought*Gift" takes off on the popular book & movie of nearly the same name. In this consumer culture now confronted with not enough money, what better way to spend then to invest in art and enlighten those who already have too much? And for those with not enough, people in the know realize that art can give solace to those souls hungry for comfort and understanding. In keeping with today's economy, there will be a special section of art available for under $100- Small works framed and unframed, limited edition prints, artist books, small sculptures that could be tree ornaments & the like. Though art may not be food for the body, art IS food for the mind & soul.
Arthur Dworin : “Inner Fire”
Arthur Dworin
“Inner Fire”
Oil paintings on linen and canvas
October 26th - November 13th, 2010
Reception Saturday, October 30th, 4-6 PM.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by Arthur Dworin. Entitled “Inner Fire”, the exhibition of oil paintings on linen and canvas opens Tuesday, October 26th and extends through Saturday, November 13th with a reception Saturday, October 30th, 4-6 PM. Layers of luminosity dance to vibrant magnetic forces and vivid hues in Arthur Dworin’s oil paintings and Giclée prints, completed over the last three years. Alongside dynamic geometry and juxtapositions, the artist creates work that is, at once, serene and electrifying. And his intricate process emerges—planted in canvas. Long a practitioner of Agni Yoga or Fire Yoga, a meditation focused on color frequencies associated with areas of consciousness, Dworin’s paintings have evolved like a many faceted stone. The artist’s hope is that the spirit in these works will act as a key to awaken what is already deep within the observer and anew with each viewing, bring a greater awareness of our inner and outer universes. A Detroit native, Dworin has lived and worked since 1967 in Manhattan, where he’s also been a Scenic Artist for TV, movies, ballet, opera and theater. The recipient of several grants, the artist has regularly exhibited in Europe and the US. This is his third solo show at Viridian Gallery. To preview the work, visit www.ArthurDworin.com. . Dworin’s numerous private collectors include MoMA’s former Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Peter Selz. Dr. Selz, author of 15 books on 20th century art, writes, in 2010: “Arthur Dworin's paintings are endowed with an original sense of sonorous color. Abstract as they are, they bring a new sense of visual order to organic forms of nature.” “Stunning work full of energy and wit. Gorgeous palette and bold brushwork, Dworin’s paintings have it all.”—Zina Saunders, artist, 2010 “Refined, complex and visually deep.”—Dr. Anna Aragno, psychoanalyst and former principal ballerina, the Bolshoi and Metropolitan Opera Ballets, 2010 “Having accomplished sophisticated life drawing since age 15 and success in several unique, non-objective oil series, Dworin today has reached a dazzling display of lyrical passion, motion and light.”—Jerelle Kraus, former NYTimes Art Director; Author, “All the Art That's Fit to Print (& Some That Wasn't): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page,” 2010
BOB TOMLINSON: “Love and Other Sorrows”
BOB TOMLINSON
“Love and Other Sorrows”
October 5 to October 23, 2010
Opening reception Saturday, October 9, 3-6 pm
Coffee and conversation with the artist, Saturday, October 23, 3 – 4 pm
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present recent oil and collage paintings by Bob Tomlinson on the ironic theme: Love and Other Sorrows. The exhibit opens October 5th with a reception on Saturday October 9th, 3-6 PM. The work will be on view through Saturday October 23rd. The artist will be at the gallery on Saturday, October 23rd, the last day of the exhibit, for coffee and conversation from 3-4 PM. The artist’s canvases combine oil paint with elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as computer manipulated photographs. The sensuous color and bold, sinuous contours of these elusive and lyrical paintings play on the tension between figurative references and abstract forms. The painter believes that there is no clear distinction between naturalistically depicted or abstracted figures. As art critic Lawrence Downes wrote: "Tomlinson employs classical anatomy as a vehicle for gestural abstraction." Focusing on form and rhythm as formal autonomous entities, the artist sets his figures hovering in baroque atmospheres awash with subtle color harmonies. Tomlinson’s themes are substantial and implore us to search our memories and connections to myth as well as to reality, but they are executed with an elegant surface treatment that often belies the anguish & emotions that lie deep in the layers of the work. Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American painter born in Brooklyn, New York. He has shown widely in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York and is represented in many international public and private collections including those of the Clark-Atlanta University Museum, Dr. Maya Angelou, Dr. Richard Long, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, Mme Linda Weil-Curiel and Herr Waldo Klick. A graduate of Pratt Institute and the CUNY Graduate Center, he is also a scholar of French Literature and Aesthetics and has lectured and published in both disciplines. He figures in the recent book by Cynthia M. Dantzic, 100 New York Painters (Schiffer, 2006), and is the subject of a projected film by the well-known documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.
Don Zurlo “The Inconstant Illusion”
Don Zurlo
“The Inconstant Illusion”
September 14 - October 2, 2010
Reception Thursday, September 16, 4-7 PM
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by the artist, Don Zurlo. Entitled “The Inconstant Illusion”, the exhibition of paintings opens Tuesday, September 14 and extends through Saturday, October 2 with a reception Thursday, September 16th, 4-7 PM. Throughout his art career, Zurlo’s paintings have always been in a constant state of change, morphing from one style into another, but always attempting to express the transient, random, and unpredictable events in the human landscape in which both animate and inanimate objects continuously interact in a state of flux. Fascinated with eastern philosophy while in college, he continued throughout college and in later years experimenting with ambiguous visual images. Working with black and white torn paper collages in an art class under Allan Kaprow at Rutgers, Zurlo presented bold images of organic forms that existed in an ambiguous state of figure/ground tension. In the following years he experimented with more complex imagery and techniques attempting to reflect the continual change in contemporary life and perceptions. In the current exhibition, he has abandoned all of these techniques, returning to a minimalist approach in which ambiguity is presented through simple acrylic images resembling the torn paper compositions of his student years at Rutgers. Still philosophical however, his paintings echo his view of reality for he states, “In many ways form is an illusion - our interpretation of an infinite variety of relationships between fields of energy. In our search for meaning, our minds create images from these forces, filling in voids in our perception from the vast library of our personal impressions and experiences.” In addition to studying with Allan Kaprow as an undergraduate at Rutgers University, he worked with Robert Watts in the graduate fine arts program at Douglas College where he earned his MFA Degree. The artist taught at both South Carolina State University and Allen University in South Carolina and now is a full time artist. If you would like further information or photographs, please contact the gallery.