“REAL/ IMAGINED” 9 VIRIDIAN AFFILIATES

“REAL/ IMAGINED”
9 VIRIDIAN AFFILIATES
Feb 4- 22, 2014
Reception Feb 6, 6-8pm

JOSHUA GREENBERG * RENEE KAHN* NANCY MACINA * JEFFREY MELZACK*
SARAH RILEY * KATHERINE ELLINGER SMITH * SHEILA SMITH *
TOTO TAKAMORI *MEREDETH TURSHEN

              Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “REAL/ IMAGINED” an exhibition of outstanding art by nine artists who are part of the Affiliate program at the gallery. The exhibit will continue from February 4th to February 22nd, 2014. There will be an opening reception Thursday, February 6th, 6-8PM. 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.

JOSHUA GREENBERG uses photo-based imagery to create abstract art. In Lines and Latitudes, he explores the lines which divide us and the latitude we use to bring about change.  “As a series of visual ideas, this is represented by reflections, shadows, segmentation and abstraction.  As lines turn into abstract forms, this action represents the flexibility and freedom that latitude brings.  The variation in color and texture brings movement to the work and highlights the abstraction.  The changing intensity of light shows the range of lines and latitudes, as does the contrast between foreground and background.  This series is intended to illustrate that from lines may come both latitude and art.”

RENEE KAHN’s “goal is to create the maximum intensity using the least amount of means. The purpose of this simplicity is for the viewer to focus on the colors, body language and design of the painting. Color rendering emotion is a prime ingredient of my work.”

 Nancy Macina is exhibiting oil on canvas images 16” x 20” of four of the boroughs of New York City: Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Manhattan.  The artist says ” I painted my feelings inspired by the gestalt type of energy emanated by the various boroughs during recent times, since I perceive they keep changing under our gaze, as time passes.”

JEFFREY MELZACK states: “The work I’m presenting represents geographies of my own random thoughts about place and longings.  The work is intimate. One has to get close to explore the details. The work is personal, yet universal, in that we all share in the human experience of exploring all that is around us and what defines us. This is the core of my visual imagery. What defines your space, your longings? My love of playing violin and the allure of the ballet are woven throughout my visual thinking and infuses my creative impulse.”

Sarah Riley is Prof. Emeritus and former Head of Printmaking at Southeast Missouri State University.  Her book, “Practical Mixed-Media Printmaking Techniques”, published in   2012 by A & C Black, London is available on Amazon. Her artwork, combining drawing, collage, printmaking and paint, frequently contains feminist overtones drawn from myth, literature and personal history; the juxtaposition of images suggesting both memories and re-imaginings. In the works exhibited this year she explores alignments of olychrome abstract watercolor monotypes with monochrome photographic imagery printed from polyester plate lithos. Her work was recently included in Four Great Printmakers, anexhibition at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill in Truro, Massachusetts.

Katherine Ellinger Smith ‘s new series of paintings and drawings is an exploration of her favorite films with female characters like Rebecca or Bette Davis in ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ who have double-edged personalities. To begin the development of a painting or drawing, she first photographs film “moments” with a digital camera while viewing the movie on television and then edits the shots until she finds an image that she feels directly connected to. Her intent is to draw the viewer directly and powerfully into the content of the piece. She is a tenured art professor at South East Missouri State University.

SHEILA SMITH continues to experiment with digital imagery both abstractly & with photos from life. 

 TOTO TAKAMORI ‘s paintings involve thick layers of paint that he works & reworks more than 60 times. The primary concept in his work he feels is contrast, by which he attempts in some of his paintings to contrast a somewhat realistic element with a heavily textured multi-colored background. In others, his desire is simply to contrast light & dark or to explore opposites in a more general way. Takamori lives in Tokyo.

MEREDETH TURSHEN is an artist/writer, feminist, lover of poetry, and New Yorker who yearns for distant shores. These images, painted on paper with oil sticks, reflect on nature in landscape; the ideas are represented non-figuratively in abstract compositions. “The freedom and immediacy of drawing is related to handwriting, and the rapidity of the process enables me to express a wide range of moods.” The titles are taken from poems by contemporary women poets.

VALERII KLYMCHUK:“Cultural Differences”

VALERII KLYMCHUK

“Cultural Differences”
January 14th – February 1st, 2014
Reception Thursday, January 23, 6-8 PM

Chelsea: Viridian Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by the artist VALERII KLYMCHUK entitled “Cultural Differences”. The show opens January 14th and continues through February 1st, 2014. In celebration, a reception will be held on Thursday, January 23, 6-8 PM.

Valerii Klymchuk is an artist who is also a System Analyst mathematician from Artemovsk in the Ukraine. Artemovsk is in Donetska Oblast, about an hour north of Donetsk, the heart of eastern Ukraine, a part of the country made up of industrial towns, factories and smokestacks. Like many before him, he came to America seeking to discover his dream and even his purpose for being on this planet.

Valerii was the first in his family to gain the honor of a gold medal at school, graduate from college, and learn English. Though mathematically gifted, he decided to trade his Artemovsk destiny as a mathematician for a New York dream to find freedom and came to the US full of hope and confidence that he would succeed in whatever he attempted. After struggling to find a job and a home here, purely by accident he discovered Art, the dream he had not realized he had, the magic of painting.

The choice of the title for this exhibit is curiously interesting. For Klymchuk, the concept of Cultural Differences arose from of his own idea of personal knowledge and his realization about nature of differences between each of us. The artist says “Concept of Cultural Differences is a pure illusion. Every time we see Cultural Differences, that’s the time to wake up and to see…”

Valerii confessed, “In my search for my cultural identity I saw the absurdity of trying to describe a Spiritual Human in short sentences. That’s how I discovered new exciting way of expressing myself through art. It gives me freedom to choose my own ways to deliver my message; it is my best way to be honest … Freedom of artistic expression will no more be restrained by logic it will convey our meaning or thought.”

In 2011, Valerii got lucky when he entered Viridian’s 22nd Annual Juried Competition and was selected by the curator Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum who was the Juror that year. Subsequently, he became a Viridian Artist and as they say, the rest is history.

The artist goes on to saying “Only with respect to Cultural uniqueness of every human can we discover true answers to core questions of our life, see much greater truth about other people, cultures, and even about ourselves. Finding our own self-identity and embracing it will make us see the dawn of our civilization. Sunrise will bring joy of seeing how much we are all alike. As we open the doors guarding the truth, light of knowing ourselves will end suffering and our world will turn into garden. And there will be no logic left to justify wars…”

We hope that you will be able to meet this fascinating artist and share his vision of the future of respect to our Cultural Uniqueness seen behind doors of Cultural Differences.

“Once Upon A Time” Viridian Artists & Friends

“Once Upon A Time”
Viridian Artists & Friends
December 17th to January 11th, 2014
Opening reception Thursday December 19th, 6-8PM

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Once Upon A Time” an exhibition of Viridian Artists & Friends, December 17th to January 11th, 2014 at 548 West 28thStreet, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street. There will be an opening reception Thursday December 19th, 6-8PM. In addition, Viridian is bringing back Ye Olde Art Shoppe of art cards, prints, books, and other artist-made gifts available for under $99, so that everyone has a chance to do some last minute holiday gift shopping.

Each year, in a spirit of holiday giving and sharing, Viridian Artists takes time to share the spirit of the holidays by inviting guest artists to show their creations along with us. Dress festively & come join us on Thursday, December 19th to celebrate and remember how things were “Once Upon A Time”.

Once upon a Time
there was a pay phone on every corner & you could make a call for a quarter
children were spanked when they disobeyed the teacher
business lunches were 2 martinis
we didn’t kiss ’til the third date
we could go to Europe on $5 a Day
we wore backpacks only when we went camping
we could have a delicious lunch for $5
the frame was not more important than the picture
women didn’t dream of becoming President
only men wore the pants in the family
we used to write each other letters in script & mail them at the post office…
we could have a cigarette with our drink
we did our grocery shopping on Saturday, etc, etc…

Janet Bohman, Renee Borkow, Henry Coupe, May DeViney, David Dorsey, Arthur Dworin, Bernice Faegenburg, Tazuko Fujii, Alan Gaynor, Wally Gilbert, Joshua Greenberg, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff, Renee Kahn, Kathleen King, Valerii Klymchuk, Namiyo Kubo, Elvira Lantenhammer, Nancy Macina, Jeffrey Melzack, Matthias Merdan, Michael Miller, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Oi Sawa, Barbara K Schwartz, Susan Sills, Virginia Evans Smit, Angela Smith, Robert Smith, Sheila Smith, Deborah Sudran, Bob Tomlinson, Meredeth Turshen,

With Guest Artists: Adrienne Ankuda, Barrett Benton, Richard Brachman, Benjamin Briggs, Robert Cenendella, Ursula Clark, Lee Cordray, Gloria Cunnick, Abby DuBow, Phyllis Featherstone, Flashlight & Bill Rabinovitch, Celia Gilbert, Elizabeth Ginsberg, Brenda Hernandez, Jacqui Joseph, Mary Frances Judge, Jae Young Kim, Minjung Kim, Angela LaMonte, John Lloyd, Marcia Lloyd, Dee Dee Maguire, Bob Marvin, Robert Mielenhausen, Barbara Minsky, Darryl Moody, Eileen Mullan, Vernita N’Cognita, Sunanda Parikh, Shirley Pasternak, Lauren Purje, William Rodwell, Joseph J Roy, Leonard Rosenfeld, Stephen Salek, Jane Talcott, Daniel Victor, Vicky Wojcik

ARTHUR DWORIN “IRON-Y: From Swords to Plowshares”

ARTHUR DWORIN
“IRON-Y: From Swords to Plowshares”
November 26 – December 14, 2013
Reception, Thursday, December 5, 6-8pm
Wine & Words Saturday, December 14, 4-6PM

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present a solo exhibition of paintings by the artist ARTHUR DWORIN. The exhibit will continue from November 26 – December 14, 2013 with a reception, Thursday, December 5, 6-8pm.

Arthur Dworin’s most recent work is inspired by iron, the core of our planet Earth. Skills he acquired as a scenic artist creating props for movies with faux rusted surfaces, and his discovery of a process by which he could create a real rusted surface on paintings instigated the creation of the works in this exhibition. The imagery of this latest body of work is also influenced by the structure of DNA.

In addition to using rust as pigmentation, the artist’s new work brings the image off the surface plane through the use of textures and sculptural techniques he learned as a child and that carve into the painting surface. Many of these patterns he has created are suggestive of aerial views of crop rows or archeological forms built by ancient civilizations. Too, patterns frozen and yet moving against each other, form juxtapositions reminiscent of movements in music resulted in “Ode to MJQ”, a work inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Another ongoing theme that has become an important aspect of this body of work is the symbol of the DNA ribbon, reminding him of our “source” that connects us to the evolutionary process and to the beings of millions of years ago.  The artist feels that “the creature that is our body finds it’s constitutional spec sheet in our DNA, something I find a key element to awakening understanding of who we are and even perhaps a glimpses into our purpose in being.”

A Detroit native, Dworin lived and worked in Manhattan from 1967 until recently purchasing a church in Pennsylvania that he has that he has used to create these works. Previous to creating art full time, he was a Scenic Artist for TV, movies, ballet, opera and theater. The recipient of several grants, he has regularly exhibited in Europe and the US. This is his fourth solo show at Viridian.

Dworin’s numerous private collectors include MoMA’s former Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Peter Selz. Dr. Selz, author of 15 books on 20th century art, wrote in 2010: “Arthur Dworin’s paintings … abstract as they are, … bring a new sense of visual order to organic forms of nature.”

“Refined, complex and visually deep”—Dr. Anna Aragno, psychoanalyst and former principal ballerina in the Bolshoi and Metropolitan Opera Ballets.

“Dworin today has reached a dazzling display of lyrical passion, motion and light.”—Jerelle Kraus, former NYTimes Art Director; Author, “All the Art That’s Fit to Print (& Some That Wasn’t): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page,” 2010.

Deborah Sudran: "Paintings"

DEBORAH SUDRAN
“PAINTINGS”
November 5- November 23, 2013
Reception: Thursday, November 7, 6-8pm

 Chelsea:  Viridian Artists, Inc. is pleased to present an exhibition at our gallery by the artist DEBORAH SUDRAN entitled “PAINTINGS”. The show will extend from November 5th to November 23rd, 2013, with a reception to meet the artist on Thursday, November 7th, 6-8pm.

Deborah Sudran finds infinite inspiration in nature and has been experiencing that inspiration for decades. She’s not an ordinary nature painter, but paints out of a love for the colors, forms and space that nature presents, particularly up close. There is no horizon line seen in these works for the viewer’s vision is immersed in the elements and forms of plants.

Carrying her camera, she aims close up, and though the paintings that result are realistic, the artist is primarily interested in the abstract patterns created by the plants, the light and the atmosphere surrounding them. Her approach to composition creates almost a carpet of color and texture.

In this exhibit of new work, Sudran continues her passionate involvement with nature as the primary subject matter of her oil paintings.  The nature she is inspired by can be found close to home in the New York Botanical Gardens or on her frequent travels throughout the world. She finds garden, jungle and desert flora equally inspiring. The artist confesses she rarely does paintings of tulips or roses because she doesn’t find the compositions they create so interesting, preferring more dramatic compositions of color and form.

Sudran studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Michigan. The artist has shown in numerous group and solo shows including the Aldrich Museum, the Museum of the Hudson Highlands and Cornwall on Hudson. Her paintings were recently featured at TAI Exhibits where the TAI Group cultivates an intersection between art and business through its exhibitions.  She is in numerous prestigious corporate collections, including AT&T, IBM and Pfizer.

We look forward to your joining us at this exciting new exhibit at Viridian Artists.

ROBERT MIELENHAUSEN “BIKE WORKS”

ROBERT MIELENHAUSEN
“BIKE WORKS”

October 15- November 2, 2013
Reception, Saturday, Oct. 19th, 4:00 – 7:00 pm.
Wine and words: Sat. Nov. 2nd, 4:00 – 6:00pm.

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “BIKE WORKS”, a solo exhibition of mixed media works by the artist ROBERT MIELENHAUSEN. The exhibit will continue from October 15th to November 2, 2013 with an opening reception on Saturday October 19th, 4:00 – 7:00 pm and a Wine and Words event with the artist on Saturday, November 2nd, 4:00 – 6:00pm.

In this body of work, Robert Mielenhausen explores the bicycle as a sculptural form in the streets of Manhattan, finding the combination of lines, angles, and the symmetry of the circles of the wheels, visually compelling. He begins the works by photographing bicycles that are marked with age and miles rather than those that are new, comparing their bodies to the bodies of people- meant to function well in a certain way, but never everlasting. For the artist, the bike represents freedom, and learning to ride a bike gives a child their first expression of freedom.

As an artist, Mielenhausen’s focus has been to combine the immediacy of photography with painting and mixed-media to emphasize the texture, color, form, and light in the images he has created. He sees this series to be as much about the street as it is about bicycles, using the street as an environment with the bicycle as the subject.  The artist utilizes a variety of materials in the building of the work, some traditional, some not. He incorporates objects saved and found on the street and combines them with photographs mounted on board, then coated with wall board compound, sand, acrylic pigment, and spray paint.

Mielenhausen’s images expand beyond the picture plane with both elements of abstraction as well as literal renderings of pictorial images depicted in the work. In these works, the bike is a witness to life for no one is riding them as they sit surrounded by life. They wait for their rider to return, or for life to just happen as in “LingeringThoughts” with its heightened shadows and air of mystery or “Passing” with the people watching or “School’s Out” or “Guess” with the poster reminscent of Marilyn in the background.

Robert Mielenhausen has been showing art since the late 70’s at OK Harris Works of Art, the 2012 Architectural Digest Home and Design Show, Water Mill Museum, Guild Hall, Islip Art Museum, and Onward Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. His work is included in the collections of private, corporate, and educational institutions.

KIYOSHI KAWAGUCHI “The Window: People in the City”

KIYOSHI KAWAGUCHI
“The Window: People in the City”
September 3 – September 21, 2013
Reception Saturday, September 7, 4-6pm

Chelsea: Viridian Artists, Inc. is pleased to present KIYOSHI KAWAGUCHI’s exhibition of acrylic paintings, “The window: People in the City” September 3 – September 21,  with a reception Saturday, September 7th, 4-6pm.

Tokyo artist Kiyoshi Kawaguchi’s artistic aims involve giving confidence & encouragement to people “who” in the words of the artist “were tossed by the hard wave of the age”. Kiyoshi Kawaguchi’s paintings of urban life synthesize with irony and humor the exuberance and rhythms of city life in paintings that are a perfect blend of his native Japan’s love of Jazz improvisation and the classical sophistication of early modernist painters of the 30’s.

He returns to Viridian, showing here in 1978 and more recently in 2010, with paintings that are stronger and more enigmatically telling of the craziness of today’s world.

In this show, his focus is on the profiles of people in the city as seen through the windows of urban life. Like Stuart Davis in the 30’s, his art contains strong vibes of social activism. He feels the weigh of living with today’s pressures to be hard on the people of the world but is conscious of the strength of individuals. Because of his belief in the suffering of the poor and the powers of the super-rich, Kawaguchi uses his paintings to convey a sense of the common man’s energy and resilience.

Walter Wickiser of Walter Wickiser Gallery, Inc. says ” Kiyoshi Kawaguchi …synthesizes classical American 30′s and 40′s traditionalism with Japanese modern day technology and craziness of city life… While other artists ignore the world situation and brand their works with Louie Vuitton, Kawaguchi foresees the future and tells it through his cryptic paintings.”

Deidre S. Greben, former Managing Editor of ARTnews, speaking of Kawaguchi’s paintings, states “Like Piet Mondrian and Stuart Davis, Kawaguchi captures the exuberance and complex rhythms of city life with simple geometry and vibrant color. Kawaguchi paints bright pictures of a hyperlinked humankind full of possibilities– including being tangled by it’s own connections.”

Following his exhibition at Viridian, he will be showing his Jazz paintings at Gallery Okabe in Tokyo in December.  We look forward to your joining us at this exciting new exhibit at Viridian Artists.

DARRYL MOODY A MOMENT ON THE WALLS

DARRYL MOODY
A MOMENT ON THE WALLS
September 24th – October 12th, 2013
Reception Saturday, September 28th, 4-6pm

Chelsea:  Viridian Gallery is pleased to present DARRYL MOODY’s exhibition of photographs entitled “A MOMENT ON THE WALLS” from September 24th to October 12th, 2013. There will be a reception for the artist Saturday, September 28th, 4-6pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday- Saturdays 12-6pm.

The images in Darryl Moody’s first solo exhibition at Viridian are a culmination of an extensive photographic investigation of remnant images.  These images are left behind, by the ebb and flow of humanity, in the streets of major cities throughout the world.  The pictorial focus upon this aspect of the urban tumult captures a moment of the transformational act of messaging over time.

Messages deeply layered and telling abound in the images Moody carefully crops in the view finder of his camera. Fragments of an array of expressive forms (i.e., slings of paint, postings, stickers, stencils, calligraphic tags) become revelatory in the inter-mix.  His process encapsulates an esthetic record and manages to return the “moment” for greater deconstructive reconsideration apart from its disappearance into the exposed.  The observer is then able to see the beauty, poetry and politics, once screamed, whispered in a more meaningful context.

Moody states, “Within certain frames I unmask the sequential. The photograph provides a continuous field relationship inviting the viewer to re-associate images with events into a new cognitive whole. When editing in Photoshop, certain digital images—congeal.” The result, as quoted from the art critic Peter Schjeldahl is “…visual paintings…photographically akin to the work of Aaron Siskind.”

Darryl Moody has taught digital, and black and white photography in a wide variety of college settings, and is a Master Digital Printer.  He holds a BA in Graphic Arts from the University of Illinois in Chicago, combined with an MFA in sculpture from The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.  He has written “Photography as a Psychological Narrative” while working at Indiana University.

“HOT” A Group Exhibition of Steamy Art

“HOT”
A Group Exhibition of Steamy Art
July 23 – August 10, 2013
Reception Thursday July 25, 6-8pm

Chelsea: Viridian Artists, Inc. is pleased to present “Hot”: A Group Exhibition of Steamy Art, July 23 – August 10, 2013 with a reception Thursday, July 25, 6-8pm. 

 HOT, a tiny little three-letter word with a host of meanings if your vocabulary entertains slang. From stolen to steamily erotic and all that falls in between, as well as just plain too hot to handle.

Going to the web, the definition began with the usual and then proceeded to list over 30 different meanings for the word when used as an adjective that seemed to provide the right amount of variety for the diversity of the art in this exhibition.

For hot weather respite, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff’s Mountain Landscape, David Dorsey’s swimming pool and Barbara K Schwartz’ palm trees. For the reality oriented, Bob Smith’s fruit, Susan Sills cutout of a Japanese Lady with a hot cup of tea, N’Cognita’s drawing of a burning iron as the “Housewife’s Revenge”, Matthias Merdan’s and Angela Smith’s nakedness. For lovers of color, Wally Gilbert’s and Arthur Dworin’s hot abstractions. For the fantasy-bent Kat King’s organic flame-breathing dragon and Michael Miller’s “Gridhead” and for nature lovers, Viriginia Smit’s red daisies, Alan Gaynor’s and Bob Tomlinson’s hot flowers.  And a host of other steamy surprises!

We look forward to seeing you then and sharing our various hot pursuits with you!

  JANET L. BOHMAN, RENÉE BORKOW, MAY DeVINEY, ARTHUR DWORIN, DAVID DORSEY, BERNICE FAEGENBURG, TAZUKO FUJII, ALAN GAYNOR, WALLY GILBERT, ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF, KATHLEEN KING, KIYOSHI KAWAGUCHI, YOUNG SAM KIM,
VALERII KLYMCHUK, MATTHIAS MERDAN, MICHAEL MILLER, DARRYL MOODY,VERNITA N’COGNITA,
STACEY CLARFIELD NEWMAN, LAUREN PURJE, BRUCE ROSEN, OI SAWA, BARBARA K. SCHWARTZ,
SUSAN SILLS, VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT, ANGELA SMITH, ROBERT SMITH, DEBORAH SUDRAN

Viridian Artists’ 24th International Juried Exhibition

Viridian Artists’ 24th International Juried Exhibition
Juried by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator, Whitney Museum, New York
July 2 – July 20, 2013

Opening reception Thursday, July 18th, 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

            Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present their 24th International Juried Exhibition. Curated by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator, Whitney Museum, New York, the exhibition opens  July 2nd and continues through July 20th, 2013. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Thursday, July 18th 6:00 – 8:00 pm. At that time, meet the curator and many of the artists.

Viridian’s International Juried Exhibitions are a series of exhibitions that serve to encompass a diverse selection of outstanding art from around the world that might not otherwise be seen in New York City. This marks the 24th year that the gallery has offered artists the opportunity to have a major museum curator see a selection of their work.

As the recipient of the sixteenth CCS Bard Award for Curatorial Excellence, Elisabeth Sussman was recently recognized for her dynamic curatorial vision and her dedication to the field. She is Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Most recently, along with co-curator Jay Sanders, she curated the 2012 Whitney Biennial.

During her time curating this exhibition at Viridian, she spent many long hours viewing over 1000 images sent from around the world.  In her curatorial statement, Sussman states: “New York City, considers itself, rightly or wrongly, the center of the art world. In the week when the jurying of this exhibition took place, another art fair, Frieze, was in town, the contemporary auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s were bringing in tons of money and mega galleries in Chelsea were featuring gigantic shows of globally branded artists. Jurying an exhibition like Viridian’s at that time was an essential activity, a relief from the horrifying realization that, at least in New York, little separates the art world from global financial markets and the entertainment industry.”

In addition to the exhibition juried by Sussman, Viridian’s director, Vernita Nemec, also views the hundreds of images submitted and curates a selection that she feels have merit for a power point presentation viewable for the duration of the exhibition. This “Director’s Choice” selection is another opportunity that Viridian presents as part of its mission is to give exposure to outstanding under-known artists.

John Cullen “All About Reflections”

John Cullen
“All About Reflections”
June 11- June 29, 2013
Reception: Thursday, June 13, 5-8pm

Chelsea:  Viridian Artists, Inc. is pleased to present John Cullen’s first solo exhibition at our gallery entitled  “All About Reflections” from June 11 to June 29, 2013. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Thursday June 13, 5-8pm.

The focus of Cullen’s imagery is water, presented abstractly, with flowing lines that echo the fluidity of water’s movement and currents. His acrylic paintings on wood panels are not large and are described by the artist as “abstract impressionism”.  Sometimes he is painting the rhythms of flowing water in such a way that narratives of movement are created and filled with the simplicity of nature abstracted. Occasionally other forms overlay the liquefied tendrils, but always the viewer is confronted with water’s beautifully rhythmic journey.

Though he has worked many years and in many differing ways studying and recording the waves and currents of streams and rivers, the current selection of work encompasses selections from the last five years with a concentration on the “rhythm” series of the past two years up to the present.

Cullen feels his most inspired work comes through a sheer force of labor that ultimately fills him with a renewed sense of insight and revelation.

The artist studied at Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, New York University and Pratt Institute, where he received a Masters Degree in Art Education in 1970. He taught art on both the secondary and college level. He has been exhibiting his paintings since 1988, receiving many awards in exhibitions throughout New York State and the Northeastern coast as well as at the Vera Beach Museum of Art, the Schweinfurth Museum and the Cooperstown Museum of Art.

We look forward to your joining us at this exciting new exhibit at Viridian Artists.

For further information please contact the gallery at 212-414-4040 or  viridianartistsinc@gmail.com  orview our website: viridia

BOB TOMLINSON “Divas & Heroes”

BOB TOMLINSON
“Divas & Heroes”
oil and collage paintings
May 21 – June 8, 2013

Reception: Thurs. May 23, 5-8 pm
Coffee/Conversation with the artist:  Saturday, June 1, 3-4 pm

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present recent oil and collage paintings by Bob Tomlinson on the ironic theme “Divas & Heroes”.  The exhibit opens May 21st with a reception on Thursday May 23rd, 5-8pm PM. The work will be on view through Saturday June 8th. The artist will be at the gallery on Saturday, June 1st, for coffee and conversation from 3-4 PM.

The dictionary defines diva as “a great woman singer, a prima donna.”  These are present in the person of Josephine Baker etc but the word is also taken in the broader sense of a flamboyant heroine, here historical or literary.  The same holds true for the heroes.  Whether heroes and heroines are possible in the modern world is open to question.  The paintings are of modest format; the focus is on single or three-quarter figures.  Having said that, the usual suspects are present, Genghi, Marie Antoinette (at least in painted versions) as well as James Baldwin, Lena Horne, Chet Baker etc.

The paintings are combinations of areas painted in oil, elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as computer manipulated photographs.  These papers are collaged on canvas and represent elements of costume or abstracted background areas.  The painter believes that the frontier between figuration and abstraction is an illusion. There is no monolithic distinction between the two modes. Whether naturalistically depicted or abstracted in various degrees, the “object” perceived in a painting (a figure or a bowl of fruit) is in fact only a combination of visual cues. Such objects are not “natural signs” (to use the terminology of semiotics) but “arbitrary” ones, that is to say only constituted at a second degree by true natural signs: colors, lines and shapes.

Art critic Lawrence Downes wrote: “Tomlinson employs classical anatomy as a vehicle for gestural abstraction.” Focusing on form and rhythm as formal autonomous entities, the artist sets his figures hovering in baroque atmospheres awash with subtle color harmonies.

Tomlinson’s themes are substantial and implore us to search our memories and connections to myth as well as to reality, but they are executed with an elegant surface treatment that often belies the anguish & emotions that lie deep in the layers of the work.

Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American painter born in Brooklyn, New York.  A graduate of Pratt Institute and the City University Graduate Center, he is also a scholar of French Literature and Aesthetics. Tomlinson has shown widely in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York and is represented in many international public and private collections including those of the Clark-Atlanta University Museum, Dr. Maya Angelou, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, M. Pierre Cochet and Herr Waldo Klick.  He figures in the recent books, 100 New York Painters by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer, 2006), Black Paris Profiles by Monique E. Wells (2012) and is also the subject of a projected film by the well-known documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.

SUSAN SILLS “CUTTING LOOSE/ A Walk Through Art History”

SUSAN SILLS
“CUTTING LOOSE/ A Walk Through Art History”
April 30- May 18, 2013
Reception Thursday May 2, 6-8pm

 Chelsea:  Viridian Artists, Inc. is pleased to present Susan Sills’ exhibition “CUTTING LOOSE/ A Walk Through Art History” from April 30 to May 18, 2013. There will be a reception on Thursday May 2, 2013 6-8pm.  Sills has been a featured artist in the book “100 New York Painters” and will be interviewed by the author, Cynthia Dantzic on Saturday, May 11th at 4pm.   On the last day of the exhibition, Saturday May 18th, there will be a closing reception from 4-6pm.  Gallery hours are Tuesday- Saturdays 12-6pm.

With her life-size freestanding painted 2-D sculptures, the artist Susan Sills whimsically restructures and re-constructs art history. Enlarged to life size, they are cut out of birch plywood and skillfully painted in oils in the style of each Old Master. Using a jigsaw, she releases familiar images from the confinement of the frame and thrusts them into real space to confront the contemporary viewer.

Continuing a project she started 20 years ago, Sills’ sculptures explore the magic of encountering familiar personages from Art History in a totally new context, often putting them together in combinations that tell a completely new story. This time however, the artist is not only adding new characters to the mix, but she is bringing them together in today’s world, juxtaposing them in their differing times and histories with an insouciant disregard for ordinary reality.

“Sills takes us on a journey through art history with wit and humor.” Pensacola Museum of Art, 2004.“… her groupings provide fresh insights and evoke quiet chuckles as she gently challenges our established beliefs about art history.” Vernita Nemec, 2005.  “As with all of Sills’ delightful post-Pop takes of familiar figures from art history, encountering them out of context, blown up to … life-size, is like spotting one’s favorite movie stars on the street. They look just as good in person!” Ed McCormack, Gallery and Studio, 2003.

Ms. Sills has had 16 Solo shows, has shown in Tokyo 6 times, and has been in group shows too numerous to mention. Her work is included in the Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Women Artists at Rowan University. She has had solo exhibitions at the Queens College Art Center and Pensacola Museum of Art which sponsored an educational experience for 4500 children and their teachers. Her 2-D sculptures have also been used as a set for a dance performance at the Whitney Museum.

We look forward to your joining us at this exciting new exhibit at Viridian Artists.

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

VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT: “F” IS FOR FLOWERS, FISH AND FRAGMENTS “

VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT

  “F” IS FOR FLOWERS, FISH AND FRAGMENTS “

 April 9 – April 27, 2013
Reception, Saturday, April 13, 4 – 6 pm.

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present a solo exhibition of prints of all sorts by the artist VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT. The exhibit will continue from April 9 – April 27, 2013 with a reception, Saturday, April 13, 4 – 6 pm.

The “F” word usually brings to mind a host of either negative or at the very least controversial associations, but in the case of the art in this exhibit, Virginia Evans Smit is instead showing us the beautiful and the flamboyant of the floral and aquatic side of nature, then playing with it ingeniously. Smit is an artist of diverse skills & interests. Foremost in her artistic explorations are the varieties of printmaking and the artist expands the media to its fullest. In this group of works she is presenting a wide range of silk screen, monoprinting, Chine colle – a unique technique in printmaking in which the image is transferred to a surface that is recollaged in the printing process- solar etchings and digital prints that echo and evoke variations on all the above.

She loves color so the floral life in Barbados, where she spends her winters, accounts for much of the subject matter in this exhibition. In her last exhibition at Viridian in 2007, the focus of the work was the blooming beauty of the Caribbean plant life residing in her garden and in 2003, the images were remembrance of travels in Japan and across the U.S. In this current exhibit, she pushes her skills to encompass a wide range of experimental approaches to both her printmaking techniques and her subject matter.

The artist has the distinction of being the first African American female to receive a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania where she received The Thornton Oakly Creative Achievement Award. She has been associated with Viridian Artists since 1978. Over that time period she has had more than fifteen solo exhibitions at Farleigh Dickenson and Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, Mehu Gallery in Manhattan, the James E Lewis Museum at Morgan State University, the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and others. Her work is in many collections including General Foods, the Hewitt Collection of African American Art, the Library of Congress, The Fuba Collection in Johannesburg South Africa, Colgate Palmolive and many other private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad.

“Wally Gilbert: New Black and White Images”

“Wally Gilbert: New Black and White Images”
March 19th – April 6th, 2013
reception Saturday, March 23, 4-6
closing reception Saturday April 6, 4-6

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present the exhibition “Wally Gilbert: New Black and White Images”. The show opens March 19th and continues through April 6th, 2013. In celebration, a reception will be held on Saturday, March 23rd, 4-6 pm and a closing reception will be held Saturday April 6th, 4-6PM.

Wally Gilbert’s latest works play with the effects of monochromatic light. These newworks range from images taken in his travels, such as the “Roof Tiles – Tuscany” and “Chimneys – Paris” as well at the series of Water Tower studies taken in New York City, to abstractions created by overlapping images in the computer.

A world renowned scientist, Gilbert explores the medium of photography zealously, working in the past primarily with color and focusing on a wide variety of subjects. In this exhibition however, he has omitted color entirely, instead translating all the images into black, white and shades of grey, focusing on the contrast of the forms and shapes, sometimes as pattern, sometimes as objects against a background. Chimneys, roofs, stairs and other architectural elements are most often the subject translated by Gilbert into artistic images enhanced digitally both creatively and scientifically.

The Artist states, “While most of these are photographic images, converted to a grayscale continuum, some of the images were further modified in the computer to alter and to rearrange the dark and light portions in extreme ways. This procedure produces effects akin to the process of solarization that was used with wet photography and creates novel, enhanced views of the world. The printing of these images directly onto aluminum metal emphasizes the contrast between light and dark and brings out the force of the whites and the blacks.”

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

ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF “RECEIVED IMAGES”

ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF
“RECEIVED IMAGES” 
February 25- March 16, 2013
Reception, Thursday, March 7, 6 – 8 pm.
Wine and words: Sat. March 16, 4 – 6 pm.

 Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “RECEIVED IMAGES”, a solo exhibition of mixed media works by the artist ELIZABETH FEATHERSTONE HOFF. The exhibit will continue from February 25- March 16, 2013 with an opening reception on Thursday, March 7th, 6 – 8 pm and a Wine and Words event with the artist on Saturday, March 16,4:00 – 6:00pm. During the opening reception, the Lou Hoff Jazz Trio with piano, bass and alto sax will be performing.

 The artist Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff states that her images come to her “unawares”, hence the show title, “Received Images”. Hoff’s presentation is always a mixture of sculpture and painting, often issue-oriented but the artist feels she would prefer that viewers find their own meanings in what they see. Her sculpture is sensate and she follows the message and instructions given her by the materials she is working with. The artist possesses a photographic memory for images and though she often plans a work from start to finish, most of what she creates evolves out of the work as it is being created.

As a child, Hoff could not see with any clarity until she was almost four years old and learned to first “see” through the use of her hands and ears. Perhaps as a result, she sees things differently still, but her differently wired vision only adds to her visual perception and expression.

There is a diverse list of things that she cares about and that inspire each work. Her reactions to motherhood and the state of the environment are high on that list, but events like 9/11, that have affected us all, also find places in her work, both directly and indirectly.

The artist came to Viridian as a winner in Viridian’s 22nd International Juried Exhibition curated by Elisabeth Sussman in 2011. In that exhibit Hoff showed two ceramic sculptural figures of women, both of which evoked an almost tribalistic aura of feminine powers, naked and primitive in our urban twenty-first century world. In this exhibition, she will be showing sculptural objects as well as paintings.

The artist studied painting, sculpture and printmaking with artist/teachers Ann Truitt, Hermann Zagge and Jennie Lee Knight. The artist has two daughters, both artists and one who is also a research scientist. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in Europe, America, and South America, and museums in America.

Viridian Artists' 3rd International Juried Photography Competition

Viridian Artists' 3rd International Juried Photography Competition
Nat Trotman, Curator, Soloman R Guggenheim Museum
February 5 - February 23, 2013
Opening reception Saturday, February 9th, 4:00 - 7:00 pm

Danielle Austen*Zel Brook*Jodi Concepcion*Manuel Cosentino*Lindsay D’Addato* Lauren Dishinger *John Eaton*Taylor Firestein*Roger Generazzo*Aimee Hertog* Matthew Kaelin*Klaus Knoll*Jennifer Lin*Misha Macaw*Timothy Macy*DeeDee*Maguire*Mark Dorf*Freja Mitchell*Robert Moran*Ida Roden*Noah Rabinowitz*Chip Rutan*Jordan Sibley *Stafford Smith*Judith Stuart

 

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present their 3rd International Juried Photography Exhibition. Curated by Nat Trotman, Associate Curator, Guggenheim Museum, New York. The exhibition opens February 5th and continues through February 23rd, 2013. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Saturday, February 9th, 4:00-7:00pm.

This exhibition is a diverse gathering of twenty-five photographers from the United States and abroad. They share a common interest in capturing a specific moment and situation using the photographic image as a starting point with a variety of ending goals.  First, second & third prize winners are Roger Generazzo, Jordan Sibley and Mark Dorf.

Viridian Artist, Robert Mielenhausen, chair of the committee that organizes the Juried Photographic Competition at Viridian, invited Nat Trotman to serve as the Curator for Viridian Artists third annual competition. Trotman joined the curatorial staff of the Guggenheim in 2001 as curatorial assistant and holds an M.Phil. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he focused on performance, photography, and time-based art. In his role as Curator of the photography competition at Viridian Artists, he spent many long hours viewing over 500 images sent to Viridian from around the world. 

                  In his curatorial statement, Trotman states: “Whether through their stylistic refinement, conceptual clarity, emotional power, or sheer beauty, these images offer a brilliant glimpse of what photography has to offer today”.

                  As part of Viridian’s mission is to give exposure to outstanding under-known artists, the gallery’s director, Vernita Nemec, selected the images of thirty-one photographers to be shown in an ongoing Power Point presentation during the exhibition. She states: "the multiplicity of creative expression in photography today is staggering – being uniquely creative in today’s digital & virtual worlds is no easy feat." “Director’s Choice” Winners include:

Geoffrey Agrons*Juliette Argent*Danielle Austen*Robin Becker*James Bell*Deborah Cahn* E.M. Castonguay*Virginia Coleman*Gregory Colvin*Jodi Concepcion*Pierre Cook*Mark Dorf* Megan Douglas*Miska Draskoczy*John Eaton*Taylor Firestein*Cynthia Fleury*Erika Gagnon Miranda Gatewood*Roger Generazzo* Barbara Habenstreit* Flora Hogman* Jennifer Lin * Robert Moran*Marc Newton*Noah Rabinowitz* Jane Rothman* Mark Savoia * Jeanette Serrat Priscilla Smith*Denise Tarantino

Gallery hours: Tuesday throughSaturday 12- 6 PM

For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistsinc@gmail.com or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com

“Disconnected Realities” Viridian Affiliate Artists

“Disconnected Realities”
Viridian Affiliate Artists

January 15th to February 2, 2013

Opening reception Thursday January 17th, 6-8PM

William Atkins, Joshua Greenberg, Renee Kahn, Elvira Lantenhammer,
Jeffrey Melzack, Vernita N’Cognita, Lauren Purje, Michael Rippl, Sheila Smith,
Katherine Ellinger Smith, Meredeth Turshen

            Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Disconnected Realities”an exhibition of outstanding art by eleven artists who are part of the Affiliate program at the gallery. The exhibit will continue from January 15 to February 2, 2013, at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street on the 6th floor. There will be an opening reception Thursday January 17, 6-8PM. The Viridian Artists Affiliate program is a special gallery program that is an important aspect of Viridian’s mission to expand exhibition opportunities for outstanding contemporary artists. All art could be said to be the expression of an inner reality or a re-interpretation that each artist presents as their reality. In this exhibition, however, each artist has created a new reality, inspired or not by another, but disconnected and personal to their own view of life today, tomorrow and yesterday.

             William Atkins’ “Iguanodon Portraits” are a series of portraits based upon the aesthetics of 19th century photography. They were photographed with an antique camera akin to the cameras used during the Victorian era, using an 8×10 inch negative that is contact printed onto the paper. In this series, the photographer is inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s belief that photography functions as a fossilization of time and the fact that the first recognized dinosaur fossils were found during the Victorian age. Atkins intention is to lead the viewer to believe these portraits, like the early dinosaur models, are correct. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer finds that all is not as it seems, anachronisms and inaccuracies flourish in varying degrees. Atkins wants us to think about what has changed; who the characters portrayed are and ask what kind of world he or she comes from.

In this series, Joshua Greenberg  explores the expression of visual ideas through grouping related images in bold and soft colors highlighting shapes and curves with a lack of distinct color forms. He, instead interlaces the colors to provide a sense of movement which is also supported by the curves and the changing quality of light. The lines and variable textures provide a framework for the abstractions, foreshadowing the direction of movement. “The threes provide representation in a sea of abstraction and along with the lines, serve as a platform from which to explore smaller sections of the abstract image”.

            Renee Kahn’s conceptual approach to the figure has been molded by memories, emotions and reactions to body language. In her paintings, she expresses emotions through body language, design and color. Her themes are family, religion, relationships, motherhood, and life’s passages. The goal in her paintings is to create maximum intensity using the least amount of means.

In her “site plans”, Elvira Lantenhammer reprocesses excerpts of maps and street plans into painted tableaus – sometimes in large format – to arrive at the formal basic structure and essence of a place. She paints the intuitively found base-colour of the place – the radiance, the atmosphere, in superimposed layers of colour, condensed into large-format colour compositions as a “subject with variations”. In her abstract acrylic paintings on canvas or egg tempera paintings on wood, the main points of orientation for the viewer are the dominant colours. “I am inspired by the wonderful brightness of the colours of the early Italian paintings. With the background of my education as restorer, I use this traditional materials pigment/ egg tempera on wood to express what I feel about a certain place or about a place of my fantasy.”

For Jeffrey Melzack, the ancient concept of telling stories through pictorial symbols serves as the inspiration for the images in his paintings. The body of his work is connected by a symbolic language ofvisual images that gives voice to his understanding of the world and becomes a visual language without boundaries. Using an underlying formula, he has established a rational for the compositions. The artist says that “I learned that my visual language had a power I could call upon to help my understanding of the world seemingly filled with so many ambiguities, some serious, some comical, some secular and some profoundly spiritual.”

            Vernita N’Cognita’s artmaking is concerned with translating inner realities into installations, performances, photographs, monoprints and m/m collages.  Through her visual and performance art, she creates a visual autobiography addressing issues of relationship, loss and self-actualization reflecting the complexities and nuances of her 21stcentury life.  These images are from a series using body, dress and leaf prints combined with collage.

In her paintings, Lauren Purje juxtaposes cartoon imagery with painterly backgrounds, exploring the sublime and the absurd as concepts related closely to one another. She feels that the often dire circumstances surrounding thoughts of life and death, can be lightened and given new meaning when illustrated through this contrary juxtaposition.

            Michael Rippl, a German artist, re-creates images he findsand works on them time and again over the years. In this exhibit one of his works is based on a photo byAndreas Caspari, taken from a ten meter diving tower, which was enlarged on a computer monitor. A detail of it was photographed with a Polaroid camera and thePolaroid manipulated by Rippl, creating a picture from a picture.

            Katherine Ellinger Smith’s work also is involved with transforming found images into her own work, but she begins by taking digital photos of vintage movies directly from her television screen. After identifying the image she most feels a relationship with, she then recreates it as a large-scale painting.

            Sheila Smith’s images are photographs of sections of collages that she has created as raw material for her final images. She then re-composes with the camera so that she can create a variety of abstract compositions from one abstract painted collage.

            Meredeth Turshen states that  “after a year’s absence, I returned to my studio filled with energy–these pieces seemed to burst out of my pent-up longing to paint again and are an affirmation of my belief in the power of art to heal, console, enrich and enhance.”

“Endings and Beginnings” Viridian Artists & Friends

“Endings and Beginnings”
 Viridian Artists & Friends
December 18th to January 12th, 2013
Opening reception Thursday December 20th,6-8PM

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Endings and Beginnings”,  an exhibition of art by Viridian Artists & Friends, December 18th to January 12th, 2013, at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street. There will be an opening reception Thursday December 20th,6-8PM. In addition, Viridian is bringing back its ArtShop of art cards, prints, books, etc., all available for under $99, so that everyone has a chance to do some last minute holiday gift shopping.

   As 2012 ends, we can look forward to a new year of promise and the chance to resolve to do all those things we resolved, but didn’t accomplish, last year. Too, the end of the year gives us the opportunity to think about what we want to change and how we can move forward.

This holiday season is a season of giving and getting, but it is much more than that. It is a time of remembering and honoring. It is a time of renewal and change. It is a time to share our good fortune with those less fortunate. It is a time to remember our families and our friends from afar whom we haven’t seen in too long a time. A chance to drop a note and invite them over to celebrate the ending of the years that have passed and the beginning of the years to come.

Each year, in a spirit of holiday giving and sharing, Viridian Artists takes this time to share the spirit of the holidays by inviting guest artists to show their creations along with us. And too, this season gives everyone a chance to stop a moment and take some time to create small but special artworks in the form of cards, books, ornaments and prints, all available for under $99 each.  And to give everyone a chance to do some last minute holiday gift shopping.

Viridian will be donating a protion of sales to the Craft Emergency Relief Fund ( CERF). Dress festively & come join us on Thursday, December 20th to celebrate “Endings & Beginnings”!

“Picture Perfect 2: Director’s Choice”

“Picture Perfect 2: Director’s Choice”
“Director’s Choice” Images from our 2nd International Juried Photo Competition
Curated by Vernita Nemec
November 27th to December 15th, 2012
Opening reception Thursday November 29th, 4-7PM

Juliette Argent . Stephanie Aust . Susan Barnett . Mimi Botscheller . Deborah Cahn . Tina Carter . Cynthia Fleury . Amanda Gahan . Ken Greene . Joshua Greenberg . Susan Evans Grove . Barbara Habenstreit . Teri Havens . Joshua Hobson . Gisa Indenbaum . Thomas Jackson . LynneJohnson . Ashley Jones . DeeDee Maguire

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Picture Perfect: Director’s Choice”, an exhibition of photographically based art to occur November 27th to December 15th, 2012 at 548 West 28th Street, also accessible from 547 W 27th Street. There will be a reception Thursday, November 29th,4-7PM.

Although these artists/photographers were not “winners” of Viridian’s 2nd International Juried Photo Competition juried by Jennifer Blessing from the Guggenheim Museum, Vernita Nemec, Viridian’s gallery director, felt the images of these twelve photographers to be as uniquely interesting as some of those chosen by the Guggenheim Curator. Professional opinions vary widely regarding what is the “best” art, but in the end, thinking people realize it is a question of taste even in the eye of the professional.

One of Viridian’s missions is to provide meaningful exposure to under known artists. Shown in a power point presentation during the Juried exhibition last season, Viridian’s director felt these images to be worthy of their own exhibition and hence we are pleased to bring the actual works together now in this second Picture Perfect Exhibition. Each of these artists has their own personal obsession in their search for images in reality to record, capture or alter and then transform into their own reality.

Water inspires two of these photographers. For Amanda Gahan the water and sand of theFlorida beaches are important parts of her history though she now lives far away. “In “Challenge in Comfort” I attempt to find comfort in one element of my history:  water.  By performing everyday, mundane tasks underwater, I allow the water to surround me in its comfort, but in the same way that it comforts me, it challenges me with its suffocating, anti-gravitation aspects.”

Tina Carter grew up withNarragansett Bayin her back yard. Since then, water and the ocean are her ultimate target, particularly the unrestrained, unrefined passion of thePacific Northwestcoast.  Color, her first discovery in photography makes her see the ocean, and how it speaks to the land, in vivid color. “The ocean washes color into my world.”

Culture and other creative arts inspire Mimi Botscheller and Juliette Argent.

Mimi Botscheller’s inspiration is the songs of William Blake. She is drawn to Blake through a sense that there is a thread of commonality between her own perception and Blake’s awareness of the illusions of existence.  His songs inspired her to create a narrative image of a contemporary parallel universe.

Juliette Argent’s interest lies in the trans-aesthetic state of contemporary visual culture and the fusion of reality and fiction in our image saturated world. Staging a pseudo commercial photo-shoot, Argent has an archetypal female model skillfully made-up, then subjected to an extreme everyday situation causing the fragile cosmetics to disintegrate and destroy the surface illusion. She then photographs the model to highlight the absurdity of the perfected airbrushed images seen in cosmetic advertising.

A number of these photographers record Americaas it, often to emphasize the contrast to what once was. Cynthia Fleury‘s Vintage Car Graveyard is one of a series of images done in Quinn, South Dakota.  The once thriving town ofQuinn was doomed to become a ghost town when Interstate 90 bypassed Quinn in favor of neighboring Wall. This lineup of vintage cars and trucks was captured on a calm cloudy day that added to the atmosphere of this nearly desolate town of 44 inhabitants not far from theBadlands.

Teri Havens’ image was taken inSlabCity, a squatters’ community located on a desolate swath of southernCalifornia’sSonoranDesert wedged between theSalton Sea and an active bombing range where she lived part-time for three years. SlabCity is a collection of fiercely independent, utterly original individuals. Cast out of, or just drifting away from, the “American Dream,” they come here seeking freedom from rules, rent, and the assaults of a society often unsympathetic to the underclass.

Barbara Habenstreit’s photo was taken at the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade in June 2011. She spotted some religious messengers who were trying to spread God’s word to this crowd of “sinners” onMermaid Avenue but no one seemed to pay the slightest attention to them, except for her, photographing them.

“ThriftyCenter” is one image from a larger body of work by Ashley M. Jones. This collection of images attempts to accurately document the current state of a once thriving area of downtown Savannah, the MLK corridor. The artist has spent much time observing and researching this particular community, then photographing with a 4×5 large format camera to convey a sense of truth and accuracy as well as a sincere concern for that community. Thomas Jackson is interested in reflecting the mood and feeling of our era and strives to make relevant, memorable American images that make people think and invites viewers to create their own narrative.

Others in this exhibit attempt to translate their environment as a reflection of themselves. Joshua Hobson feels his image making plays many roles in his life. One is the roles is organizational, allowing him to use his photography as an exercise in compartmentalizing the world, particularly in response to a strange environment. He feels that through his photography, he “creates visual quotations of the world that (he) encounters daily and the world as (he) wishes it to be.”

DeeDee Maguire always wondered how it felt to resemble a parent or a sibling. Initially, her self-portrait photography was a means to explore identity.  Eventually, the images grew to form a visual diary recording what happened and how she felt at a certain time, at a particular place in her life. This self-taught photographic journey began in 1978 and continues today.

Many of these artists are primarily concerned with the abstraction of their imagery. Deborah Cahn began with art quilts, moved on to mixed-media collage, and developed a serious interest in photography as the result of using photographs in collages. “I love abstract pattern and texture rather than representational images, so I compose my photographs to eliminate hints of the subject’s identity.”

Ken Greene, Joshua Greenberg and Lynne Johnson are intent on abstracting nature while Susan Evan Grove does the same with reflections. Ken Greene makes abstract images out of scenes that most would shoot as a fall “postcard” shot. Living in the Great Smoky Mountains with the abundance of beautiful imagery, he focuses on imagery that doesn’t seem like a nature subject at first glance, but clearly is upon further inspection.  Joshua Greenberg’s photo-based abstract prints combine the elements of photography with digital processing to produce a new composition. The objective is an image with its own sense of abstraction and movement, based on and retaining elements of the original photograph, in this case, representing the color, texture, and complexity of rain-washed landscape.

During her frequent walks, hikes and skis, Lynne Johnson studies the light and shadows on and about the rocks, trees and bushes. She is especially intrigued by the discovery of things not immediately identifiable that suggest something else. On second thought, the artist felt that perhaps “Cut Log in Snow” should be titled “Bangs”.

Susan Evans Grove’s vision travels along the surface of automobiles. She takes straight shots of a reflection in a car’s exterior, sometimes from the interior of the car, names them after the make of the car they are shot from and then prints on metal to simulate the experience she had recording the image.

Stephanie Aust‘s image “Horrible Things” with its dark shadows hints at a past one wants to forget & Susan Barnett‘s series of portraits of people in t-shirts with their faces not visible conveys the essence of the person through the message on their backs.

This exhibit of photography exemplifies the potential alternatives of conveying reality whether the artist does little more than record a moment in time or searches for the extremes of their message at the edges of reality.