Press Release: Namiyo Kubo’s “Water Series Vol. 24″

Namiyo Kubo
‘Water Series Vol. 24’

February 23 – March 12, 2016
Opening Reception: Wednesday February 24, 5-7p.m.
Closing Reception: Saturday March 12,3-5 pm

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the new work of Tokyo artist Namiyo Kubo. Her exhibition of painting on paper entitled Water Series Vol. 24 continues from February 23rd through March 12th, 2016 with an opening reception Wednesday, February, 24th, 5-7 PM.

This will be Namiyo Kubo’s fourth solo exhibit at Viridian Artists. The artist has again filled the gallery walls with large collages of painted paper that put the viewer in the midst of a watery world. With intense color and the rippled painted paper, the artist creates the textured surface of oceans and perhaps clouds. One sees hints of buildings and light and of water, but we cannot be sure of what we are seeing nor can we be sure of what the artist was looking at or thinking of when she created the work.

Namiyo’s new work was inspired by travel to India & the Taj Mahal. She found herself charmed by the ancient art and color there and the works reflect that memory. The reds and golds are reminiscent of the sunsets and dawns that shine brilliantly there, glowing in the light.

In the past, Kubo’s paintings were about nature, particularly water but 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. The silhouettes of skyscrapers & the lights of Tokyo, Shanghai, London, New York City and other cities one can almost recognize by the shapes she has conjured. 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. Knowing that about her, one cannot help but search for vestiges of those experiences in the work. Though masked in the beauty of her colors and the expressive surface of the paintings, one cannot help but see the pain that often underlies beautiful art objects.

PRESS RELEASE: WALLY GILBERT’S “BROKEN IMAGE”

WALLY GILBERT
 “Broken Image”
 Feb 2 to 21, 2016
Opening Reception Thursday, Feb 4, 6 to 8

 

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present the exhibition “BROKEN IMAGE”, digital prints on aluminum by Wally Gilbert. The show opens February 2nd and continues through February 24, 2016. There will be an artist’s reception Thursday, February 4th, 6-8PM. In this exhibit of new “Broken Images”, Gilbert continues exploring the microcosmic possibilities of the fragment.

With 6 large 60×40 inch images, along with some 11 small 30×20 images on aluminum, the scientist that the artist is experiments with both color and the fragmentation of a building and of a tree. As new & fresh as these images are, Gilbert has often referred to his images “as fragments of the whole” and that identification remains applicable to these works as well.

In The “Broken City” images one can still see the echo of the shapes of buildings and windows but the transformation is extreme. The same can be said of the “Broken Tree” which seems to implode on the surface with a burst of branches that appear to be coming from a hot core surrounded by darkness. Complex recreations of the forms and luminous color transformations abound in these works.

In the early 2000’s, Nobel Laureate Walter “Wally” Gilbert started pursuing photography on a professional level. Since then, he has had over 50 solo exhibitions around the world.

As in past exhibitions, Gilbert continues his fascination with transforming images on the computer experimenting with color and other digital effects. He loves pushing colors to their extreme and continues to do so in this new body of work, sometimes to express the psychological pain of the artistic process, sometimes exploring through color transformations, how we see objects.

In his first exhibit at Viridian in 2006, “The Norblin Project”, Gilbert explored & documented an ancient and abandoned factory in Poland. About the works in that show, Ed McCormack in Gallery & Studio said “For Gilbert, the continued exploration of the fragments of reality particularly via the computer & creating strategies to provoke accidents … inspire the search for & evolution of the next image.”

In his solo “Stillness & Motion” in 2008 the images were derived from travels. In the “Squares and Triangles” exhibit at Viridian in 2011, the critic Peter Frank said “Gilbert … systematically unfolds entirely unassuming shapes into elaborate scintillations.”

His 2013 show “New Black & White Images” exploited the play of natural light across the objects to produce haunting results without color but in his 2014 exhibition “Transformations”, his images again glowed with color driven to full saturation creating new and strange interactions, until they became – in the artist’s words – “abstract meditations”.

In his previous career as scientist, Gilbert was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1980 for his landmark work in DNA gene sequencing. As a scientist, he examined the world in its smallest details, but now through his photography, he makes the small huge to reveal the beauty that he sees in the world around us.

PRESS RELEASE: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

“Similarities and Differences”

January 12- 30, 2016
reception Thursday January 14, 6-8pm

JOSHUA GREENBERGRENEE KAHN, ELVIRA LANTENHAMMER,
ROSEMARY K Lyons, JEFFREY MELZACK, SARAH RILEY,
KATHLEEN SHANAHAN, SHEILA SMITH, MEREDETH TURSHEN

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by nine artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The “Similarities and Differences” in these artists’ creations are not immediately apparent, but each has a personal vision that that often supersedes their imagery. Their meanings & motives reveal themselves and it is then that we understand move clearly their “Similarities and Differences”. The show extends from January 12th to 30th with a reception to meet the artists Thursday January 14th, 6-8pm.

“In his “Urban Abstracts” series, Joshua Greenberg uses abstraction to portray the determined vigilance and complex beauty of urban landscapes.”

In Renee Kahn’s “Waiting” a Masai warrior is tending his flock and waiting and watching in case a lion should appear and threaten his flock.”

      “During her 2015 residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Elvira Lantenhammer produced the new series “Virginian Siteplans“. “Coming from colorfield painting, the traditional landscape view is not visible in Lantenhammer’s artwork. Painting in bright and intense colors with pigment/eggtempera on Himalayan paper, {the work}gives back to a rational world that what cannot be measured, only sensually perceived: the aura, the atmosphere, of a location“ ( Beate Reese )

      Rosemary K Lyons talks about her new “Alter Piece”. “This series of new works has its base in early Medieval altar pieces. They present a flower painted in the ancient technique of egg tempera. They are surrounded by bas relief gold structures embossed with evocative words. The words are from an internal dialogue about my existence as an artist.”

     Jeffrey Melzack’s painting, “Inscape Architecture” was given an honorable mention in the online “Art Competition.net” website. The painting visualizes a moment in the life of the mind, a “snapshot” freezing the moment to make possible a forensic study.”

Sarah Riley created a series of monoprints paying tribute to Camille Claudel, Rodin’s rejected protégée and lover. A talented scuptor in her own right, but often emotional, economic and family considerations beyond her control stood in front of her artmaking.

     Kathleen Shanahan’s Torii Series are 4 mixed media works born out of repurposing various by-products of the printmaking process. Anthropomorphic Skate,another mixed media work, is a combination of various print making processes with additional hand painting and collage.

    Sheila Smith’s latest photos are a series entitled “Night – N.Y.C.” The artist feels that photographing at night in N.Y.C. (especially rainy nights) can produce moody images that are magical.”

    Meredeth Turshen is exhibiting new bold, layered and textured paintings on paper in oil paint; the compositions evoke energy and movement and radiate light.” 

Viridian’s Affiliate program is one of the many ways in which our gallery continues its mission of supporting the art of outstanding “underknown” artists.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM

PRESS RELEASE: “IN THE SPIRIT”

“IN THE SPIRIT”
Viridian Artists’ 46th Annual Holiday Invitational
December 15 – January 9, 2016
Reception Thursday, December 17, 6-8

Chelsea: In celebration of Viridian Artists’ 46th annual holiday invitational, the gallery is pleased to present the exhibition “In the Spirit”. Opening December 15th with a reception Thursday, December 17, 6-8PM the exhibition continues through January 9, 2016.

As we near the close of 2015, many of us do so with a sense of trepidation and apprehension. Today’s world has filled most of its population with angst of all sorts – political, religious, environmental, to name just a few. The planet is in dire straits as is humanity, for our differences in belief seem to outweigh our similarities. Some have too much & some have too little and we seem unable to agree on how to improve existence despite all the advances we have made scientifically- the solution we are told for living better lives.

Earlier times knew better for in the past, many cultures realized that the artist was the shaman who possessed the powers to make us well, to create wealth and power. It was art, not science that soothed the spirit, that saved us. Much of the art in this show carries reminders of the negativity of our times within the spirit of today’s artistic shaman. We see Dragons (Kat King), Venus Fly traps (Deborah Sudran), “Muerte” (Carolina Poggi), “Stargazer” (Sarah Riley) & a Noir Madonna (May DeViney).With the power of the creative spirit in mind, Viridian has invited over 80 artists to present their art to aid in the healing of your spirit. In addition, to aid visitors in finding gifts for those who matter in their lives, the gallery has created its annual Ye Olde Arte Shoppe, filled with artist-made gifts of prints, photography, jewelry, cards, etc all priced under $100.

Angelique Anderson, Todd Anderson, Jenny Belin, Marcia Bernstein, Doug Billings, Annaliese Bischoff, Layne Bourgoyne, Renee Borkow, Taisha Brehaut, Carol Brookes, James Campbell, Fiona M. Cashell, Irene Christensen, Henry Coupe, May DeViney, Eliana Donini. Du Lin, Arthur Dworin, Bernice Faegenburg, Claudia Fainguersch, Phyllis Featherstone, Flashlight, Tazuko Fuji, Alan Gaynor, Moira Geoffrion, Celia Gilbert, Wally Gilbert, Joshua Greenberg, Mary Hendricks, Ed Herman, Lucy Hodgson, Kathleen King, Melisca Klisanin, Bernice Kramer, Namiyo Kubo, Angela LaMonte, Elvira Lantenhammer, Kathy Levine, Barbara Listenik, Marcia Lloyd, John Lloyd, Rosemary Lyons, Susanna Stefanachi Macomb, Kaitlin Martin, Donna Marxer, Robert Marvin, MatakiaLynne Mayocole, Naum Medovoy, Jeffrey Melzack, Matthias Merdan, Michael Miller, Eileen Mullan, Vernita N’Cognita, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Nancy Nicol, Patricia Owsiany. Carol Quint, Carolina Poggi, Filippo Prandi, Srividya Kannan Ramachandran, Bill Rabinovitch, Sarah Riley, Bruce Rosen, Leonard Rosenfeld, Oi Sawa, Barbara K Schwartz, Kathleen Shanahan, Bullet Shih, Susan Sills, Derrick Smit, Virgina Smit, Angela Smith, Katherine Ellinger Smith, Robert Smith, Sheila Smith, Helaine Soller, Judy Somerville, Renata Stein, Deborah Sudran,Toto Takamori, Jane Talcott, Channing Taylor, Bob Tomlinson, Courtney Lee Weida, Sam Wiener, Alex Woodhouse, Sharon Wybrants , Larry Zdeb

 

Press Release: Hob’Art @ Viridian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“hob’art @ Viridian” Nov. 24-Dec. 12, 2015

Viridian Gallery
547 W 27th ST./548 W 28th St.
6th Floor
New York, Ny 10001
Hours: 12-6pm Tues. – Sat. (212-414-4040) Artists Reception: Dec. 3, 2015 6-8 pm

Contact:
Liz Cohen: conchart@aol.com (201) 424-12

hob’art @ Viridian

hob’art @ Viridian is hob’art co-operative gallery’s latest collaborative art show. In conjunction with Viridian Gallery, 547 W 27th St., New York, NY 10001, hob’art co-operative gallery members will be showing a group, mixed media show from Nov. 24 – Dec. 12, 2015. The participating artists will host an opening reception on Dec. 3 at Viridian Gallery from 6-8 pm.

hob’art co-operative gallery will be exhibiting a wide variety of works at Viridian Gallery. Artists Miriam Untoria, Katie Duffy McGheein, Liz Cohen, and Ibou Ndoye have sculpture, assemblage, and glass paintings created with a variety of unique materials including found and recycled objects. Sumptuous paintings shown by Meredeth Turshen and Alberte Bernier are deep and luxurious explorations of color and line. Sculptor Jesse Ensling explores the beauty of form and positive/negative space in his exquisite stone carvings. Delving into the complexities of digital art, the photographers Tom Egan, Don Sichler, Starr Tucker Ortega, Dara Campbell and digital collagist, Janet Kolstein present images that are both abstract, surreal, and evocative. What is seen and what is actually in their enigmatic images will surprise the viewer. Erik Attia displays his amazing skills through the art of papier mache with the extraordinary mask constructions that he is contributing to this diverse and fascinating show.

hob’art gallery information can be found at www.hob-art.org or by calling gallery president, Liz Cohen at 201-424-1275.

Press Release: Matakia

 Matakia
“Spontaneous Combustion II”

November 3rd – November 21st, 2015
Opening Reception:Nov. 5th 6PM to 8PM

 Chelsea, NY – Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Spontaneous Combustion II,” a retrospective by Matakia (aka Diane Root) at Viridian, 548 West 28th Street, from November 3rd to November 21st. In celebration, a special reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, November 5th, from 6PM to 8PM.

Described by some as a “latter-day Abstract Expressionist,” Matakia’s work is primarily executed in acrylics on canvas or paper, often with touches of pen and ink, collage and mixed media. Of French and American parentage, she grew up and was schooled in the US and Europe, graduating from the Sorbonne. Later, she studied briefly at the Beaux Arts in Paris and the Annex of the Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Still, she feels largely self-taught as an artist.

She was brought up in an artistic environment replete with artists, musicians, and writers, thanks to her father, a journalist whose work made the world of fine arts and travels to foreign lands an integral part of the landscape of her childhood.

The artist has traveled the world and glimpses of all that she has experienced can be seen in the lifetime journey that is her art. By eleven, after a transatlantic solo trip on an ocean liner, she disembarked in the South of France, and knew that she was and would always be, a painter.

Though Matakia does not show often in gallery settings, she has had one-woman shows in Athens, Greece; Saudi Arabia, the Ivory Coast, Australia and the US, as well as in her native France. This will be her first solo exhibit at Viridian.

“I am,” she says, “what the French call une illustre inconnue (“an illustrious unknown”). For Matakia “Art is a voyage in and of itself; it is more than what you see at first glance, it is what the mind’s eye glimpses in the distance. It is not only where you are, but where you are transported”.

Hardly a household name by her own admission, her works are nevertheless to be found in private collections all over the world. Viridian is pleased to be sharing the works of this fascinating artist.

Press Release: Filippo M. Prandi

Filippo M. PRANDI
“The Deceitful Distortion of Time”

October 6th – 31st, 2015
Opening Reception Thursday, October 8th, 6-8 PM

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artistsis pleased to present Filippo M. Prandi’s first solo exhibit at Viridian. A filmmaker and photographer, the artist will be present on Thursday October 8th. The exhibit will continue from October 6- 31.

His first discovery of the creative possibilities in photography occurred in a college photography class in his hometown of Bologna, Italy. The revelation of photography’s magic was not from taking photos, for picture-taking was not part of that experience, but instead he was inspired by the Man Ray photo of Duchamp posing as his alter-ego Rrose Selavy. For Prandi, this photo opened the door to the possibilities of creating images that go beyond reality- images that take photography into the realm of fantasy & the limitless realities that artists create. Later, after coming to NYC, where he has resided for the past 8 years, he attended the NY Film Academy and put the final touches on his formal photographic education.

Filippo Prandi is primarily a filmmaker who became engrossed with still photography just two and a half years ago. He uses a 35mm camera to create his own reality with long exposures, a tripod & flash light. With these basic tools, he developed a technique, which he calls “light painting & flight brushing”. He’s not interested in the digital image or Photoshop, but instead still uses 35mm film, light and time to create his alluring, sometimes mysterious, sometimes erotic, sometimes ghostly imagery. Prandi sees himself as being akin to a farmer planting and harvesting seeds, but instead the artist he is “harvests” these “portraits” as moments sown in time.

Filippo’s intention is to create scenarios whose characters dwell in a world he has created for them as a director creates an actor’s world. An accomplished and prize-winning filmmaker who’s also working on his second film, Viridian looks forward to sharing these exciting and imaginative photographic images that tell a story in every image.

Press Release: Director’s Choice - FROM VIRTUAL TO ACTUAL 4

September 8- October 3, 2015
Opening reception Thursday, September 10, 6-8pm

Angelique Anderson * Craig Cheply * Cynthia Fleury * Peter Hiers * Jun Ogata * Srividya Kannan Ramachandran *
Len Rosenfeld * Kimberly Rowe * Christopher Ruane *Jimmy Salmon * Shawn Saumell * Michael Wolf * Jave Yoshimoto * Renna Mae Zimmer

 

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present ” Director’s Choice: From Virtual To Actual 4″, curated by Vernita Nemec, the gallery director, featuring a selection of artists who entered our 25th International Juried Competition in 2014. The exhibit extends from September 8th to October 3rd, 2015 with an opening reception Thursday, September 10, 6-8PM.

Each of the 14 artists in this diverse exhibition has her or his own personal obsession that serves as the starting point of their search to transform their inner concerns into reality. The results of transforming these realities into art, remains open to each viewer’s interpretation and becomes another translation of the virtual into the actual.

Although these artists were not “winners” of Viridian’s 24th International Juried Competition, their art is uniquely interesting. Viridian’s Director’s Choice Exhibitions arise from one of Viridian’s primary missions: to provide meaningful exposure to under-known artists of all ages whose art merits wider attention.

For Angelique Anderson art is zen. She is inspired by the world around her, but perhaps the strongest influence comes from the computer which frees her to experiment with layering and dimension, allowing her to morph realism with fantasy. She is a digital artist particularly fascinated with the developing interactive games. The work in this exhibit is part of her portrait series. Her “Orishas Garden” project is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Craig Cheply considers his ongoing “100% Natural” Series that he began in 2006 to be “Contemporary visual statements of the observed socio/polit/enviro/econo/relig/geo/natural landscapes playing out on the domestic and world stages daily as subject matter. ” He goes on to say “my artworks are rendered with the triple entendre entity “Natural History (Certified)” being the classification, subject matter and medium. Natural History tells the story of our living earth. It comprises the systematic observation, classification, interpretation, and description of the biosphere and its inhabitants. Natural History is a primary component of culture.”

Cynthia Fleury’s “Morning After the Night Before” is from a Series of Images taken in New Orleans in 2015. The image was captured at about 7 am in the French Quarter after a boisterous night in March. The machine in the middle of the street, the man in the chartreuse jacket with the hose, and the bleak surroundings made this scene other-worldly to the artist who felt it to be an important moment in time to capture. The early morning light adds much to the bleakness of the moment.

Peter Hiers is a cultural observer, questioning our ultimate future as we humans consume increasingly while our resources decrease. Since 2004, he has gathered the remnants of tires from highways to create sculpture from the detritus of transportation, symbolically making statements about our vulnerable networks, using the fragments of ripped rubber to metaphorically illustrate the tensions between nature and our consumer culture.

Jun Ogata’s “Shadow of Flower”, an acrylic on canvas painting, was inspired by the beauty and philosophy of Japanese gardens. For the artist, the world of Japanese gardens – “Zen Garden” or “Karesansui (Japanese Rock Garden) – shows the various changes created by time and the flow of the seasons. Here, the artist is expressing in a new way and untraditionally, the legendary Japanese colors that appear through aging.

Srividya Kannan Ramachandran’s photograph “Standing alone Amidst the Crumbling Ruins” appears deceptively simple in its composition and focus. When asked, the artist’s comment forces the viewer to look more deeply into the image, stating “as the stage decays naturally and awaits a final collapse, a small transparent object stands defiantly waiting for deliverance. ”

Leonard Rosenfeld who died in 2009 was associated with a group of artists known as the New York School. A narrative artist whose art consistently reflected the news and events around him, he studied at the Art Students League and showed at such prominent galleries as Ok Harris.  This piece was created during the Mad Cow epidemic, so features a mad cow.  The blue angel of love adds a note of whimsy, or perhaps that love and life go on, even through the pestilences of our times.   That said, Rosenfeld was also an Expressionist – in his words “painting with a combination of abandon and discipline.”  Supposedly, all that mattered to him was the material and the craft of message, not the message. But in the end, his art nearly always carries a strong message as well.

Kimberly Rowe states “My paintings are derived through an attitude of exploration, improvisation, and experimentation; they are sort of like visual jazz, but with elements of funk, blues, rock, alternative, punk, classical, and world music all being part of the vocabulary.”

Several years ago Jimmy Salmon began a series of photographs based on the 16thcentury still life paintings of the Dutch master Pieter Claesz.  He says “I tried to photographically replicate his use of light, shadow, composition and muted pallet.  The Berkemeyer and the quill were gifts from my wife, intended to be used in the series.  Because of the quill, the idea for this photograph, The Letter, came into being. ”

Shawn Saumell‘s photograph, “New World Order is a photograph of a constructed tableau landscape, assembled in his studio from found objects within nature. For the artist, “This hyper real image breaks [away from] the traditional purpose of photography, while questioning perceptions of reality.”

Michael Wolf‘s “Hermes” is from a series of sculpture in which the artist re-contextualizes Greek myths. As the god of transitions and borders, and the patron of invention, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, Hermes corresponds with the pursuit of artistic vision. The artist says “Pushing borders is an area in which artist(s) reside. The cast of my foot represents the corporeal realm. The painted block of wood that connects the two pieces is from an old shoemakers workbench that relates to the winged sandal that Hermes is associated with. The shoemaker’s block separates the divine portrait of Hermes from the worldliness of the cast of my foot with the steel chain connecting the two images.”

Jave Yoshimoto says “My work takes on the ephemerality of news and information and how the emotions we bring to each tragedy in the news cycle are swept away by the wave of information that floods the media. I address this social amnesia through my art with the work acting as a social memory for tragic events so quickly forgotten in our information age.” In his Disaster Series, he re-explores his Japanese heritage through the depiction of events such as Fukishima by creating his images with traditional Japanese woodblock print techniques inspired by 18th century Japanese artists. His art can currently be seen in numerous exhibitions in the US & Germany.

Renna Mae Zimmer sees the act of collaging to be akin to painting with paper. The work in this exhibit entitled “The Hand”, is based on an old family photograph.

Press Release: Viridian’s 26th International Juried Competition

Viridian Artists’ 26th International Juried Competition

Lauren Hinkson, Curator,
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum

June 30 – July 18, 2015
Opening reception Thursday, July 2, 6-8pm

1st prize Edith Hillinger   

2nd prize William Tarnowski   

3rd prize Marcela Florido
                               
Honorable mention Phillip Stearns

Lani Asuncion * Holly Coley * Leila Dorne * Claire Elliott * Bryan Florentin *Jeffrey Haupt * Linda Jacobs * Sassoon Kosian * Kerry Lessard * Anne Lindberg *
Benjamin Madeska * Russell Mason * Bob Matthews *Robert Moran * Joseph O’NeillDale M Reid * Carolyn Rogers * Shushana Rucker * Rafael Santiago *Heajung Shin *Casey Snyder * Chris Vanden Broeke * Susan Wolfe

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present our 26th International Juried Exhibition curated by Lauren Hinkson, Curator, Guggenheim Museum, New York.The exhibition opens June 30th and continues through July 18th, 2014. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Thursday, July 2nd, 6-8pm. We are especially pleased that the curator will be present to give out awards to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of this important competition that brings the art of emerging and under-recognized artists to the attention of museum curators.

Over 300 artists submitted nearly 1500 submissions. The competition selection was especially difficult for there were so many outstanding submissions and the nature of art in our world today encompasses a wide variety of methods, materials and conceptualizations of what art is in today’s world.

In her curatorial statement, Hinkson wrote “It was rewarding to engage with images of such a wide range of artworks, all reflecting the diverse interests and passions of their creators. The task of selecting only a handful of pieces from among these submissions was as daunting as it was eventually rewarding. I am fortunate to work as a curator, and my choices were informed partly by my professional experiences establishing connections between historical artwork and contemporary practices. Ultimately, however, it was the strength of a composition, the boldness of a palette, or the originality of a concept evident in a given image that caught my eye.”

As always, Viridian makes an effort to expand the opportunities of more artists’ being seen so the gallery Director’s Choices will also be viewable in digital form. We feel it important to tangibly demonstrate that curatorial choice is often as much about personal taste as it is about the “quality” of the art.

Director’s Choice to be presented digitally

Margery Freeman Appelbaum * Richard Barlow * Ken Boylan * Jan Brandt * Chris Vanden Broeke Claire Elliott * Ed Herman * Gary Horn * Jim Jacobs * Linda Jacobs *Lynne Johnson * James Kelson * Cindi Lewis * Marcia Lloyd * Paxton Maroney *Emmanuel Monzon * Eric Mueller * Andrea Razook * Scott Reeds
Alan Richards *Marilyn Richeda * Janet Rossi * Christopher Ruane * Shushana Rucker * Alex Sewell * Ashley Shellhause * Renata Stein * Paula Swisher * Maxim Tzinman *Rebecca Willhoft * Matthew Vidmar * Larry Zdeb

Press Release: The Heat is ON

“THE HEAT IS ON”

July 21- August 18, 2015
Reception Thursday July 23rd, 6-8pm

 Angelique Anderson * Phyllis Featherstone * Ron Moore * Vernita N’Cognita * Lauren Purje * Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Toto Takamori

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by seven artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The show extends from July 21st to August 18th with a reception to meet the artists Thursday July 23rd, 6-8pm. “The Heat Is On” alludes to the often pressing circumstances of life, our drive to move forward, the need to do it now and hot topics. Art offers not only these artists solutions and ways of dealing with “the heat” of daily life, but the art itself gives us, the viewers, methods and means to cope with life’s surprises & pitfalls.

For Angelique Anderson Art is Zen. The artist states “since my early years, I have always escaped into my world of imagination where I make the rules. I find peace there…Inspiration comes from the world around me: environments, political issues, current events, travelling, movies, fantasy and science fiction. A significant influence has come from the computer. It has evolved the way I process and apply myself to making art. I experiment with photography, collaging, manipulating and distorting images digitally to portray illusion and surrealism. Combining 2D drawings and shapes with 3D models, I create layers and dimension. That technique is used in my portrait series, morphing realism with fantasy. The color palettes and vistas of the renaissance period mix well with my science fiction-type themes for backgrounds.”

 Phyllis Featherstone sees oil painting and printmaking to be among her favorite experiences, though she also does photography as well. She loves working with the luster and vivid colors that oil paint offers. Her printmaking incorporates oil based inks and a lithographic process in which ink only sticks to the image and the rest is washed away by water, and then transferred to paper using a printing press. For her, photography is different in its immediacy, “a rewarding experience of the moment.” The artist goes on to say that “My subjects are usually narrative art in which I tell a story with a picture. The finale to my statement is that I love every aspect of what I do and that is why I do it.”

 Ron Moore is a sculptor who was recently a part of viridian’s 45th anniversary show in which the gallery invited past & present viridian artists to celebrate the gallery’s longevity. In that exhibition, he showed life size figures in steel that resembled line drawings. He continues to work with steel in a variety of sculptural formats. The artist says, “This artwork is mainly about joyful escape’s. And inner yearnings that hope for the gift of discovery.”

 Vernita N’Cognita’s “Dick Drawings” (or “All About Power”) “are a response to years of trying to understand where personal power comes from in our world. At almost every level of reality, the male reigns—politics, finance, business, military and even, in the art world. So what, I ask myself, gives men this power that women don’t have? Finally, I realize it must be the possession of a penis and the ability to produce testosterone. The penis is one of the unmentioned culprits behind the wrongs of our world. Along with the power of male reign, come violence, war, double-dealing and other far-ranging criminal activities. Men still have most of the power and so I’ve come to the conclusion that the secret source of that power must be in their dicks and I want to demystify the male power figure.”

Lauren Purje is an artist who loves to draw. Between her cartoons in Hyperallergic, an artworld publication on the web and her paintings with Turner inspired backgrounds, her art covers a lot of mental & emotional ground. In Hyperallergic, she humorously confesses her doubts & fears while simultaneously making insightful comments about being an artist in today’s world. Recently, birds- especially pigeons – have captured her attention, and the delicate drawings she makes of them give an elevated statue to a lowly creature urbanites often take for granted.

Srividya Kannan Ramachandran “These two photographs represent an abstract reflection on meditative experiences. In the photo titled “Greed” – the viewer is invited to introspect on which portion of the photo constitutes the background, and which one the foreground. The death-like passivity of the black stands juxtaposed against the volcanic agitation of the red offering a difficult choice to the viewer. “Finding Nemo” depicts the opening of the metaphorical third-eye that offers a human being a direct intuitive insight into the brighter world beyond.”

 Toto Takamori is a Japanese artist who approaches the media of paint with excessiveness. In this case excessiveness is a good thing for his tiny 4×6 inch paintings have a thick impasto surface akin to the frosting on a delicious layer cake with sprinkles of sparkles. He says he has 3 factors that he considers in his artmaking – classification, contrast & most importantly perhaps his technique of painting called “wet on wet”.

Viridian’s Affiliate Program is an important aspect of the gallery’s mission to expand exhibition opportunities for outstanding contemporary artists, both emerging and well-known.

Gallery hours: Monday through Friday 12-6PM

For further information please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com

Press Release : Matthias Merdan

MATTHIAS MERDAN
“SILLY SCULPTURE”
JUNE 9 – JUNE 27, 2015
Reception Thursday JUNE 11, 6-8pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chelsea: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “SILLY SCULPTURE”, an exhibition of new sculpture and prints by MATTHIAS MERDAN opening June 9th and continuing through June 27th with a reception on Thursday, May 21st, 6-8PM.

These days we often wonder how the discipline of visual arts could still have a perceivable chance of making an impact. Has art reached the end of its evolutionary possibilities? Is it stagnated in its existing forms?

Artist Matthias Merdan’s answer is “Silly Sculptures”. These slightly larger than life sculptures of figures bring together what the artist calls the “five futilities or “irrelevances”. The artist has carefully contemplated their actions, gesticulations, positioning, colors and outfits as unified contradictions, so that the sculptures radiate absurdity and clumsiness.

The “actions” of the Silly Sculptures are characterized by everyday banality, unfettered by pathos, purity and compulsions. Their actions are not the gesticulations of heroes but instead they stand shakily and illogically. Their colors too are inconsistent. Using chalk, lacquer, oil, acrylic and adhesive tape, the artist wants to prevent any suspicion that he is creating a cohesive design and deliberately leaves his traces of fingerprints and wipes. It’s as if Merdan is attempting to provoke us to conduct comparisons with the possible and to reorganize our knowledge.

Accessories of hats and gasmasks are more than just additional visual attributes, but serve as a metaphor for the extreme distance he has traveled from the mind, tradition and world of the beholder.

Merdan’s sculptures are mobile, changeable, and anatomically adjustable, responding to space as well as to situations. With the sculpture are prints and photos of their passing poses. With these highly expressive, but dissonant works, Merdan aims to bend the common clichés of aesthetics in an effort to bet on the inexhaustible potential of the visual arts. With these creations, he seizes the innovative opportunity and evolutionary possibilities inherent in sculpture and consequently creates a novel form of expression.

Mattias Merdan lives in Zurich, Switzerland and is presenting his first solo exhibit at Viridian. He has a Master of Philosophy and Theology from Bamberg University in Germany. In 2000, he did a residency in Nafpaktos, Greece to study iconography and from 2006-2011, he led international workshop in the manufacturing of carbon and fiberglass. He has been a professional sculptor since 2008.

We look forward to your presence at the event of “Silly Sculptures”.
For further information please contact the gallery at 212-414-4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com

Press Release: Renewal

“RENEWAL”
A Group Exhibition
May 19 – June 6, 2015
Reception Thursday May 21, 6-8pm

Chelsea: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “RENEWAL”, a group exhibition of gallery artists opening May 19th and continuing through June 6th with a reception on Thursday, May 21st, 6-8PM.

RE.NEW.AL (noun) [ri’nu:al]: regeneration, restitution, rekindling, revitalization, rejuvenation, rebirth, replentishment, restoration, repair. Spring is the season of renewal and so the works in this exhibition seek to address the meaning of renewal in all its ramifications.

Human relationships are but one aspect of life that rekindles. Susan Sills shows a small pen drawing of her grandson as an infant, the renewal of life while Henry Coupeapproaches the theme of “Renewal” with a small delicate painting of a bride and groom beginning a new life together. Diane Root (aka Matakia)’s collage is about the renewal of love, and a rejuvenation emanating from Matisse who has been a mentor and inspiration throughout her artistic life. Angela Smith renews images of herself as computerized glitches.

Many of the works utilize nature as subject matter, implying the ways we are renewed by it.  Deborah Sudran’s gouache of “Crotons and Palms” and Stacey Clarfield Newman’s“Majesty” depict in entirely different ways a sense of how nature regenerates itself in its plant life. Bernice Faegenburg and Virginia Smit are also renewed by nature. Photographer Alan Gaynor and painter Bob Tomlinson present flowers in a new light.Renee Borkow shows urban nature and Arlene Finger depicts limbs of trees reaching up in search of new leaves at the start of spring, a time for growth and renewal.

Photographers Robert Smith sees other forms in reality and Wally Gilbert, working digitally, regenerates his photographic imagery as a new reality. Barbara K Schwartzreminds us of the magic of the circus while Kathleen King uses fantasy with an installation of tiny digitally created dragon sculptures that can also be worn as pins and pendants. Michael Miller’s Gridheads renew with humor and Matthias Merdan’s “Start Up” explores beginnings with twisted steel while May DeViney plays with politics & religion.

Some of the artists make their point more abstractly. Arthur Dworin’s mixed media work contains a host of symbols of renewal- a Celtic symbol for spring, ribbons of DNA, a symbol of life and a snake, a symbol for medicine. In Bruce Rosen’s “paintings,… it is as though we are seeing a passage of time and an accumulation of experience. The works mirror the artist whose life integrated the noble poetics of two languages, the written and the visual.” (Joan Krawczyk, former art editor of The Paris Review, independent curator, and former director of Viridian Gallery, in a 1997 statement.) Others in the show whose art presents a more symbolic approach include Tazuko Fujii, OI Sawa, Namiyo Kubo & Janet Bohman.

We look forward to seeing you then and revitalizing, rekindling, rejuvenating and restoring your spirit through looking at and experiencing our art.

For further information please contact the gallery at 212-414-4040, 

viridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view our website: viridianartists.com.

 

Press Release" Bernice Faegenberg "Nature's Essence"

BERNICE FAEGENBURG
“NATURE’S ESSENCE”
April 28-May 16th, 2015
Reception: Thursday, May 7, 6-8 pm

Chelsea: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “NATURE’S ESSENCE ” a series of new paintings on paper by Bernice Faegenburg. The exhibit extends from April 28 – May 16th, 2015 with a reception: Thursday, May 7, 6-8 pm.

Bernice Faegenburg is an artist who enjoys experimentation and exploring a variety of media, especially all things Asian. She recently began a serious study of Asian Brush Painting, but traces of brush work have always been a part of the sensuous line in her drawings and compositions.

The focus in these images is on nature and its essence that spring’s annual rebirth brings. Living near the sea and removed from the urban environment, Faegenburg’s art always is filled with the resplendence of nature, even when she focuses on only the clouds drifting by. Though she has often worked on canvas in the past, combining sketches, notes, images, photographs, the new work she has made for this exhibition is primarily Asian brush work on rice paper. In some works like “The Mist”, the composition & imagery is quite traditional but in others, like “Magnolia” & “Harbinger of Spring” the lines are more uniquely drawn, mixing the Western and Eastern line and depiction.

Faegenburg approaches her art instinctively, allowing her imagery to emerge and grow out of her experience and intuition. For her, the most important part of art making is the doing, for she is an artist to whom process is as important as the end result. Fortunately however, the end result is always both glowingly personal as well as instinctually beautiful. Picking a path and following wherever it leads her has always been Faegenburg’s artistic choice, for she is a “traveler” in both her art and her life. Organic fragments of memories and images are her palette as much as color is and her sketchbook jottings are juxtapositions that become creative “conversations” of color and shapes on canvas and rice papers. “Swimming” with the black blossoms above the fish swimming below both feel to be rare and imaginary moments that traveled from the artist’s hand through the brush and finally to the paper.

The artist did undergraduate work at the Tyler School of Fine Arts and Temple University in Philadelphia, where she studied printmaking & egg tempera pinting in the Renaissance method. After graduation, she moved to New York and studied at the National Academy of Design and received a Masters Degree at C.W. Post College, where she studied painting and graphics with New York abstract painter Robert Yasuda and later, Oriental philosophy and its relationship to painting with Jerry Okimoto. Her art will again be included in the prestigious Florence Biennial. The influence of Asian art and thought has always been an influence in her work.

Gallery hours Tuesday – Saturday 12-6 PM

PRESS RELEASE: Angela Smith, Augmented Her: AFAIK: ATM Apr 7-Apr 25

Augmented Her: AFAIK;ATM”
ANGELA CHRISTINE SMITH

April 7- April 25, 2015
Reception Thursday April 9, 6-8PM

Artist’s Talk Saturday April 11, 4-6PM

angelasmith.jpg

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present Angela Christine Smith’s first solo exhibit at Viridian. A winner in Viridian’s Juried Photography exhibit in 2011, the artist will be present at both the reception on Thursday April 9th, 6-8pm & on Saturday April 11, 4-6PM when she will talk about her fascinating photographic response to our future. The exhibit will continue from April 7th to April 25th.

The future has arrived and the title of Angela Smith’s first solo exhibition at Viridian is a testament to that reality. When asked what the meaning of the title was, the artist replied that the title “is an indication of where I am at in this moment.” Expanded it reads: “Augmented her: as far as I know; at this moment”.

Angela Christine Smith specializes in Photographic Practices that utilize Advanced Darkroom (Analog) Techniques and expand into Advanced Digital Practices. As an artist she also specializes in printmaking techniques that inform her overall artistic practice. Through these mediums she explores her identity as a subject and her interaction with the photographic machine. Through the use of self-portraits, selfies and the manipulations of digital practices, she is exploring those unseen moments where her relationship with life, with the camera, and with the photograph (as object) is evidence of the materiality of identity.

Smith is interested in the medium of photography and the relationship created between the camera and the “self” or the subject, which is “her”. Like the movie with Scarlett Johansson, her MFA show was titled “Her”, but rather than a body being just a digital voice, Smith explores through her work, the stasis of the image created from a live body – her own – and making it stasis or immovable. At the same time, she is exploring the materiality of the photographic process as she exposes the body (and self) as an object of stasis.

The greater identity of “her” (her is the self cut from time when the camera cuts the body from the self and contains it within the photograph) is not limited to the photograph. “Her” is now digital and larger than ever before. “Her” now takes on this post-Internet art by taking on the challenges of digital dualism – that space where we conceptualize the digital and the physical; the on and off -line realities.

Identity is now a cyborg self comprised of a physical body and a digital one. Augmented Her is the expansion of identity beyond the photographic object and time. Augmented Her is now in constant dialog with both, and in the digital realm the glitch, (the glitch art, the digital interruptions) interrupts the viewer and reminds us that “her” is Afk (away from keyboard) ATM (at the moment).

So the identity is expanding and what is Afk vs IRL? (Away from keyboard; in real life).

The artist received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design in photography and printmaking and her MFA in Photography and Integrated Media from Ohio University.

Press Release: Art from Detritus: 20th Anniversary Invitational

Curated by Vernita Nemec
March 3rd- April 4th, 2015
Reception: Thursday March 5th, 6-8pm

Marcia Bernstein * Taisha Brehaut * Valentina Celada * Ursula Clark * May DeViney * Fred Gutzeit * Sandra Guze * Ed Herman * Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff * Kathleen King * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Iris Lavy * Lee Lee * Kathy Levine * Lynne Mayocole * * Garry Noland * Peggy Noland * Carol Quint * Elizabeth Rhoades Read * Norman Reid * Diane Root * Leonard Rosenfeld * Helaine Soller * Renata Stein * Stephen Soreff * Suprina *Judy Thomas * Sam Wiener * Larry Zdeb * Philip Zuchman

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the exhibit “Art of Detritus: 20th Anniversary Invitational” featuring fine art made primarily from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R’s: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. The exhibit will open March 3rd and continues through April 4th with a reception March 5, 6-8pm.

“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.

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 see beauty in the discarded and these artists have realized this to creatively deal with the problem of too much trash.

“Art from Detritus”, or art from waste, 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). It was presented in the lobby of a recycled Sears Roebuck building & corporate head quarters for municipal waste & recycling there. Since then, 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, Rockhust College & the Writer’s Place.

Phoenix AZ, Turners Falls MA and NYC have all been Detritus exhibition sites since. In NYC, Detritus exhibits have occurred at the Henry Street Abrams Arts Center, Gallery 450, Viridian Artists, Synagogue for the Arts, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Farleigh Dickinson University and the Williamsburgh Art Center. See more information and images of past Detritus shows at www.ncognita.com.

Vernita Nemec, a.k.a. Vernita N’Cognita, is a visual (“The Endless Junkmail Scroll”) & performance artist presenting pieces like “Dress” (of catfood can lids) performed at Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), a curator, the director of Viridian Artists and former Executive Director of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA). She is also on the board of Advisors of ATOA & Soho20.

PRESS RELEASE: Janet Bohman 2015

Taking Flight: A Retrospective of Sculpted Linen Works
Janet L. Bohman
February 3-21, 2015
Reception Thursday February 5, 6-8PM

 

  Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present a retrospective of sculpted linen works by Janet L. Bohman who died in 2014. The exhibit will occur February 3rd, continuing until February 21. A founding artist of Viridian, Ms Bohman’s painted aerodynamic reliefs of linen over wood armatures, seamlessly integrate the disciplines of painting and sculpture. There will be a reception on Thursday February 5th, 6-8PM honoring this incredible Viridian Artist.

Ms. Bohman began painting at the age of five. In the late 1970’s, her work moved away from two dimensional paintings into small scale painted reliefs in both linen and folded paper. Since then, the evolution has continued resulting in large scale painted reliefs and works in the round.

Throughout the period, her philosophy that art should be beautiful and should contribute to the emotional well being and aspirations of the viewer has prevailed. Her strong color patterns and soaring imagery are intended to provide the viewer with a sense of serenity in a hectic world.

Bohman was fascinated with birds in flight and the mechanics of flying, pursuingthis passion through her incredibly constructed sculptural paintings until her death. Her small sculpted linen reliefs in the “Flexing” series capture the gestures of birds as they struggle to achieve flight and arise from the surface of the wall. In her larger sculpted linen pieces, flight has been achieved, the shapes are more intricate and deeper while the attachment to the wall is far more tenuous illusion.

Ms Bohman was a life-long resident of Brooklyn, New York. Her formal education includes a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MA from New York University. She has participated in over one hundred solo and group exhibitions including 16 solo exhibitions and 7 group shows in Japan.

The artist often said: “I have always been inspired by birds flying freely. While I have lived in New York City (with its infamous pigeons), for my entire life, my home in Brooklyn offers a slice of nature rarely found in an urban environment. The windows of my studio provide a panoramic view of Prospect Park and its lake unsullied by buildings and the other trappings of city life.

“Prospect Park with its dense central woodlands and 60 acre lake is home to over 200 species of native and migratory birds… As it gets colder, sea gulls take refuge from the harshness of the sea shore and gather on the partially frozen lake. Given some unknown source of alarm, hundreds take to flight in unison. Flexing their wings in broad strokes then gliding from one end of the lake to the other. Between the birds and colorful sunsets, I have visions of beauty which I like to translate for others to enjoy in this less than peaceful world.”

Her work is in the collections of Chase Manhattan, Dean Witter Reynolds, Hyatt Hotels, Harvey Baskin as well as many private collections. Examples of the works in this show as well as other work by Ms Bohman may be found on the Internet at  http://viridianartists.com/artists/janet-l-bohman/

PRESS RELEASE: BEYOND REALITY Jan 13-Jan 31, 2015

“BEYOND REALITY”
January 13- 31, 2015
Reception Thursday January 15, 6-8pm

CLAUDIA FAINGUERSCH, JOSHUA GREENBERG,
ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFFRENEE KAHN, JEFFREY MELZACK,
SARAH RILEYSHEILA SMITH, MEREDETH TURSHEN

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by eight artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program.  The show extends from January 13th to 31st with a reception to meet the artists Thursday January 15th, 6-8pm. The title of this exhibit was suggested by the statement Featherstone Hoff offered about her work but in many ways, all art explores the worlds “Beyond Reality”.  The Viridian Artists Affiliate program is an important aspect of Viridian’s mission to expand exhibition and sales opportunities for outstanding contemporary artists, both emerging and well-known.

As ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF states so aptly “My work is about life, the life I have lived, thus far, the life I have given birth to, and, the life I have observed. The human condition in all of its’ variety is an unending source for new work. It is, for me, the reality beyond the reality.  

In Abstract Landscapes JOSHUA GREENBERG uses photo-based imagery to create abstract art from landscapes. The color, texture, and light of initial images are used to form new abstract prints. These qualities are present in the reflections, shadows, and segmentations of new images. Rain, snow, hills and trees now project a sense of movement and balance as part of emerging abstract art. Clouds, sky, horizon and sunlight add foreground, background and a sense of depth. All of these elements are used as paint on a palette to be mixed together to create new images. This series illustrates how photo-based imagery may help extend the use of less explored dimensions of photography to create contemporary art.

Architecture was CLAUDIA FAINGUERSCH’S first choice of media, with perspective, lights and shades, composition, color and space that she has now translated into photography. The artist states that for her “the camera approaches and gets lost between spaces and materials.  It penetrates into reality, dissolves it and a new reality appears with its own places, its own lights and new sensations.”  In these four images from the series “FAIT”, we discover a small world suggesting a route through cinematographic images like Film Noire. Mysterious Characters, Suggestive Lights, Threatening Shades, silence, shouts and questions without answers…

RENEE KAHN In my Bowl Series I represent women as the nurturers of society.  The bowl of fruit symbolizes women’s offerings of caring, sustenance and hope to the world. In essence, my women are Earth Goddesses.

JEFFREY MELZACK, whose art is usually comprised of surrealistically conceptualized paintings, is presenting both two and three dimensional work that relate conceptually through sound and its absence. The 2D works are small pieces in watercolor with colored pencil that reflect moments of quiet introspection. The violin piece serves as the bridge between sound and the color or tonal value of the notes played. The artists asks that the viewer “Imagine, as you look at the violin the improvisation of sounds that it might project to you, try to see the notes using your minds eye and hear it played with your minds ear.”

SARAH RILEY is a painter/printmaker based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her current works are explorations of mixed-imagery, combining 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. In these particular pieces, she explores alignments of colorful watercolor monotypes with intaglio and photo-based print imagery. Her works are concurrently on view at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum as part of their Centennial CelebrationSarah Riley is Prof. Emeritus and former Head of Printmaking at Southeast Missouri State University. Her book, “Practical Mixed-media Printmaking Techniques” was published in the USA in January 2012 by A & C Black, London. Copies are available for purchase at the gallery.

SHEILA SMITH’s photo series entitled “Rainy Nights In N.Y.C.” were taken in 2014 during artistic wanderings on rainy nights in New York City. After shooting, she digitally transforms her images to create a painterly look and then prints them on canvas which are mounted on board. Each image is part of a limited edition.

MEREDETH TURSHEN is exhibiting new bold, layered and textured paintings on paper in oil, with traces of pastel and graphite; the compositions evoke energy and movement and radiate light.  Drawing inspiration from her environment to represent imagined realities, the new work evokes a balance of sensibility and emotion, reality and imagination.

Press Release: Holiday Madness

“HOLIDAY MADNESS!”
December 9 – January 10, 2015
Reception Thursday, December 11, 6-8

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present the exhibition “Holiday Madness”. The show opens December 9th  and continues through January 10, 2015. In celebration, there will be a reception Thursday, December 11, 6-8PM. Dress festively!

 “Holiday Madness” is in the air! One could feel it even before Thanksgiving and the leaves had fallen! Flu shots, snowstorms, end of the year cries for contributions, gift-buying decisions, long trips home to relatives, delayed flights, and all the thought-provoking frustrations associated with the holiday season will be upon us in no time.

But, we can help you with one of these dilemmas by suggesting that instead of heading to department stores or going on the web in search of the perfect gift – buy ART for everyone!

Nothing in this exhibit of more than forty artists is priced too high nor bigger than 24 inches across (well, maybe a few will be…) so wrapping will be no problem. Just a ribbon is all you will need and we’ll even have that here for you!

 And if you have a really long list or are on a budget, Viridian is again featuring a section we like to call YE OLDE ARTE SHOPPE where everything costs $99 or less.All kinds of artist-made cards, books, jewelry, prints, tree ornaments, etc for you to choose from that will thrill and surprise your receivers.

Make an artist and yourself happy by doing one-stop shopping with champagne and cookies to help you celebrate! Looking forward to seeing you December 11th (or any other day) with glitter in your hair!

Jonathan Bausch, Deborah Beck, Renee Borkow, Benjamin Briggs, James Campbell, George Cannata, Robert Cenedella, Henry Coupe, May DeViney, Arthur Dworin, Bernice Faegenburg, Claudia Fainguersch, Phyllis Featherstone, Arlene Finger, Tazuko Fujii, Alan Gaynor, Celia Gilbert, Wally Gilbert, Elizabeth Ginsberg, Joshua Greenberg, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff, Mary Frances Judge, Renee Kahn, Kathleen King, Namiyo Kubo, Bobbie Lichter, Flash Light, Marcia Lloyd, John Lloyd, Rosemary Lyons, Robert Marvin, Matakia, Naum Medovey, Jeffrey Melzack, Matthias Merdan, David Miller, Michael Miller, Vernita N’Cognita, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Patricia Owsiany, Sunanda Parikh, Carolina Poggi, Lauren Purje, Srividya Kannan Ramachandran, Sarah Riley, Leonard Rosenfeld, Oi Sawa, Barbara K Schwartz, Susan Sills, Virginia Evans Smit, Angela Smith, Robert Smith, Sheila Smith, Stephen Soreff, Deborah Sudran, Jane Talcott, Bob Tomlinson, Meredeth Turshen, and OTHERS