LabCentral will host a Wally Gilbert Retrospective
from February 19 to April 12, 2018.
Reception with the artist:
Tuesday, March 20, 5 to 7 pm
The show is in three galleries at
700 Main Street,
North Cambridge, MA 02139
Hours: Monday to Friday, :9 am to 4:30 pm
For access until 6 pm or for a guided tour Please email Shazia Mir: smir@labcentral.org
For more information about the LabCentral Reception:
Please click here
Vernita Nemec's Solo Show : Review Featured on the Gallery & Studio Arts Journal
Viridian's Director, Vernita Nemec: Solo Show at Crary Art Gallery in Warren, PA
Press Release: “COMMON THREADS” : New Viridian Artists & Alums
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
“COMMON THREADS”
New Viridian Artists & Alums
January 30- February 24, 2018
Opening reception Thursday, February 1, 6-8pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, February 24th, 4-6pm
Ellen Burnett * Mary Tooley Parker * Ron Moore
Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Toto Takamori
Kiffi Diamond * Barbara Gerard
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by five artists that Viridian is newly representing and 2 artists who are part of our artist alumni program. The exhibition continues from January 30 to February 24, 2018 with an opening reception on Thursday, February 1, 6-8pm.
New to the gallery’s ranks are Ellen Burnett and Mary Tooley Parker while Srividya Kannan Ramachandran, Toto Takamori and Ron Moore have all graduated from Viridian’s Affiliate Program.
So what are the “Common Threads” between these artists? Most importantly, they each share a 21st Century approach to their work, either in their use of material or in the way they approach their subject. Tooley Parker incorporates actual threads, while Burnett and Diamond each find the threads that connect the unique elements that then accumulate into a whole in their works. Ramachandran’s and Takamori’s art both evolve through layers of processing - Takamori’s in paint & Ramachandran’s in compute technology. Finally, Moore & Gerard share a fascination with more traditional approaches to paint and sculpture, arising out of spiritual motivations.
Ellen Burnett is an artist who uses objects that she sees to have “potential beyond their initial existence.” She creates assemblages from artifacts that have been collected, saved, stashed away or given to her with the words “I saw this and thought of you.” A rusted piece of something, a feather, a bone, a dead hard drive assemble and congregate until a conversation begins among them and a narrative unfolds a story that has never been told before.
Burnett was a graphic designer before turning full time to creating fine art and her precise compositions demonstrate her ability to uniquely blend the elements of texture, shape, balance and movement. Born in NYC to depression era parents, the artist has incorporated the frugality of those times into an art form that addresses “making something from nothing.” But just as importantly, the artist is upcycling and transforming the detritus of our 21st century culture of consumption into unique assemblages of its discards.
Mary Tooley Parker is a textile maker using textiles as paint and was awarded a 2015 Fellowship by the New York Foundation for the Arts. After a career in dance, and then in art production at Vanity Fair and GQ magazines, Mary Tooley Parker left New York City for a more rural environment. While there, she became interested in textiles of different forms, eventually focusing on the indigenous American folk art of hooking “rugs.” Her hooked artwork focuses on realistic interpretations of people and nature, whether from memories, dreams, or visual images.
Science has shown that a different part of the brain is stimulated when viewing textile art than when viewing fine art. Appealing to the senses, especially touch; textile art gives a feeling of warmth and familiarity before the brain even registers the visual image. Working in this simple medium affords Tooley Parker a strong connection not only to the fibers running through her
fingertips, but also to the women who used fiber mediums to express themselves during difficult times. The artist carries this tradition into the contemporary art world by taking these rugs off the floor and onto the wall to be viewed as art.
Srividya Kannan Ramachandran came to Viridian as a Director’s Choice winner in the gallery’s 25th International Juried Exhibition. Though showing her photography at that time, her images in this show were entirely created by an Artificially Intelligent machine. Ramachandran’s creation of an AI artist – her alter artist-self - is a wave of the future we may all be forced to deal with down the road, but she does it with purpose. The artist states “Like a parent or teacher teaching art to a student, I trained the artificial brain (a network of neurons) in my own artistic style. After the training process is complete, the AI system is free to produce art, as it desires. The promise of imbuing a machine with creativity opens new vistas for “art” as we define and know it.” Not surprisingly, in her other life, she works as a data scientist concentrating on capital investments and marketing strategies.
Working in metal, California sculptor Ron Moore creates imaginative figures of female acrobats & jumping horses as well as ornate gates of iron. Since graduating from the California College of Arts & Crafts with a BFA, his art has been featured in Architectural Digest and is part of many private collections. When asked about the meaning behind his art, the artist says that on a personal level, he attempts to represent the inner struggles of trying to wrestle free from personal limitations. “Beyond that, to hopefully 'run and soar' with the spirit of artistic wildness, as long as time and inspiration allows.”
Toto Takamori’s tiny oil paintings on canvas evolve over months with layer upon layer of pigment using a “wet on wet” technique. Though his earlier paintings were realistic portraits, he has become involved with working totally abstractly in this series, infatuated with color & texture and the unique effects created with over 50 layers of pigment. In some cases he adds pieces of plastic, paper or metal to the surface to create an almost collaged relief of color. Takamori has begun to experiment with different combinations of color and translucency in order to alter the surface, akin to nature’s altering the surface of a rock. Tokyo-based, the artist has exhibited his work there since 2004 at numerous galleries, art fairs and foundations.
Kiffi Diamond and Barbara Gerard were each past Viridian Artists and return now as Alumni.
Like Burnett, Kiffi Diamond creates assemblages inspired by collecting detritus, old ephemera that she uses to represent people, animals and abstract spaces. She too feels the history of old things adding to the evocative story she is telling. The colors, textures and worn qualities appeal to her aesthetics while environmental concerns drive her to use and reuse existing materials. “Sometimes the results surprise me. Disturbing images emerge along with funny ones. I feel like a scientist studying evolution as my pieces grow and develop.” Diamond has been working in collage and assemblage since being introduced to it at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
On her website, Barbara Gerard describes her art as “powerful but gentle.” She’s very involved with capturing in land and seascapes a sense of the spirituality of nature. A mixed-media artist, she often incorporates sand and stones in her painting, bringing to the work, the textures as well as the images of water and earth. Speaking about her art, the artist states that “exploring harmony with the sea though itself, the reflection of serenity. My nature emanates from land and water and it is inseparable from the totality of the sea.” We look forward to sharing this beautiful exhibition with you.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com website: www.viridianartists.com
A walking tour through our Holiday Show with Viridian's Director Vernita Nemec: Video by William Patrick Armstrong
Press Release: "COMPLEXITIES" : New Work by Viridian Affiliates
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
"COMPLEXITIES"
January 2-27, 2018
Reception: Thursday, January 11, 6-8pm
Closing Reception, Thursday, January 25, 6-8pm
JOSHUA GREENBERG, ROSEMARY K. LYONS, ARLENE FINGER, SARAH RILEY,
MICHAEL RECK, 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 work of each artist contains a complexity of intents and outcomes yet all approach their vision in a unique manner.
JOSHUA GREENBERG uses photo-based imagery to create abstract art. In Cityscape Abstracts, he explores the use of concrete, glass and steel to make abstraction. Alleyways, buildings, and sunlight are captured and transformed into art with shadows, reflections, and variable textures providing a framework to view the busy abstraction of the city. Varying shades of gray, black and white highlight movement and frame the isolated beauty of city landscapes. For the artist, this series illustrates how photo-based imagery may help extend the use of less explored dimensions of photography to create contemporary 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.”
ARLENE FINGER has developed her own form of representation after carefully studying light and shadow. She is interested in the color and the play of shapes, but feels free to interpret reality in her own way. Whether looking out the window or portraying objects on the table the artist’s personal vision inhabits the work.
Michael Reck states "Working with stencils and spray paint has freed me from overthinking composition and allowed me to focus on experimenting with color and the variable nature of the medium. I simply continue adding layers until I arrive at the final image. Being unable to see through the stencils keeps me from knowing exactly what that image will be."
Sarah Riley’S subject matter comes from literature, history & memory that she develops by repeatedly layering different images, created on the computer, with scans of my drawings, paintings and prints manipulated in the computer. ‘Katrina’s Banner for Prituri’ evolved from a banner made for Katrina Guittar’s dance piece “Prituri. A digital piece, it can be printed on many materials from as large as 9 feet in length down to postage stamp size. “The piece is emotional and I have used many of my past images of Camille Claudel and Seraphine de Senlis, Oppression. Sublimation. Transcendence. There is life in mental institutions, and art cut tragically short. I had the feeling of a ceiling by Tiepolo in mind. ”The artist goes on to say “Obviously this piece is saying something that is very difficult to put into words.”
Meredeth Turshen creates striking oil paintings on paper that can be interpreted as summery landscapes or read as abstract works. Inspired by Paul Cézanne, the nineteenth century Post-Impressionist painter, Turshen layers delicate oil colors on graphite drawings, giving the work character and depth.
VIRIDIAN'S AFFILIATE PROGRAM is one of the many ways in which VIRIDIAN 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 & SEE US ON ARTSY
Press Release: “A Political Apolitical Holiday Show” Viridian Artists' 47th Annual Holiday Invitational
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
“A Political Apolitical Holiday Show”
Viridian Artists' 47th Annual Holiday Invitational
December 5, 2017 – December 30, 2017
Reception Thursday, December 7, 6-8 PM
Closing Reception: Saturday, December 30, 4-6 pm
Chelsea: Viridian Artists' 47th annual holiday invitational, “A Political Apolitical Holiday Show” will open December 5th with a reception Thursday, December 7th, 6-8PM. The exhibition continues through December 30th, 2017. As we near the close of 2017, many of us are filled with a sense of trepidation and apprehension about the future of our planet, but we cannot give up hope. Though the populations of today's world are afflicted with anguish and fearfulness about the ever-pressing reality of war, starvation, political upheaval, religious intolerance, global warming and more, we must celebrate the good. Despite the bad, there is much in the world to celebrate. 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, power, destroy illness and evil. It was art, not science that soothed the spirit – it was art 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, or perhaps to just remind you of what we must fight against. 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 $100 for last minute holiday shopping or just for giving t o oneself... Come, dress festively & celebrate the power of art within us.
Featured artists include:
Renee Borkow * Ellen Burnett * Henry Coupe * May DeViney * Bernice Faegenburg *
Tazuko Fuji * Alan Gaynor * Wally Gilbert * Kat King * Namiyo Kubo * Matthias Merdan *
John Nieman * Stacey Clarfield Newman * Mary Tooley Parker * Filippo Prandi *
Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Oi Sawa * Susan Sills * Ron Moore * Virginia Evans Smit * Angela Smith * Robert Smith * Sarah Riley * Deborah Sudran * Toto Takamori *
Bob Tomlinson * Michael Reck * Arlene Finger * Joshua Greenberg * Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad *
Kiffi Diamond * Barbara Gerard * Rosemary Lyons * Halona Hilbertz * Flora Hogman *
Flash Light * Angela M. LaMonte * Nancy Nicol * Carol Quint * Petronia Paley * Marcia Lloyd *
Vernita N’Cognita * Jenny Belin * Katrin Heyer * Ursula Clark * Hawk Alfredson *
Maki Hajikano * William Frucht * Harini De * Bryan Smith * Jane Talcott * John Lloyd *Sheila Smith * Vidho Lorville *
Susan Hoeltzel * Ayako Bando * Kayo Albert * Meghan McKee * Nancy Kolbert * Naoaki Funayama * William Patrick Armstrong * Cynthia Mailman *
Jade Lowder * Ed Herman * Jimmy Salmon * Elizabeth Ginsberg * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Silvia Aviles and others
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Director or Jenny Belin, Assistant Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com or www.viridianartists.com
“From Virtual To Actual 6” Exhibition Featured on NY Art Beat
“From Virtual To Actual 6” Exhibition Featured on NY Art Beat:
Art In a Box Benefit at Viridian Friday, December 1st 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Art In a Box Benefit at Viridian
Join us for : Art in a Box's Art Exhibition and Holiday Party for Artists and Collectors Exhibition to Benefit Children at Risk
Friday, December 1, 2017, 5-8 PM
Viridian Artists
548 W 28th Street
Suite 632
New York, NY 10001
(212) 414-4040
Help empower children with the gift of art!
Art in a Box assists children and young artists around the world who are in need, disadvantaged by poverty, or who are facing crisis situations due to war, public health emergencies, or natural disasters, and supports their recovery and empowerment through art and art education. Art in a Box is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization.
Contact information: Valentina DuBasky at Art in a Box:
212-691-2543, or e-mail us at artpartners@aol.com
Alan Gaynor's Photograph Receives Honorable Mention in "Patterns and Shadows" 2017 call for entry.
Alan Gaynor's photograph, "185 WEA NYC" has been selected by juror Stephen Perloff as an Honorable Mention in the PATTERNS AND SHADOWS 2017 Call for Entry.
Congratulations to Alan!
www.nyc4pa.com
Wally Gilbert: Open Studios November 18 & 19th : 12-6 pm
This Weekend! Wally Gilbert and 60 Other Artists Will Have Open Studios at
Brickbottom
One Fitchburg Street
Somerville,. MA 20143
Saturday and Sunday: November 18th and 19th: 12 to 6 pm
Wally Gilbert's Studio is C319
Vernita Nemec is exhibiting work in: "ART IN THE BOROS V" at Denise Bibro Gallery
Vernita Nemec, Viridian's director, is in the "ART IN THE BOROS V" exhibition opening November 30th, at Denise Bibro Gallery @ 529 West 20th Street & continuing until January 13th, 2018.
John Nieman: Recent Exhibitions outside of Viridian
In 2017, John Nieman has participated in the following exhibitions outside of Viridian:
January--Art Expo NY on the pier with Arttour international
March--Florence, Auditorium al Duomo, courtesy of Art Tour international
June--Americans in London, at OXO, courtesy of Art Fusion Galleries Miami and Vito Abba
September--Chianti Star Festival in Florence, thanks to Vito Abba
October--Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, "
October--Monaco, Gemuic Gallery. "
October-the end of December, Art Fusion Gallery in Miami including Art Basel showcases
Jenny Belin will be exhibiting work in "Biting Back for a Good Paws": NYC Art Work for Charity
Jenny Belin will be showing work in:
Biting Back - Art for Good Paws
- Fri, Dec 1, 20177:00 PM Sun, Dec 3, 20175:00 PM
- A Bar Brooklyn (map)
- Google Calendar ICS
Opening reception Friday, December 1st at 7pm til Midnight!
Saturday, December 2nd hours: 1pm - 6pm
Sunday, December 3rd hours: 1pm - 5pm
"30 Under 30" Competition: 2018
Press Release: "FROM VIRTUAL TO ACTUAL 6"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST
Director's Choice
"FROM VIRTUAL TO ACTUAL 6"
Curated by Vernita Nemec
October 31- November 25, 2017
Opening reception Thursday, November 2, 6-8PM
Andrea Barnes * David Bartlett * Nancy Brown * Jeannette Cherry * Deb Flagel *
Marcella Hackbardt * Maki Hajikano * Ed Herman * Jeannine Hunter Lazzaro * Barbara Hillerman Lieske * Len Rosenfeld * Jimmy Salmon * Nela V. Steric * Rosalind Tobias * Jeff Watts *
Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present " Director's Choice: From Virtual To Actual 6", curated by Vernita Nemec, Viridian’s director, featuring a selection of artists who entered our 27th International Juried Competition in 2016, curated by Tumelo Mosaka. This exhibit extends from October 31st to November 25th, 2017 with an opening reception Thursday, November 2nd, 6-8PM.
Although these artists were not “winners” of Viridian's 24th International Juried Competition, their art is uniquely interesting and was of particular interest to Nemec. 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.
Each of the 15 artists in this diverse exhibition has her or his personal obsession that serves as the starting point for their artistic search to transform inner concerns into an outer reality. The results of transforming these realities into art, remains open to each viewer's interpretation and becomes the first translation of the virtual into the actual. The second translation is the opportunity to see the art in the flesh instead of in a powerpoint presentation as the art were seen in the Juried Competition in 2016.
Below, many of the artists speak for themselves about their motives & intentions in the work. For those that are silent, the viewer is invited to look more closely at the work for clues into the whys.
Andrea Barnes: "The most recent in an ongoing series of exploratory mixed media works which are reflective of my experience and influenced by my interests in science, music, and the process of memory.
David Bartlett: “In its decay, Eastern State Penitentiary strikingly reveals its elemental physicality. In lingering monuments and temples, stone and iron celebrate endurance of the human spirit. Here is brute incarceration - bleak, iterated enclosures with mocking slits of sky and shabby rusted remnants of meager furnishings.
Nancy Brown: “My image-making privileges “found” over “sought”, enigmatic over declarative, less over more. My photographic images – radically de-focused, indeterminate, liminal – encourage a kind of free-flowing inquiry that stimulates new ways of seeing and looking, critical thinking, and play.”
Jeannette Cherry strives to create paintings that are complex, yet simple. She enjoys intuitive risk-taking, interspersed with thoughtful analysis that she feels resembles an order that holds “just barely”. She wants to keep uncovering the endless connections between control and free-falling –
Deb Flagel, after being both a winner in the 28th Juried Competition & Director’s Choice, she is also now a part of Viridian Artists as well as the director of Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. "My work is an accumulation of momentary glances encountered on a daily basis. As my eye records the environmental landscape that surrounds me, my mind begins to weave line, color and shape, constructing a sort of self identity...a personal cultural fabric."
Marcella Hackbardt: feels the "subject" of this series would not be clear to an observer upon seeing just one piece, but can be felt. Beginning with photographs of her son, his strangely known and unknown body, is overlaid her watchfulness, worries, tendernesses, and the real and symbolic distance that comes with his independence.
Maki Hajikano: The advances of science have given us a new perspective of the body. My piece suggests various cell forms and mutation process, which was inspired by the introduction of IPS cells. Through the work I challenge and play with people’s notions about form as well as sexuality, since in some cultures the phallic form does not necessarily imply negative connotations.
Ed Herman: SOKOV= SOCKS OFF. Leonid Sokov is/was a member of the Russian art movement, Sotz Art, the Russian version of Pop ART. Before coming to the US, the Russian authorities bulldozed a work of his, Very Hard Criticism. Finally he represented RUSSIA in the 2014 Venice Biannual. Also, a friend, their studios were on the same floor in 1984-89
For Jeannine Hunter Lazzaro there is and has always been a fascination in creating images that explore the surface and medium of the picture plane. Combining various methods, textures and paint to create becomes a transformative experience for her. Particularly stain-painting, masking out areas, creating collaged surfaces and shaping the canvas are elements she has developed in her visual language.
Barbara Hillerman Lieske’s career path spanned graphic design, craft art, art education, research dealing with the sociology of fashion, and photography. Her interest in street photography evolved while serving in Vienna, Austria, as head of a branch of Webster University's Art Department. “As I walked through the city I was attracted to individuals who expressed their personalities and humanity through gesture and choice of clothing.”
Leonard Rosenfeld (1926-2009), as an Expressionist painted, in his words, "with a weird combination of abandon and discipline." "Frankenstein in Baghdad" (2006), was among his Iraq War series. The series was first inspired by a New York Times review of In the Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson, which spoke of General Petraeus' precient question to Atkinson, "Tell me how this ends?" Rosenfeld's Iraq War series spanned 2004-2008.
Jimmy Salmon: Study in Old World Still Life: The photograph in this exhibition, Grapes, Berkemeyer and Roemer, is from a series based on a study of the 17th Century Dutch Still Life painters Pieter Claesz, Adriaen Coorte, and the more rustic work of Spaniard Luis Mendelez. The intent of the work was to create a meditative mood, using simple compositions, with hand painted backgrounds of brush strokes and color pallet to resemble those of Claesz.
Nela V. Steric: "The "Virgin of the Rocks" is a part of my "Spiritual" Series paintings. In the series, I explore my relationship with the "other side", my beliefs, but also my doubts and the underlying irony in the religious stories that people create to explain the spiritual.
Rosalind Tobias: “I love working from a live model. I love the challenge of capturing the essence of a pose. One is working with very deep feelings.
Jeff Watts shot the Central Park Row Boats “as I was intrigued by the their patterns of shape and color and thought they would make for an interesting abstract image which would not be immediately recognizable to the viewer.”
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 12 - 6 p.m.
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director
5 Works by Ellen Burnett will be on view at JCAST 2017
Ellen Burnett will be showing 5 pieces atthe Jersey City Art and Studio Tour on October 14th and 15th. Please go to the JCAST website and click on the 2017 Map button to see the location of the 4 venues where the 5 works will be featured.
The Jersey City Art and Studio Tour, now in its 27th year, developed from an event rooted in artists’ studios, retailers and other downtown spaces (111 First Street among them) into the City's premier cultural event. Since inception, the tour has annually attracted thousands of art aficionados every October from the tri-state area. Started in 1990 by Charles Kessler and Pat Donnelly of Gold Coast Magazine (a Jersey Journal weekly) and continued by Al Preciado and Margaret Schmidt, the event has garnered increased investment by the City over the years, reflecting the importance of Jersey City as a center for the arts in the state.
Wally Gilbert Scarves
Wally Gilbert's Scarves are available for purchase at the gallery! Modeled here by the charming Jeremy Martin
Students from the Freshmen Class of Avenues: The World School Visit Viridian's Selfie and Self Portrait Show
Monica Ramos of Avenues High School brought students from her English class to the gallery this week to see "Selfies & Self-Portraits: 21st C Artists See Themselves". The students were asked to take notes, and each was then asked to write a haiku poem, inspired by individual pieces in the show. The haikus were read out loud...each was very thoughtful and impressive. It was an absolute pleasure to meet this group of young art lovers!