"ALLUSIONS"
January 31st – February 25th, 2023
Opening reception Thursday February 2nd, 6-8pm
Zoe Brown-Weissmann * Irene Christensen * Joshua Greenberg *
Miho Hiranouchi * Vernita N’Cognita * Nancy Nicol *
Sarah Riley * Kathleen Shanahan
Mask wearing is requested
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of Viridian Artists' Affiliate program. The show opens January 31st and continues through February 25th, 2023 and includes Zoe Brown-Weissmann, Irene Christensen, Joshua Greenberg, Miho Hiranouchi, Vernita N’Cognita, Nancy Nicol, Sarah Riley and Kathleen Shanahan. In addition to seeing this exhibit in person, one can see this fascinating exhibit at www.viridianartists.com.
Allusions. Those connections we make that are intuitive. Suggestions and associations that hint at the meaning, yet are open to interpretation for meanings can be interpreted in so many ways, especially in art. And art is filled with allusion to the artists’ and the viewer’s realities. Allusions are more real than illusions for they are an interpretation of reality… a hint at what it might be.
In Sarah Riley’s “Wired for Disaster” the viewer might see a face emerging from a web of violet that recedes into an arch leading perhaps the wilderness of our minds… multi-layered & filled with color. The artist in her own words says “presenting a balance of direction and mystery, there is a tension inherent in the combination of figurative depiction with abstraction, a real world mixed with imagined scenarios.”
Joshua Greenberg has approached this body of photographs with a touch of humor & irony. He titles this series The Colorful Whimsies with each work dominated by large color fields showing abstract scenes in reds, yellows, and blues. The artist claims to have made them “with head resting on hand while I am contemplating what series I want to work on next. They usually lighten the mood and send me on with a smile.”
In Kathleen Shanahan’s artwork “riparian repast/repose’ are poignant images of nature, but in our current climate of environmental destruction it’s not clear if the creatures are resting or dying. Not wanting the scenario to be a requiem, the artist introduced other elements to be read into the scene, but this is a time for reminders that much in our world is being destroyed. Perhaps, it is time for the requiem.
Nancy Nicol’s “Dr. Moreau’s Necessities” contains skeletons & potions that allude to Joseph Cornell boxes of collected objects, but they convey a sense of dread & bad intentions. Or, perhaps its an innocent enough collection of creature fragments to remind us of time passing. For Nicol, the theme of the exhibit gives the gallery visitor as well as the artist a chance to make associations and to find both intentional and hidden meanings.
Both Nicol and N’Cognita work with the detritus of our lives, but in this exhibit, Vernita N’Cognita shares recent collages made from images collected from old magazines that she can’t bare to discard, stating “I am torn between exploring conventional imagery or images that are more surprising and unexpected. I am constantly asking “what art is” as I create.”
Zoe Brown-Weissmann’s textured nudes & complex abstracts images of mixed media come out of 22 years as a theatrical costume designer and stage milliner. Their rich surfaces convey a sense of the complexities of theater that alludes to the realities that we experience in life.
Miho Hiranouchi feels that two of her great passions in life are connected to color and the organic forms of circles and curves. Though she learned traditional Japanese forging, metal molded and welding technique when she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial, interior and craft design from Musashino Art University in Japan, her professional art is more ephemeral with paintings and installations alluding to the natural world.
Irene Christensen explores and translates symbols of mythology and personal iconography to convey her sense of the primacy of nature. Christensen uses the Maori woman as a symbol of our dependence on nature and the inescapable bond we have with it. Representing both nature and the earth mother, she becomes a way for the artist to express both her environmental concerns and women’s issues in her work.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12–6pm
For further information, please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com.
Please visit the gallery website at www.viridianartists.com.
