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

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 HOFF, RENEE KAHN, JEFFREY MELZACK,
SARAH RILEY, SHEILA 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 Celebration. Sarah 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

“45 YEARS” VIRIDIAN ARTISTS PAST & PRESENT" Part 1 and 2

“45 YEARS”
VIRIDIAN ARTISTS PAST & PRESENT
October 21st – November 8th
November 11th – November 29th, 2014
receptions: Thursdays Oct. 23rd& Nov.13th6-8PM

 Chelsea: It is with pleasure and pride that Viridian Artists is featuring past and present Viridian Artists in two upcoming 45th Anniversary Exhibitions. These exhibitions will be occurring October 21st through November 8th and November 11th through November 29th, 2014. There will be receptions on Thursday Oct. 23 and Thursday Nov. 13, 6-8pm.

As one of the first artist-owned galleries in the New York City art world, Viridian began its existence in Soho when Soho was just beginning to be an art destination. In 1969, a group of Long Island artist formed a gallery just off West Broadway called Second Story Spring Street, the parent of Viridian Artists before SoHo was SoHo.

Viridian moved from there to becoming the only artist owned gallery on 57th St where it remained until 2001 in the NY Gallery Building. As the city was digging out from under the tragedy of 9/11, Viridian was moving to 530 W 25th in Chelsea where it remained until 2011, moving then to its current location at 548 West 28th Street.

Over the years some of the original artists have remained with the gallery while others have departed and then returned. With the gallery since its inception are Janet Bohman, Bernice Faegenburg, and Virginia Evans Smit. Barbara K Schwartz, Susan Sills, Oi Sawa, and Tazuko Fujii have been the gallery nearly as long. Other artists with the gallery since before 2000 include May DeViney, Renee Borkow and the Estate of Bruce Rosen.

The artists of Viridian draw from the complicated and often contradictory currents of modern life and contemporary culture to create their art. The gallery has always prized esthetic diversity and each Viridian Artist, past and present, has a particular approach to representation and a unique way of decoding reality.

As commercial galleries become artist-owned and cooperative galleries become more respected for their high quality art and the freedom they give their artists, Viridian has maintained that critical balance necessary to compete in today’s diverse art community. Today, surviving the heyday of commercialism as art and art as real estate, Viridian continues.

Oct 21-Nov 8

Kelynn Alder, Chris Bathgate, Carol Benisatto, Naomi Blum, Carol Brookes, Mary-Ellen Campbell, Sabine Carlson, Henry Coupe, Arthur Dworin, Sally Fine, Arlene Finger, Alan Gaynor, Barbara Gerard, Kat King, Valerii Klymchuk, Rosemary Lyons, Jo-Anne Maynard, Matthias Merdan, Marilyn Miller, Michael Miller, Jeffrey Melzack, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Renee Ritter, Virginia Evans Smit, Phyllis Smith, Katherine Ellinger Smith, Deborah Sudran, Bob Tomlinson, Judith Tummino

 Nov 11-29

Janet Bohman, Roger Boles, Jack Bolen, Renee Borkow, Carol Crawford, May DeViney, David Dorsey, Bernice Faegenburg, Tazuko Fujii, Wally Gilbert, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff, Richard Karp, Peter Kaplan, Namiyo Kubo, Paul Matthews, Robert Mielenhausen, Darryl Moody, Ron Moore, Rick Mullin, Mary Murphy, Goran Petmil, John Remsen, Diane Root, Bruce Rosen, Oi Sawa, Barbara K Schwartz, Susan Sills, Angela Smith, Robert Smith, Diane Soorikian, Meredeth Turshen, Mary Wells,
Carol Yoshimine, Don Zurlo  

 Gallery hours: Tuesday throughSaturday 12- 6 PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director  

Press Release: Wally Gilbert : "Transformations"

“Wally Gilbert: Transformations”
Sept 30 – October 18, 2014
2 receptions Saturday, October 4, 4-6 & Thursday, October 9, 6-8  

 Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present the exhibition “Wally Gilbert: Transformations”. The show opens September 30th  and continues through October 18, 2014. In celebration, 2 receptions will occur with the artist present at both: Saturday, October 4, 4-6PM & Thursday, October 9, 6-8PM.

Transformation has always been an importantelement in the Digital Art of Wally Gilbert.  Artist and scientist, Gilbert approaches his art with scientific gusto, artistic freedom and the wisdom of experimentation. Working now with color, light and shapes rather than DNA, for which he won a Nobel Prize in 1980, the work in his latest exhibition begins with photographs of a skylight that he has transformed beyond reality. With color, light and overlapping shapes, Gilbert pushes and transforms the image by taking color to the extreme and creating complex abstractions that leave the viewer to imagine their origins.

Gilbert has been working with digital photography for the past ten years, sometimes exploring color, sometimes focusing on black & white imagery as he did in his last solo show at Viridian. In this exhibit, his focus is on color and light which he investigates and manipulates, transforming fragmentary photographs into a plethora of artistic and arresting abstract artworks.

A world renowned scientist, Gilbert explores the medium of photography zealously, searching for the beauty in reality and then translating that beauty into his own language of color and form.  In the past he has captured a wide variety of subjects from dancers to abandoned factories to architecture, translating the subject into artistic images that he enhances digitally, pushing and overlapping colors and shapes creatively and scientifically.

Wally Gilbert’s latest work investigates the transformations of three fragments of an image through color saturation and layering in PhotoShop, pushing and pulling the embedded color until he has created his own new world. All created in 2014, these images, printed on aluminum, glow with color driven to full saturation creating new and strange interactions, until they have become “abstract meditations”.

Gilbert pushes colors to their extreme. Three works – “Yellow Torment”, “Blue Torment” & “Red Torment” perhaps express the sometimes psychological pain of the artistic process as well as how color can so thoroughly transform what we see. All use the same image solarized, with the primary color and black angular architectural structures coming forward yet revealing tiny aspects of other colors peeking through the structures, as if trying to escape. He transforms the hues of light as well as the color of forms.

We hope that you will be able to meet this outstanding artist and share his vision through seeing these incredibly fascinating artworks.

PRESS RELEASE: Director’s Choice: From Virtual To Actual 3

“Director’s Choice: From Virtual To Actual 3″
Curated by Vernita Nemec

September 9-27, 2014
Opening Reception Thursday, September 11, 6-8PM

 Robin Becker * Emma Buck * Kristin Enck * Joshua Greenberg * Aimee Hertog *Marla Hoffman * Daniela Izaguirre * Joanna Kidd * Mark Kolessar * Marcia Lloyd*Srividya Kannan Ramachandran * Christopher Ruane * Leslie Sheryll

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present ” Director’s Choice: From Virtual To Actual”,  curated by Vernita Nemec, the gallery director, featuring a selection of artists who entered our 24th International Juried Competition in 2013. The gallery is located at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street. The exhibit extends from September 9th to 27th, 2014 with an opening reception Thursday, September 11, 6-8PM.

Each of the 13 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 investigations 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.

The art in this exhibit takes many unique forms from the knitted “Knots” of Joanne Kidd‘s artist book and the mixed media wall sculpture “Batter Up” of Aimee Hertog to a wide variety of photographic approaches. Joshua Greenberg explores abstraction, Marla Hoffman reflections, Srividya Kannan Ramachandran poetry, Christopher Ruanereligion and Marcia Lloyd’s  ongoing series Mother/Daughter, which explores the search for a new identity.

The dress appears in a variety of meanings & executions: Robin Becker’s dress with photo transfers, Leslie Sheryll‘s gown of plastic bags & netting, Mark Kolessar’s“Second Skin” ofcanvas, acrylic, plastic, wood & metal.

Many of the worksare not what they seem to be. Daniela Izaguirre’s watercolor and graphite image on vellum looks like real objects, Emma Buck’s digital photograph intentionally resembles a painting while Kristin Enck’s painting “Slosh” presses the “pause” button, suspending both time and motion to freeze the image as a photo might. 

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.

Press Release: IDEA(S)

"IDEA(S)"
7 VIRIDIAN AFFILIATES
July 22- August 9, 2014
Reception Thursday July 24, 6-8pm

 William Atkins, David Dorsey, Elvira Lantenhammer, Rosemary Lyons, Vernita N'Cognita, Carolina Poggi, Lauren Purje

           Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "IDEA(S)" an exhibition of outstanding art by seven artists who are part of the Affiliate program at the gallery. The exhibit will continue from July 22 to August 9, 2014. There will be an opening reception Thursday, July 24th, 6-8PM.   Viridian's Affiliate program is an important aspect of the gallery's mission to expand exhibition and sales opportunities for outstanding contemporary artists, both emerging and well-known. This group of artists came together bythe chance of scheduling, but their art all shares an interest in Idea(s).   Each of these artists create thoughtfully with a purpose that exists far beyond creating a pretty picture.

            WILLIAM ATKINS was born in Rochford, England. He works with various types of cameras with subject matter ranging from anachronistic portraits to seaside street photography. Living in Washington DC, he has photographed several US Presidents and is a second-generation photographer, following in his father's footsteps.

"I pulled together this set of photos to create a story with no narrative to establish a mood. They are reflections of truths from my own experiences. They come from traveling the country, deciding to walk, stopping the car, reuniting after twenty years, waiting in a place seeing what may happen, just life and putting a camera between myself and it."

            DAVID DORSEY's paintings depict commonplace objects and situations is a way that celebrates the formal abstract properties of each scene as well as the lustrous, purely physical qualities of oil paint, with an emphasis on subtle color harmonies. He works in a tradition that began with the impressionists and has continued down through the modernists like Thiebaud, Dine and Porter. His current work falls into one of three suites: tabletop views with objects strewn and falling over oriental carpets, candy jar paintings and the third, daily life. Most recently, he has begun a new series of skeletaland anatomical objects. 

            ELVIRA LANTENHAMMER, in her Site Plans, reprocesses excerpts of maps and street plans into painted tableau- sometimes in large format. Through an intensive study of topographical map works, historic and contemporary, the artist arrives at the formal basic structure, the essence of the place. She paints the intuitively found base-color of the place- the radiance, the atmosphere, in superimposed layers of color, condensed into large-format color compositions as a subject with variations.  "I am inspired by the wonderful brightness of the colors of the early Italian paintings. With the background of my education as restorer, I use egg tempera on wood to express what I feel about a certain place or about a place of my fantasy."

            ROSEMARY LYONS often takes two years to complete her series of illuminated manuscripts which are inspired by newspaper and magazine articles that tackle a wide range of difficult topics including subway shooters, genetics and AIDS. Long interested in calligraphy and formerly a realistic painter, she began her first Manuscriptus Series when living in New York City in 1992. The idea of transforming her creative outpourings into illuminated manuscripts rather than paintings, was initially born out of a dream. This current series incorporates the abbreviations and acronyms ofemails and text messages, with titles like “OMG”, “KMN”, “GIGO” and “BFD”, one learns the essence ofthe “new language” of texting. Lyons received her Master of Fine Arts at the State University in Buffalo and has exhibited widely.

            VERNITA N'COGNITA created her name to honor under-known artists. A visual and performance artist, she has presented more than 70 performance artworks including guerrilla performances at the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and Documenta 13 in Kassel.  Her visual art of primarily mixed media collages & installations both stand on their own and serve as props & sets for her performances. Her art is in the collections of MOMA, the Savaria Museum in Hungary, the Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Feminist Art @Rowan University, the Asian American Art Center, Franklin Furnace, Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, Groupa Junij, Belgrade and many private collections. An environmental artist and curator, she is currently having a solo show of new collages created from the security envelopes ofjunkmail from financial institutions.  

“I have always been fascinated by the contradictions of reality. I feel intuitive choices and chance connections are an essential part of the creative process and trusting my creative decisions hasbeen an ongoing battle.”

            CAROLINA POGGI was born in Montevideo in 1970, and majored in still photography at the Cinema School of Uruguay. While there, she became fascinated by the photo-essay and was drawn to the whole photographic process from taking to printing the picture. Consequently, she set up her own black & white lab, working on several essays ranging from architecture to nature & film making among others. She is currently photographing trainee dancers at the National School of Dance of Uruguay.

"During my time as an analog photographer I worked on several black & white essays on architectural ruins and destruction. I focused on certain buildings due to their historic and social value. I had the opportunity to visit the former Ministry of Defense of Uruguay in 2001, the deep deterioration and state of disrepair conveyed the fear and despair the population had felt through a terrible decade of military repression. I used bulb and camera in hand to shoot as I wanted the movement to convey the need to run away from that state of subjugation.”

            LAUREN PURJE says: “...Not sure exactly what I'm showing, but for sure I will show this wing (a drawing in the series). The others - maybe not those particular pieces... but very similar ideas... those poor anonymous pigeons... just like people. I may show a small series of drawings and paintings dedicated to the New York pigeon. I can't fully explain why I'm so fascinated with this particular bird. Maybe the fact that they are so ordinary makes me empathetic. They are quintessentially New York, as iconic as skyscrapers are to a big city, but they aren't appreciated as such.  Like people on the street we walk past and pay no mind to everyday. Their presence is often overlooked or seen as a nuisance. I use text as if it's the pigeon's battle cries to stand out, to be appreciated, to be accepted.”

 Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM          

For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com

Press Release: Viridian Artists' 25th International Juried Competition

Viridian Artists' 25th International Juried   Competition
Katherine Brinson, Curator, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum
July 1 - July 19, 2014
Opening reception Thursday, July 10, 6-8pm

Margery Freeman Appelbaum * Bob Augstell * Roni and Mary Jo Ben-Nun * Sarah Brook * Emma Buck * Robert S. Davis Jr. * Erika Gagnon * Philip Gerstein * Alexander Giavis * Barry Goldberg * Osamu Hirota * Emily Lazerwitz * Mier Luo * Kimberly RoweTore Terrasi * Michael Wolf * Renna Mae Zimmer

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present our 25th International JuriedExhibition. Curated by Katherine Brinson,   Curator, Guggenheim Museum, New York.
The exhibition opens July 1st and continues through July 19th, 2014. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Thursday, July 10th, 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.

The competition selection was especially difficult this time for there were so many outstanding submissions and the nature of art in our world today encompasses a wide variety of methods, materials and insights regarding what art is in contemporary culture.

In her insightful curatorial statement, Brinson wrote "As a museum curator working predominantly with living artists, I’m used to watching careers develop over time through exhibitions, visits, and critical reading. So it was a new and fascinating experience to assess a broad cross-section of works without any identifying information beyond images and captions for the submitted works and the artist’s name. The selection process is purely visual and based on documentary images rather than seeing the work in person – parameters that were initially disconcerting but which quickly led to an energizing and absorbing exercise that relied wholly on eye and instinct. "

As usual, 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. Katherine Brinson was selected this year not only for her curatorial reputation but also because she is a part of the museum committee that selects emerging art for the museum collection.

                  Director's Choice to be presented digitally 

 Aandra Aabdock*Angela Lau* Angelique E Anderson * Sarah Brook* Craig Cheply   * Cynthia Fleury * Lisa Goesling * Cecil Gresham * Peter Hiers * Thomas C. Jackson * Jun OgataSrividya Kannan Ramachandran   *Emily Lazerwitz   * Melissa May Metzler* James Mullen   * Leonard Myszynski   * Charlotte Patterson * Leonard Rosenfeld * Kimberly Rowe   * Jimmy Salmon   * Shawn Saumell   * Jim Shirey   * Judy Somerville *Myron Stephens * William Stoehr * R.J. Vojir * Jave Yoshimoto* Stanislav Ossovskiy * Joe Puglisi * Christopher Ruane* Tony Wells   * Michael Wolf* Renna Mae Zimmer

DAVID DORSEY “Polarities: No Ideas But In Things”

DAVID DORSEY
“Polarities: No Ideas But In Things”
JUNE 10 – JUNE 28, 2014
Reception, Thursday, JUNE 12, 6 – 8 pm.

            CHELSEA: In his first solo in his three years as a member at Viridian, David Dorsey’s painting dwells on humble objects or commonplace scenes that bear little conceptual weight, yet in the way they come together for this exhibit, he shows how they can evoke life’s vital oppositions: life and death, dark and light, innocence and experience. Each individual painting, considered alone, represents an exploration of purely perceptual concerns, exploring how all the most traditional elements of painting—light, color, form, and the physical quality of paint—can trigger an immediate apprehension of life as a whole, in ways that words can’t reach.

“I like to focus on things and moments that might be so common, they’re taken for granted, so that you have a fresh impression of what you might see every day,” he says. “Jelly beans. A white clam sauce jar. A cheap stainless steel cream pitcher I bought at Wegman’s. Dahlias I grow for next to nothing by wintering the tubers in my basement and replanting them every spring. The skulls would otherwise be sitting in a box forgotten, somewhere in a college lab. The diaper pins I store in the clam sauce jar. But bullet casings you can buy in bulk from Etsy.”

Completed over the past five years, these eighteen paintings express basic oppositions, sometimes ironically, sometimes literally. The ideas are secondary and usually arise after the work is done. In choosing subjects, Dorsey is concerned with perceptual qualities As William Carlos Williams put it, “No ideas but in things.”

Dorsey lives and works in upstate New York, has shown his work extensively in the U.S., as well as in Europe. He has won various awards, and it is represented in collections throughout the U.S. He writes regularly about art at www.thedorseypost.com. Manifest has published his criticism.

“Eggplant and Bok Choy” and “Still Life with Pocket Door,” are painted so vividly with almost unreal, vibrant colors that they seize viewers’ attention, enticing with beautiful freshness. The living is cast against the long departed with his third painting, “Skull Unearthed Circa 1930,” a stark work of a pale room washed in clean light with a weathered skull propped atop a cardboard box. The quietude of the work is enhanced greatly by the single black audio speaker sitting silently on a shelf and the nearly toothless, gaping maw of the human remains.   —Rebecca Rafferty

In David Dorsey’s “Skull Unearthed Circa 1930″, the shipping box, scribble-marked “actual human skull”, presents the decapitated human remain in the . . . incongruous setting of a breezy open spring window. Study the sockets and cavities of the sculpted toothless mandible as the artist did in an intricately painted, multiple ridged landscape. One . . . is engrossed in the painter’s facility and fascination with his subject.                               –Marline Steel, AEQUI      

Alan Gaynor: "REMEMBRANCES"

ALAN GAYNOR
“REMEMBRANCES”
APRIL 29- MAY 17, 2014
Reception Thursday May 1 6-8PM

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new work by Alan Gaynor. His exhibition of photographs entitled “Remembrances” continues from April 29 through May 17, 2014 with an opening reception, Thursday May 1, 6-8PM.

 The images in this exhibit are a departure from Gaynor’s usual subject matter of urban architecture and instead are a tribute to his late wife Sharon Silbiger, a Professor of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein School of Medicine. In these works, Gaynor uses the beauty of dying flowers, as a metaphor for her death after a long illness. 

Though he hopes to return to focusing on architectural patterns in his photographic work, changing his imagery during his grieving has provided solace. The images in this exhibit are another poignant example of the power and importance of art in our lives.  In these powerful floral portraits, Gaynor has gone beyond the usual imagery of flowers in art, instead creating a potent metaphor of the beauty and naturalness of the evolution of life and death.

Until this body of work, perhaps because he is also a licensed architect, Gaynor’s focus has been an all-encompassing examination of the architecture of the urban landscape. As architecture is often said to be “frozen music”, Gaynor’s photographs demonstrate that in a city, it is the layering of the buildings played against one another, creating an overall ensemble that one could say resembles music.  There is an equally powerful sense of rhythm in these unique flower images.

The artist has studied with the master photographers George Tice (urban landscapes), John Sexton (black & white imagery of nature and Ansel Adams’ assistant) & Jock Sturges noted for his B&W photographs of Naturists & beautiful people.

This will be the artist’s 2nd solo exhibit at Viridian. He has received many awards for his photography including a Bronze Award in the 2012 International Loupe Awards, Terabella MediaUrban Landscape, Epson International, Tank Photo Award and many others. His work has been featured in publications including Best of Photography 2012, The Photographer, CoverArt and Photo Review to name just a few. He has been exhibiting his photography since 2000 at many galleries, including FotoFusion, Spectra ’07, Saf-T-Gallery, Black Box Gallery, Camera Obscura, Soho Photo and others. 

ROBERT SMITH: "Not To Be Missed"

Robert Smith
“Not to be Missed”
 upclose, undisturbed, natural landscapes you didn’t see
April 8th- April 26th, 2014
Reception Thursday, April 10th, 6 – 8 p.m.

Viridian Artists takes pleasure in presenting Robert Smith’s new color photographs in an exhibition titled “Not to be Missed”, which is clarified by the subtitle “upclose, undisturbed, natural landscapes you didn’t see.” The exhibition opens April 8th through April 26th with a Reception on Thursday, April 10th from 6 to 8 p.m.

As in previous exhibitions of his imagery, Smith’s photography continues his love affair with that which lies close by his feet as he walks the natural landscape. It’s a focus rather foreign for most of us as we continue to look more at the vistas. He acknowledges the practice of “Sensory Awareness” that has been called the Western Zen, which brings him, in quiet, more into the present moment. This practice informs his vision, giving him a special way of seeing the nearby landscape that others do not see. He feels that his acute “seeing” of its richness is a gift worth sharing.

In recent years, Smith has come to view the landscape as presenting a window onto a short narrative, a story contained in a composition. Naturally, bringing with him his life experience, his mind’s eye sees the story unfolding within a particular aspect of the natural landscape that he captures with a clarity of composition that belies the need for cropping or rearranging. In the current atmosphere of increasingly more image manipulation, it’s refreshing to have a photographer reveal his subject with simplicity and directness and the un-manipulated reality of what it is.

In the current exhibition, “Hands to the Heavens” combines a symbolic reach of humanity to the cosmos within the microcosm of a square foot of landscape while “Seaweed Circus” offers a jambalaya of imagery in a caldron of shoreline, presenting both as unique narratives of storytelling of a highly personal nature and vision.

Smith’s photographs are in numerous collections across five Continents. He lives and works in New York City and has a summer studio on an island off the coast of Maine. There he offers “Steps to Seeing” walks to share his way of seeing with others. Smith comments that it’s a joy for him to hear the words “you’ve changed my life” from another human being. We invite you to share his unique vision in the hopes that you too will come to see the world upclose in a whole new light. 

For further information please contact the gallery at 212-414-4040 orviridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view our website: viridianartists.com

Renée Borkow: "In The City"

Renée Borkow
In The City
March 18 – April 5, 2014
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 27, 6-8 pm

Chelsea, NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the recent work of Renée Borkow. This latest group of drawings and prints titled In The City was motivated by looking at cityscapes or environmental inspirations in many less-known locations throughout the city.

Borkow focuses on the juxtaposition and combination of geometric or architectural buildings, combined with the organic and natural lines and shapes of trees or nature. Color is a major emphasis, and each composition engages the eye of the viewer in a visual push-pull effect, creating a strong sense of movement throughout. The differences between the calm and quiet spaces and the energy-packed noisy ones are apparent, and make seeing the work both meditative and exciting.

Renée Borkow lives and works in New York City. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, and has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. She has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Florida, Lyon and Pittsburgh.

NAMIYO KUBO “Sailing Afloat in Namiyo Kubo‘s Ocean of Light”

NAMIYO KUBO
“Sailing Afloat in Namiyo Kubo‘s Ocean of Light”
February 25-March 15, 2014
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 26, 5-7 pm 

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the new work of Tokyo artist Namiyo Kubo. Her exhibition of painting on paper entitled  “Sailing Afloat in Namiyo Kubo’s Ocean of Light” continues from February 25th through March 15th, 2014 with an opening reception Wednesday, February, 26th, 5-7 PM.     

This will be Namiyo Kubo’s third solo exhibit at Viridian Artists, the artist has again filled the gallery walls with large collages of blue and gold 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. This recent work was inspired by travels to India as the artist continues to search for imagery of earth and its seas.

“The Ocean of Light” is about many things. The artist states that she is continuing to create about nature, sometimes about the sea, a drop of rain, rivers, the waves of lakes, oceans and bays, but this work is also about cities and the human- made world. The “light” of stars, meteors, electricity reflecting off the waves & ripples of water reveal the cities of the world. One can discern the silhouettes of skyscrapers & the lights of Tokyo, Shanghai, London, New York City and other cities one recognizes by the shapes conjured by the “Ocean of Light” the artist has filled the gallery with. The artist “sees” twelve lights on the oceans of the Earth and the spirituality inherent in the symbol of light & water, of rebirth, discovery & unity is especially critical in our time of tsunamis, political and religious strife and nuclear disasters.  Despite the calamities of our times, this ambitious artwork reminds us that meteors, falling stars and “oceans of light” are signs of the enormity of and power in the Universe.

Namiyo Kubo is active in Japan creating murals, working with children in Iwate and doing much volunteer work in connection with art and the recent disaster in Northern Japan. Viewers not only will see her art, but will also have a chance to meet her as well at her reception on Feb 26, 5-7 pm. We hope to see you there.