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"Unnatural Election: Artists Respond to the 2016 US Presidential Election"
Over 150 international artists, curated by Andrea Arroyo.
OPENING RECEPTION: JANUARY 19, 2017, 6-8pm.Kimmel Galleries, New York University.
60 Washington Square South, 8th Fl, New York, NY 10012.
Free and open to the public, the exhibit continues through the Spring.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
"Similarities and Differences 2"
January 10- 28, 2017
Reception Thursday January 12, 6-8pm
Joshua Greenberg, Rosemary K Lyons, Darryl Moody, Sarah Riley,
Toto Takamori, Meredeth Turshen
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by six 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 2". The show extends from January 10th to 28th with a reception to meet the artists Thursday January 12th, 6-8pm.
In Lines and Latitudes, Joshua Greenberg explores the lines, which divide us and the latitude we use to bring about change. As lines turn into abstract forms, this action represent the flexibility and freedom that latitude brings. The series is designed to illustrate that from lines may come both latitude and art.
Rosemary K Lyons’ “Alter Pieces” is an ongoing series inspired by early medieval altar pieces. Painted in the ancient technique using egg tempera, hers carry a modern twist that electrifies our cultural disconnect by portraying beautiful flowers with evocative words embossed in bas relief gold structures. Lyons states, “the words are from an internal dialogue about my existence as an artist."
Darryl Moody’s latest photographs continue his fascination with graffiti, poster remnants, marks and the detritus of life found on urban walls. He reads meanings into what he sees that go beyond the tangible fragments that remain. The artist says about his image “Homeless” that it is “a photographic moment taken from a wall in NYC reflecting anticipated gentrification. A stamp of a linear representation of a house stands as the last representation of personal security and is repeated as if a cause. The underlining layered graphic material suggests a lost struggle to maintain.”
Sarah Riley has created a series of monoprints paying tribute to Camille Claudel, Rodin’s rejected protégée and lover who was a talented sculptor in her own right. As is the case for many female artists still, emotional, economic and family considerations hampered Claudel’s artmaking. Riley though, has not let herself be hampered by such things. A former art professor and Chair of the Printmaking Department at Southeast Missouri State University, she has also written a book (available on Amazon) entitled “Practical Mixed-Media Printmaking,” an essential introduction to printmaking using a wide range of low-cost materials.
Toto Takamori clearly loves oil paint. A Japanese artist who lives in Tokyo, Takamori creates small works that are thickly and texturally covered with paint that often takes months to dry. Filled with color, his artistic goal is to explore the medium of paint from figurative to abstracted modes using his wet on wet method of applying paint.
Meredeth Turshen who teaches at Rutgers University is an artist who creates gestural imagery abstracted from life. These new works are bold, layered and textured paintings on paper with oil paint. Turshen's compositions seek to evoke energy and movement as they 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
For further information please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
“ONCE UPON A TIME…”
Viridian Artists' 47th Annual Holiday Invitational
December 20, 2016 – January 7, 2017
Reception Thursday, December 22, 6-8
Chelsea: In celebration of Viridian Artists' 47th annual holiday invitational, the gallery is pleased to present the exhibition “ONCE UPON A TIME…”. Opening December 20th with a reception Thursday, December 22, 6-8PM, the exhibition continues through January 7, 2017.
ONCE UPON A TIME… the classic beginning of children’s books harkens to beautiful memories when life was simpler and everyone lived happily ever after. Of course, now we are grown up & have learned that life too often is not fair and can be filled with the unexpected. For some this is exciting & wonderful, for others it is horrifying.
As we near the close of 2016, many of us are filled with a sense of trepidation and apprehension. Many populations of today's world are afflicted with anguish and apprehensions of all sorts - political, religious, environmental, to name just a few.
In early, more primitive times, many cultures realized that the artist was the shaman who possessed the powers that could make us well, create wealth and power. It was art, not science that soothed the spirit- that saved us.
With the power of the creative spirit in mind, Viridian has invited 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 Olde Arte Shoppe, filled with artist-made gifts of prints, photography, jewelry, cards, etc. all priced under $150 for last minute holiday shopping or just for giving to oneself...
Featured artists:
Renee Borkow, Henry Coupe, Jan Davis, May DeViney, Bernice Faegenburg, Arthur Dworin, Franz Fox, Tazuko Fujii, Oi Sawa, Alan Gaynor, Wally Gilbert, Kathleen King, Namiyo Kubo, Matthias Merdan, John Nieman, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Filippo Prandi, Srividya Kannan Ramachandran, Barbara K Schwartz, Susan Sills, Virginia Evans Smit, Angela Smith, Robert Smith, Deborah Sudran, Joshua Greenberg, Phyllis Featherstone, Rosemary Lyons, Darryl Moody, Michael Reck, Sarah Riley, Katherine Ellinger Smith, Toto Takamori, Vernita N'Cognita, Jenny Belin, Marcia Bernstein, Irene Christensen, Kathy Levine, Elizabeth Ginsberg, Sheila Smith, Ed Herman, Mary Hendricks, Bernice Kramer, Angela M. LaMonte, Marcia Lloyd, Lenore Mills, Scott Kulok, Petronia Paley, Sam Wiener, Lynne Mayocole, Fred Gutzeit, Emily Booth, Celia Gilbert, Derrick Smit, Sarah Goodlow Riley- Land, Jane Talcott, John Lloyd, Alex Woodhouse, Flora Hogman, Flash Light, Harini Ramachandran, William Paterson Armstrong, Sabra Moore
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com
www.viridianartists.com
"Broken Trees" 60"x40"
Wally Gilbert will have Open Studios the weekend of November 19-20,
Saturday and Sunday
12 to 6 pm
Brickbottom
One Firtchburg Street,
C319
Somerville, MA 02143
There will be a general open studios in Brickbottom those two days. 60 artists will be showing.
http://brickbottomartists.com/open_studios_info
Three paintings by Franz Fox have been selected for Steadfast Magazine's Issue No.3, A Tribute to Cuba. Steadfast Magazine is a New York City based bi-annual publication dedicated in valuing and supporting the contemporary artist in modern society. This issue is a devotion to Cuban and Cuban-American artist representation and the awe-inspiring survival of artistic inspiration in individuals who find freedom each day through a steadfast desire to create.
Fox was born in Holguin, Cuba. His family immigrated to the US just before the Cuban Missile crisis. Three Fox works will be included in this publication. This issue will debut in Miami during Art Basel in December, 2016. Fox has been invited to participate in a curated group show, in which select artists from the issue will debut their work on the opening night of the event in Miami.
An article about Fox and three paintings in his Neoplasticity genre will be featured in the magazine. The paintings include Windows, 60 x 48 mixed media on canvas, Absinthe of Malice, 48 x 36, mixed media on canvas, and Corpus, 48 x 36, mixed media on canvas.
Centered around Cuban art and culture, Issue No.3 of Steadfast Magazine is devoted to the awe-inspiring survival of artistic inspiration in individuals who find freedom each day through a steadfast desire to create. The artists, writers, and contributors featured in Issue No.3 inform and educate our readers on the artistic, political and social environment in Cuba, with a focus on human rights activism and social injustice. La Libertad Artistica is dedicated to the men and women, seen and unseen, known and unknown, who have suffered the inequalities of oppression and persecution in the name of artistic freedom.
In addition to Franz Fox, the following artists are also featured in Issue No.3, La Libertad Artistica: Abelardo Morell, Adrian Fernandez, Angie Garcia, Armando Valladares, Brian Batt, Chelsea Kozak, Christina Arza, El Sexto, Geandy Pavon, Hector Frank, Jorge Valls, Lissette Schaeffler, Rachel Valdès Camejo and Tania Bruguera.
Fox is currently represented by Viridian Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, NY and FineArtCollector in Boston, MA.
JOHN NIEMAN
"The Wanted Show"
November 29th-December 17th, 2016
Opening Reception, Thursday, December 1st, 6-8 pm.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "The Wanted Show", an exhibition of Wanted Posters by John Nieman. The exhibition continues from November 29th to December 17th, 2016 with an opening Reception, Thursday, December 1st, 6-8 pm.
What is missing in American Values? What is heroism? These important questions are answered in numerous ways by the artist John Nieman in this series of "Wanted Posters" describing outstanding individuals wanted and known for their positive virtues of generosity, sacrifice, leadership, and creativity rather than for bad deeds. Covering a wide swath of decades and a broad cross section of personalities and professions, the individuals portrayed range from courageous Ann Frank to generous Oprah Winfrey who gives millions to help the unfortunate.
The artist, who has been a "voice over actor", has added recordings that can be listened to while viewing the individuals portrayed. "Hi-tech" recorded essays written by the verbally and visually multitalented artist accompany some of the "wanteds". Talking about their contribution to society and accessible by a QR code or cell phone number - and for those who don’t have a cellphone (is there anyone today?)…a printed version will be made available - these essays that are a mini history lesson in human achievement.
To Visually re-create the sense of weathered wanted posters of the wild West that we remember from the distant past and using just four colors - raw umber, yellow ochre, Van Dyke Brown and Indian red - the artist initially made water-colors that were then enlarged to poster size and monoprinted, creating only one of each image. A few of these Wanted Posters were shown at Art Basel last year in Miami, but are showing in NYC for the first time. The concept for these artworks arose out of a previous series of works entitled "What is Missing?", twisting the concept of missing children chronicled on milk cartons to milk cartons that instead speak of the values missing in much of contemporary culture.
John Nieman's art continually connects the verbal and the visual, whether with recordings accompanying the art as in this exhibit or in paintings with images that have words superimposed. Hoping to make people see reality in a different light, both the ordinary and the unusual, many of his paintings incorporate words and images in equal powers. In fact, "a picture is worth a thousand words" describes some of his work perfectly, though superficially, since for him it is the idea that holds the greatest importance.
Nieman is continually fascinated by the nexus of art and pop culture, perhaps because before turning to fine art over a decade ago, he enjoyed a successful career in advertising. The artist has exhibited widely and collections of his paintings and poems have been published in "The Art of Lists" and "The Art of More Lists". "The Wanted Book" which contains images featured in the current show will be available. Nieman's art hangs in collections through out Europe and the US.
This will be John Nieman's first solo exhibit at Viridian. We look forward to sharing with you his heroines and heroes and invite you to think of some individuals that he might add to his series of Wanted.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present a solo exhibition of monoprints, collagraphs, solar prints and dry point etchings by the artist VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT. The exhibit will continue from November 8 - November 26th, 2016 with a Reception on Thursday, November 10, 6-8PM. There will be a Coffee & Conversation with the artist Saturday, November 19, 4-6PM.
Looking at Smit's monoprints using a variety of techniques, is akin to looking at a history of memories for her images have a suggestion of realism with, as writer Ed McCormack stated, “the occasional note of lyrical melancholy that lends particular poignancy”. These are not bouquets you would find at the market, but instead are plants gathered from a solitary walk through a garden, filled with the feelings and emotions of important moments.
Much of the inspiration for these new unique prints comes from her winter travels to Barbados a Caribbean island filled with fascinating trees, flora and an abundance of nature that edges its shorelines and towns. Smit confesses she doesn't create the work there however, but instead photographs, makes sketches and keeps notes to refer to when she returns to her studio in Manhattan where she has her own press. In addition, she also works much of the time at Manhattan Graphics, a printmaking studio near the Elizabeth Foundation in mid- Manhattan.
The artist has the distinction of being the first African American female to receive a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania where she received The Thornton Oakley Creative Achievement Award. She has been associated with Viridian Artists since 1978. Over that time period she has had more than fifteen solo exhibitions not only at Viridian, but also at Farleigh Dickenson University, Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, Mehu Gallery in Manhattan, the James E Lewis Museum at Morgan State University, the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and many others. Her work is in many collections including The Wadsworth Atheneum, General Foods, the Hewitt Collection of African American Art, the Library of Congress, The Fuba Collection in Johannesburg South Africa, Colgate Palmolive and many other private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad.
We look forward to sharing Smit’s lush images and invite you to meet the artist and perhaps take a mental walk with her through her garden of “Botanicals”.
Gallery hours: Tuesday throughSaturday 12- 6 PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com
Gallery hours: Tuesday throughSaturday 12- 6 PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com
Alan Gaynor * Franz Fox * May DeViney * John Nieman * Kathleen King * Jan Davis * Bruce Rosen * Kathleen Shanahan * Sarah Riley * Joshua Greenberg * Katherine Ellinger Smith * Dave Dorsey * Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Ed Herman * Larry Zdeb * Naum Medovoy * Claudia Corò * Angela M. LaMonte * Erik Miller * Bernice Sokoll Kramer * Jackie Lima * Marcia Bernstein * D’Ann de Simone * Patricia Owsiany *Elizabeth Bisbing * Victoria Webb * Bryan Smith * Jenny Belin * Marjie Zelman * William Patrick Armstrong * David Yendes * Robert Cenedella * Irene Christensen * Fred Gutzeit * Craig Cheply * Richard Brachman*Len Rosenfeld * Michael Wolf * N’Cognita * Michael Reck *Philip Gerstein * Kyoyoung Keum * Marcia Lloyd * Ursula Clark
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality”, a Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational curated by Vernita Nemec. The exhibition continues from October 18th – November 5th, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, October 20th, 6-8pm & a closing party & poetry reading on Saturday Nov 5th, 4-6pm.
The impetus for this invitational exhibit arose out of the trying times of this moment of reality that is so filled with madness. The upcoming election with possibly our first female president vying for the office with a political neophyte, racial anger, immigration, gun & police issues, environmental catastrophes throughout the world are tensions and stress that perhaps only can be safely addressed through art.
More than 40 artists are addressing their concerns and thoughts both directly and indirectly about today’s world with their art. Ed Herman’s photo of Lincoln dissolved by water dripping from AC, Angela LaMonte’s collage accompanied by a quote from Frantz Fanon about the magic finally being in the hands of the people; Marcia Bernstein’s abstract construction “Hatred’s Rising”; Michaels Wolf’s lead flag, Larry Zdeb’s assemblage of things from daily life that continues despite our fears; Elizabeth Bisbing’s “Obama of Mercy” collage with crowd shots of rallies mixed with fragments of Poussin paintings, Alan Gaynor’s multiplied face of Trump with lips pursed; Len Rosenfeld’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”; Craig Cheply’s “Maddog” man in a suit; Franz Fox’s “Danseur” symbolizing the chaos he feels in our country; Sryvidya K Ramachandran’s “Proudhon, not Marx” abstraction about gradualism. Kyoyoung Keum explores the disparity between “reality” and what is “true”. Racism, labor, the environment, law, hope and oh yes, politics are all explored through art and images.
These artworks all carry a message filled with worries about tomorrow. Sometimes the message is made clear by the title, sometimes by the image and sometimes the meaning is not at all clear, but then, that is the nature of these times. This is not the first time that Viridian has presented an exhibit focused on politics or social concerns because art speaks beyond words. Nevertheless, the artists have also been invited to present a poem or two to close the exhibition- for words and image both help to clarify our communication. We hope you will join us and see the power of art to express what is on the minds of artists in today’s tumultuous world
DIRECTOR'S CHOICE
"FROM VIRTUAL TO ACTUAL 5"
CURATED BY VERNITA NEMEC
SEPTEMBER 27- OCTOBER 15, 2016
OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 6-8PM
Alan Richards * Larry Zdeb * Lynne Johnson * Emmanuel Monzon * Paula Swisher * Marcia Lloyd * Marilyn Richeda * Jan Brandt * Alex Sewell * Margery Appelbaum * Max Tzinman * Jim Jacobs * Christopher Ruane * Ashley Shellhause * Linda Jacobs * Robert Augstell *
Paxton Maroney * Chris Vanden Broeke
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present " Director's Choice: From Virtual To Actual 5", art from the powerpoint presentation of our 26th International Juried Competition. Curated by Vernita Nemec, this exhibit brings the actual art of that virtual presentation to the gallery walls. The exhibit continues from SEPTEMBER 27- OCTOBER 15, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, SEPTEMBER 29, 6-8PM.
Viridian asks both the gallery director and the museum curator to act as jurors, showing the director's choices virtually in a power point presentation during the Juried Exhibition of the museum curator's choices. Although these artists were not “winners” of Viridian's 26th 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.
Despite the popularity of the web and the fact that we are becoming more adept at looking at art on the web, seeing art in reality offers the viewer a much richer experience, hence the title “From Virtual to Actual”. All the artists in this exhibition have a personal obsession that serves as a starting point in their search for ways in which to transform inner visions into reality. Transforming these inner realities into art becomes a translation of the “virtual into the actual”.
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. Each of the artists in this diverse exhibition has her or his personal obsession that serves as the starting point of the search to transform inner concerns into an outer reality through their art. The results of transforming these realities into art, remains open to each viewer's interpretation and becomes yet another translation of the “virtual into the actual”.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 12 - 6 p.m.
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director
Artist statement and biography
“Most of my paintings depict flowers. To me, flowers convey a sense of hope and optimism. The unlimited shapes and colors allow for a great deal of imagination and experimentation. The background areas also provide even more opportunities for painterly expression. Many of the flowers look wind-blown. I try to give a sense of movement through the use of line. I am currently working on adding texture by applying pieces of cut-up fabric to the canvas. I paint almost everyday.
Background:
* Won the Grumbacher Award for “Best Use of Paint"
* Had solo shows in Pinebush and Ellenville, N.Y.
* Was one of the artists in a two-woman show at the Ariel Gallery in Soho, N.Y.
* Had six solo exhibitions at the Piermont Flywheel
HENRY COUPE:
“A LIFETIME OF PAINTING”
September 6 – September 24, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-8 p.m.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the paintings of artist Henry Coupe. His exhibition of paintings entitled “A LifeTIME of painting” continues from September 6TH through September 24TH, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, September 8th, 6-8 PM.
Henry Coupe spent his life creating small paintings, most under 24”, executed in strong, simple strokes, of people in landscapes. His people are shown both alone and in small groups. Tiny in scale, his delicate oils are filled with feeling and speak of love, portraying life’s simplest and most important moments, shared with others or experienced in solitude. With simple and direct titles like “Girl Wearing Orange Sash” or “Man Reading,” the people in his works are known by nothing more than what they are wearing or what they are doing. We don’t know them, but then we realize perhaps we do, for we’ve experienced that moment of “Listening to Father” or read “The Letter,” while lying on the grass.
There is a sense of lifetimes in his paintings that continue from childhood to old age, for he makes sure the viewer knows that the girl is adolescent and that the woman holding flowers is elderly, yet we can’t help but wonder who the “The Chaperone” is. These uncomplicated truths seem to be of utmost importance to Henry in the stories these humble paintings silently tell.
Born in 1924, he married Ann McGivern in 1950 and studied painting at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute School of Art in the 40’s and through the 50’s with Ralph Wickiser and a student of Hans Hofmann among others. Like many artists, he taught art from 1955 until his retirement in 1976.
Henry Coupe’s early career in NYC began at Aegis and Brata Galleries, both important galleries on 10th Street in the 60’s. The 10th Street Galleries were artist-run art galleries that began in the early 50’s, and where Irving Sandler began his career of writing about the art of that time. While more established galleries like the Janis and Castelli had wealthy art dealers on the more opulent 57th Street, the 10th Street Galleries were near where many established artists of the era, like de Kooning and Kline, had studios in downtown Manhattan. Their presence attracted younger artists to the same neighborhood, where space was cheap for studios and for living.
Coupe’s paintings have been exhibited in Florence, Italy, New York City, Narbeth, PA, at the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington, DC and Chautauqua, where art critic Stephen Westfall curated an exhibition in which Henry’s painting was included. He received Honorable Mention in Viridian’s 24th Annual International Exhibition, juried by Elizabeth Sussman, Curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art. He also received the Subagh Winkelstern and Subagh Khalsa Award, in Chatauqua, NY.
His paintings have been reproduced and written about in Art News, the Christian Science Monitor and Wall Street International. His paintings are in private collections and the Permanent Collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY.
This will be Henry’s first solo exhibit at Viridian Artists. At the time of the juried exhibit at Viridian in which he won Honorable Mention, he was 90 years old and had fallen into a coma, finally succumbing at the age of 91 in December of 2015. His wife Ann, who he always said, “continues to be my inspiration”, manages his estate and will be present at the reception to talk with guests about his work. Viridian looks forward to sharing his paintings with you.
RENÉE BORKOW, HENRY COUPE, MAY DeVINEY,ARTHUR DWORIN, BERNICE FAEGENBURG, ARLENE FINGER, FRANZ FOX, ALAN GAYNOR, WALLY GILBERT, KATHLEEN KING,NAMIYO KUBO, MATTHIAS MERDAN, MICHAEL MILLER, STACEY CLARFIELD NEWMAN, JOHN NIEMAN, FILIPPO PRANDI, BRUCE ROSEN, DIANE ROOT (MATAKIA), BARBARA K. SCHWARTZ, SUSAN SILLS, VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT, ANGELA SMITH, ROBERT SMITH, DEBORAH SUDRAN, BOB TOMLINSON
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the art of Viridian’s Artists for its annual summer show. The exhibition continues from July 22nd and continues through August with an opening reception Thursday, July 28th, 6-8 PM. We look forward to sharing a bit of art of everyone who is currently a part of our gallery. We won’t call it the gallery stable, for stables are for horses! It’s summer, so wander into our Chelsea location to see the essence of those artists we represent. You’ll get a sweet taste of what’s to come in our 2016-17 season! And we hope you are surprised!
Spring has sprung, fall has fell, summer is here & it’s hotter than usual!It is summer & for this exhibition only we are Open by appointment & chance!
Viridian’s 27th Annual International Juried Exhibition
Juried by Tumelo Mosaka, Independent Curator
June 28 – July 16, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 30, 6-8 pm
* 1st prize Deb Flagel * 2nd prize Holly Wilson * 3rd prize Jeannette Cherry*
Emmanuel Monzon * Doohyun Yoon * Megan Klim * Devin Carrick * Feng Guo *
Andrea Barnes * Lauren Yandell * Marlene Siff * Lenore Mills * Deborah Druick *
Shawn Marshall * Nancy Brown * Beatrice Dauge Kaufmann * Naomi Christianson *
Puiyan Ma * Colette Standish * Petrea Noyes * Jeffrey Robinson * Cindy Avroch *
Nela Steric * Yama Barkaee * Kyoyoung Keum * Maria Belford * Cecilia Charlton
Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present our 27th International Juried Exhibition curated by , Tomelo Mosaka independent Curator, New York. The exhibition opens June 28th and continues through July 16th, 2016. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Thursday, June 30th, 6-8pm. We are especially pleased to present 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 today encompasses an exceptionally wide variety of methods, materials and conceptualizations of what art is.
In his curatorial statement, Mosaka wrote “In 1966 singer Paul McCartney from The Beatles wrote the song Here, There and Everywhere, reflecting on the importance of living life to the fullest. Our every life seems to be overly committed and narrowly defined by histories, geographies and identities. When do we find time to reflect and appreciate things and people around us? How do we make our lives worthwhile in a rapidly transforming society? Artists’ in many instances have always responded to the time in which they live. They grasp and express ideas, sentiments, frustrations and desires evident in our society offering valuable insights into the social realities confronting our times.
Like the song Here, There and Everywhere, the artworks I selected for this exhibition constitute a broad exploration of themes informed by architecture and landscape. These works for the most part use non-linear and fragmented visual narratives that range in style from the literal to the imaginary calling into question facile distinctions between private and public, tradition and modernity, whilst emphasizing a myriad of similarities and differences. They deploy light, line, color and space to draw our attention towards imaginary landscapes that defy conventional definitions of community, place-hood, and self-identity. The works explore through symbols questions about being here, there and everywhere.”
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
Emmanuel Monzon * Andrea Barnes * Lauren Yandell * Cindy Avroch *
Holly Wilson *Nela Steric * Maria Belford * Deb Flagel * Nancy Brown *
Naomi Christianson * Petrea Noyes *Jeannette Cherry * Madeline Arnault *
Danielle Austen * Pamela Mooney * Robert Augstell *Max Neuman *
Marcella Hackbardt * Richard Hricko * Karen Gibbons * David Bartlett *
Jeannine Hunter Lazzaro * Tom Fleming * Jimmy Salmon * Maki Hajikano *
Josepha Gutelius * Barbara Hillerman Lieske * Ed Herman * Rosalind Tobias *
Alla Boldina * Len Rosenfeld * Craig Cheaply * Jeff Watts * Toto Takamori *
Jason McGroarty * Alex Woodhouse
Chelsea: Viridian is pleased to present the exhibition “The Butterfly Project: cross pollination” mixed media collages by Stacey Clarfield Newman, opening June 7th and continuing through June 25th with an opening reception to meet the artist Thursday June 9, 6-8pm.
With past exhibition titles “Mindscapes”, “New Beginnings”, “Life’s Pages” and “Renewal” its clear that the inspiration for Stacey Clarfield Newman’s art now at Viridian Artists comes both from within and from the ongoing experiences of life that are constantly changing and moving our lives forward.
Critics have called Stacey Clarfield Newman’s art “ethereal and painterly … lyrically evoking surreal dreamscapes, drawing the viewer in…,” and “richly suggest(ing) an organic landscape of the mind,” but her complex & intricate artworks encompass much more.
A life-long visual artist, musician and dancer, Stacey has been teaching and working in the arts for over 25 years. No stranger to the tragedy and the drama of life, she uses her work to conquer all that life encompasses and explores colors and symbols to transform the negative into the positive. Influenced by music, her love affair with color, life’s events and her deep reverence for nature, she feels that her purpose is to share her art with the world by creating and teaching – empowering people to recognize their self worth within – to discover their authentic selves. Newman does this in so many ways beyond her artmaking.
“My work is a cross pollination of media,” states the artist. “Color has music, music has color. Nature is my cathedral. “Inner Child”, the title of a mixed media work of intense color that utilizes her unique painterly approach to mixed media collage, suggests the experience of being able to dance with abandon- like a child- dancing that brings her back to “my most sacred and authentic self, tapping into my spirituality”. The phrase “cross pollination” in the exhibition title, refers to how music and dance have fed her art and how her art has fed her dance. This new body of work expresses more than ever that sense of the connectedness of all we do in life. The cross pollination of life’s experiences & joys- dance- music- art- the joy of being alive is what Newman’s art is about.
This will be Newman’s first solo exhibition since returning from India, and she feels a shift has occurred – a “pollination”. The butterfly is not a new symbol in her work, but a symbol that exemplifies in a greater sense, the journey that artmaking is, especially for the creator.
“Stacey Paints India”, is a book the artist created about time she spent living and working in Kolkata, India at the Udayan School, a welfare and rehabilitation school for children of leprosy patients. There she taught techniques of “painting with paper”, her unique collage media, living with the students and crossing cultural and language barriers through art.
The works in this exhibition display a vibrancy of color that is new and fresh. Too, in the photography that she is including for the first time, there is a sense of visualization that goes beyond reality. Newman’s unique form of visualization in both her photography and her collage/paintings, her unique approach to imagery created from hand-painted papers and her conviction that artist have a responsibility to open a dialog with the viewer about life issues, were all incorporated into a mural commission for the Albert Einstein Medical Outpatient AIDS wing, entitled “the Powers of Healing”. Stacey Clarfield Newman’s painting “Tree of Life” was selected as one of fewer than 75 artists for publication in ArtQuench Magazine‘s (AQM) Best International Creatives 2016.
In addition to teaching in India, Stacey is a former faculty member of the private art enrichment program for children “Young At Art”, incorporating music and movement, in Westchester as well as the Scarsdale Continuing Education Art Program and artist in residence at the Green Chimneys School in Brewster, NY. The artist attended Franklin & Marshall College, SVA, Purchase College at SYUNY and studied privately with the artists Richard Miller, Leo Manos and the sculptor Caryl Stone.
Ms. Clarfield Newman has exhibited widely both in the United States and abroad, most recently showing in Chicago and Colorado. Her art is in numerous private and public collections, including the White Plains Hospital Center; Bridgepoint Capitol, Inc., The Aesthetic Surgery Center, Darien, CT, The Toberoff Collection and the law firms of Latham and Watkins; Berle, Kass and Case in New York City.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “OUTER REALITIES: inner visions” featuring 5 artists from Viridian’s Affiliate program, as well as the gallery director and assistant who are both artists. The exhibition opens May 17 and continues through June 4, 2016 with a reception Thursday May 19, 6-8pm.
The two words that best describe the art of Elizabeth F Hoff are eclectic and idiosyncratic. “I fell in love with clay while studying with Jennie Lea Knight and Anne Truitt at Ms, Knights” studio in Louden County in Virginia. I have journeyed far, but my roots are in the south and with the multi- racial situation I grew up with.”
Phyllis J. Featherstone likes to focus her work and states “Color is my noun, adjective, adverb, verb, and subject at the moment; and the flavor is all about blue.”
“Exegesis” is defined as the analysis and interpretation of specific texts. In her work with this word being its title, the artist Srividya Kannan Ramachandran invites you on “a hermeneutic meditation of hieroglyphics through which you can perceive the ancient light at the end of a modern tunnel.” The artist suggests that the viewer try locating the word “focus” within the cryptic text.
Katherine Ellinger Smith’s drawings are a combination of people she knows, film images, landmarks, and other personal objects. In “collaging” these images together the artist found that the combinations had subconscious associations for her. These accidental discoveries and chance arrangements are what she enjoyed most in creating these pieces and what – for the viewer – adds personal meaning.
Photographer Carolina Poggi travels the world from her native Uruguay searching for images, particularly documenting dancers. This series though, is from earlier travels within Uruguay to a formerly lonely fishing village called “Punta del Diablo” which the Lonely Planet Travel Guide now calls a tourist destination.
In soft pink undertones, Viridian’s gallery assistant Jenny Belin draws from both pop culture and from her own personal relationships to create portraits of strong women who aren’t afraid of controversy. Often focusing on fame and fashion, Belin’s small paintings bring these fantasy worlds into closer view.
Though the director of Viridian for more than a decade, Vernita Nemec AKA N’Cognita has managed to maintain her ongoing art practice. Her recent solo exhibit at GAIA Gallery in DUMBO featured her current environmentally concerned art which focuses on the over-abundance of discarded plastic and it’s environmental destructiveness, some of which will be included in this show. A performance artist as well, Nemec will be performing at the Theater for the New City at the end of May.
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.
Wally Gilbert * Deborah Sudran * John Nieman * Alan Gaynor * Susan Sills * Kathleen King *Michael Miller * Barbara K Schwartz * May DeViney * Arthur Dworin * Bob Tomlinson * Arlene Finger *Fred Gutzeit * Angela LaMonte * Jackie Inglefield * Suzanne Morlock * Carolyn Applegate * Bryan Smith * Elizabeth Ginsberg * Marcia Bernstein * Robert Cenedella * Scott Kulok * Barnaby Ruhe * Julia Healy *Jenny Brown * Sam Wiener * N’Cognita * Emmanuel Monzon * Margery Appelbaum * Kathy Levine * Lynne Mayocole * David Yendes * Len Rosenfeld * Alex Woodhouse * Irene Christensen * Ed Herman* Cheryl Vlachos * Deborah Beck * Jackie Lima * Norma Greenwood
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Internal Politics: Great Expectations”, a Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational curated by Vernita Nemec. The exhibition continues from April 26th – May 14th, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, April 28th, 6-8pm.
Wikipedia says Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition “of, for, or relating to citizens”) is the practice and theory of influencing other people. Another similar phrase is “playing politics”, which means doing something in order to become more powerful rather than doing what’s right.
But what are our “Internal Politics” What are our “Great Expectations”? Perhaps those politics concern one’s secret wishes about reality or what reality should be – our personal politics and how we respond to the world around us with images rather than with our voices.
Artists like Daumier spoke directly about politics with his art but much art that does not seem political still carries within it a belief system that can be as persuasive as a placard in a protest march or demonstration.
Recently, Holland Cotter addressed the issue of art & politics in his New York Times essay entitled “Making Museums Moral Again” (3/19/16). He reminds us of the power of art to address political issues when in the late 60’s, Art Workers Coalition met & created the Poster “Q: And Babies? A: And Babies. Today’s issues are numerous and equally troubling.
The artists in this exhibit are expressing their beliefs visually – and as some might say, “It’s art – what does it mean to you?” These artists have expressed through their art their concerns about the environment, the presidency and numerous other matters that affect our world today.
This is not the first time that Viridian has presented an exhibit focused on politics or social concerns. In September 2002, gallery artists created works in memory of 9/11 for an exhibit entitled “Elegy”. The card for the show was a photo of an empty downtown sky by Vernita Nemec (as N’Cognita) and was featured in The Nation magazine by Arthur Danto in an article he wrote about artists’ reaction to 9/11. The following September, artist Mary Miss curated the “9/11 Memorial show” at Viridian and in September 2004, Stuart Nicholson and Vernita Nemec invited Viridian Artists and Ridge Street Artists (a LES artist collective) to participate in “YW”(why War? Why Dubya?), an exhibit featuring both visual art and performance.
We hope you will join us and see the power of art to express what is on the minds of artists in today’s tumultuous world.
Chelsea: Viridian Artists is pleased to present Robert Smith’s new series ofphotographs entitled “It’s curtains!” from April 5 to April 23, 2016. The opening reception is Thursday, April 7, 6 to 8 p.m.
Some twenty-five years ago, Smith created a series of images of drapes and shades influenced by filtered sunlight that gained him recognition in one-person and juried shows. But then, he returned to pursuing his signature statement of the close-up, undisturbed natural landscape. Now, Smith, in a way revisiting that past, has explored a different close-up vision that combines the ubiquitous staple fiber, cotton, woven into curtains that cover wood windows joined together by a breeze and natural light.
By simply opening the window, Smith has created a fresh, new landscape, a series of dramatic, desaturated images amplified through movement of air currents and rays of streaming light. As the breeze whipped curtains are sucked inward onto the window frame and sash and then moved outward, the compositional possibilities become endless. The series encompasses a wide range of chiaroscuro effected, visceral feelings, from the quiet, voluptuous folds within the curtains to the sensation of chaotic, crashing bolts of black. There are stark contrasts, broken planes, unexpected angles, arresting textures and striking forms. His mind’s eye has one image offering the mystery of an operatic masked ball while another is reminiscent of a Robert Motherwell painting.
Smith’s sense of humor is readily apparent with his choice of the exhibition’s title. It’s a play-on-words throwback to the old, gangster slang expression similar to “the jig is up” signifying it’s the end. However, here “It’s curtains!” is just a beginning with Smith infusing new life in visual language. He invites you to come with your imagination and a readiness to have a conversation with his photographs.
Robert Smith lives and works in New York and has a summer studio in Maine where he offers “Steps to Seeing” walks, opening eyes to the richness of the natural landscape. His photographs are widely collected across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Australia and South Africa.
Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present recent oil and collage paintings by Bob Tomlinson on the theme “Fragments of Myth.” The exhibit opens March 15 with a reception on Thursday March 17, 5-8 PM. The work will be on view through April 2. The artist will be at the gallery on Saturday, April 2, the final day of the exhibit, for coffee and conversation from 3-4 pm.
Tomlinson’s complex canvases combine areas painted in oil with elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as computer manipulated photographs. Hovering in rococo ambiences the artist’s figures are awash with vivid yet subtle color harmonies. Ignoring the traditional distinction between naturalistically depicted and abstracted figures, the sensuous color and bold, sinuous contours of these elusive and lyrical paintings play on the tension between figurative references and abstract forms.
As art critic Lawrence Downes wrote: “Tomlinson employs classical anatomy as a vehicle for gestural abstraction.” The emphasis on formal elements of shape and rhythm as independent entities, along with the fragmentation of forms, creates a tendency towards abstraction. At the same time the figurative elements evoke themes with distinct referents. The subjects of the paintings are echos of myths, be they ancient, literary, historical or personal. However, both formally and philosophically, they can reach us only as fragments
Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American artist 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, City University of New York, the late Dr. Maya Angelou, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, Mme Linda Weil-Curiel and Herr Frits Bernard. 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, as well as in Afro-American Studies.
He figures in the books, 100 New York Painters by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer, 2006) and Black Paris Profiles by Monique E. Wells (2012) and is one of the artists studied in a recent Masters Thesis by Charlotte Barat, Artistes noirs américains à Paris (1945-1969). Vie de bohème, liberté artistique et négociations identitaires (Université de Paris I, Panthéon- Sorbonne, 2014). He is also the subject of a film project by the well-known documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.