VIRIDIAN ARTISTS WELCOMES NEW MEMBER: JAN DAVIS

Artist statement and biography

“Most of my paintings depict flowers.  To me, flowers convey a sense of hope and optimism.  The unlimited shapes and colors allow for a great deal of imagination and experimentation.  The background areas also provide even more opportunities for painterly expression.  Many of the flowers look wind-blown. I try to give a sense of movement through the use of line.  I am currently working on adding texture by applying pieces of cut-up fabric to the canvas.  I paint almost everyday.

Background:
* Won the Grumbacher Award for “Best Use of Paint"
* Had solo shows in Pinebush and Ellenville, N.Y.
* Was one of the artists in a two-woman show at the Ariel Gallery in Soho, N.Y.
* Had six solo exhibitions at the Piermont Flywheel

PRESS RELEASE: SUMMER SURPRISES

“SUMMER SURPRISES”

JULY 22 THROUGH AUGUST, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 4, 6-8 p.m.

Open by appointment & chance

RENÉE BORKOW, HENRY COUPE, MAY DeVINEY,ARTHUR DWORIN, BERNICE FAEGENBURG, ARLENE FINGER, FRANZ FOX, ALAN GAYNOR, WALLY GILBERT, KATHLEEN KING,NAMIYO KUBO, MATTHIAS MERDAN, MICHAEL MILLER, STACEY CLARFIELD NEWMAN, JOHN NIEMAN, FILIPPO PRANDI, BRUCE ROSEN, DIANE ROOT (MATAKIA), BARBARA K. SCHWARTZ, SUSAN SILLS, VIRGINIA EVANS SMIT, ANGELA SMITH,  ROBERT SMITH, DEBORAH SUDRAN, BOB TOMLINSON

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the art of Viridian’s Artists for its annual summer show. The exhibition continues from July 22nd and continues through August with an opening reception Thursday, July 28th, 6-8 PM. We look forward to sharing a bit of art of everyone who is currently a part of our gallery. We won’t call it the gallery stable, for stables are for horses! It’s summer, so wander into our Chelsea location to see the essence of those artists we represent. You’ll get a sweet taste of what’s to come in our 2016-17 season! And we hope you are surprised!

Spring has sprung, fall has fell, summer is here & it’s hotter than usual!It is summer & for this exhibition only we are Open by appointment & chance!

PRESS RELEASE: Viridian’s 27th Annual International Juried Exhibition

Viridian’s 27th Annual International Juried Exhibition
Juried by Tumelo Mosaka, Independent Curator
June 28 – July 16, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 30, 6-8 pm

 

 * 1st prize Deb Flagel * 2nd prize Holly Wilson * 3rd prize Jeannette Cherry*

Emmanuel Monzon * Doohyun Yoon * Megan Klim * Devin Carrick * Feng Guo *
Andrea Barnes * Lauren Yandell * Marlene Siff * Lenore Mills * Deborah Druick *
Shawn Marshall * Nancy Brown * Beatrice Dauge Kaufmann * Naomi Christianson *
Puiyan Ma * Colette Standish * Petrea Noyes * Jeffrey Robinson * Cindy Avroch *
Nela Steric * Yama Barkaee * Kyoyoung Keum * Maria Belford * Cecilia Charlton


Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present our 27th International Juried Exhibition curated by , Tomelo Mosaka independent Curator,   New York. The exhibition opens June 28th and continues through July 16th, 2016. In celebration, a special reception will be held on Thursday, June 30th, 6-8pm. We are especially pleased to present awards to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of this important competition that brings the art of emerging and under-recognized artists to the attention of museum curators.

Over 300 artists submitted nearly 1500 submissions. The competition selection was especially difficult for there were so many outstanding submissions and the nature of art today encompasses an exceptionally wide variety of methods, materials and conceptualizations of what art is.

In his curatorial statement, Mosaka wrote “In 1966 singer Paul McCartney from The Beatles wrote the song Here, There and Everywhere, reflecting on the importance of living life to the fullest. Our every life seems to be overly committed and narrowly defined by histories, geographies and identities. When do we find time to reflect and appreciate things and people around us? How do we make our lives worthwhile in a rapidly transforming society? Artists’ in many instances have always responded to the time in which they live. They grasp and express ideas, sentiments, frustrations and desires evident in our society offering valuable insights into the social realities confronting our times.

Like the song Here, There and Everywhere, the artworks I selected for this exhibition constitute a broad exploration of themes informed by architecture and landscape. These works for the most part use non-linear and fragmented visual narratives that range in style from the literal to the imaginary calling into question facile distinctions between private and public, tradition and modernity, whilst emphasizing a myriad of similarities and differences. They deploy light, line, color and space to draw our attention towards imaginary landscapes that defy conventional definitions of community, place-hood, and self-identity. The works explore through symbols questions about being here, there and everywhere.”

As always, Viridian makes an effort to expand the opportunities of more artists’ being seen so the gallery Director’s Choices will also be viewable in digital form. We feel it important to tangibly demonstrate that curatorial choice is often as much about personal taste as it is about the “quality” of the art.

Director’s Choice to be presented digitally

Emmanuel Monzon * Andrea Barnes * Lauren Yandell * Cindy Avroch *
Holly Wilson *Nela Steric * Maria Belford * Deb Flagel * Nancy Brown *
Naomi Christianson * Petrea Noyes *Jeannette Cherry * Madeline Arnault *
Danielle Austen * Pamela Mooney * Robert Augstell *Max Neuman *
Marcella Hackbardt * Richard Hricko * Karen Gibbons * David Bartlett *
Jeannine Hunter Lazzaro * Tom Fleming * Jimmy Salmon * Maki Hajikano *
Josepha Gutelius * Barbara Hillerman Lieske * Ed Herman * Rosalind Tobias *
Alla Boldina * Len Rosenfeld * Craig Cheaply * Jeff Watts * Toto Takamori *
Jason McGroarty * Alex Woodhouse

PRESS RELEASE: Stacey Clarfield Newman “The Butterfly Project: cross pollination”

STACEY CLARFIELD NEWMAN
“The Butterfly Project: cross pollination”

June 7-25, 2016
Opening reception Thursday June 9, 5-8pm

 
Chelsea: Viridian is pleased to present the exhibition “The Butterfly Project: cross pollination” mixed media collages by Stacey Clarfield Newman, opening June 7th and continuing through June 25th with an opening reception to meet the artist Thursday June 9, 6-8pm.

With past exhibition titles “Mindscapes”, “New Beginnings”, “Life’s Pages” and “Renewal” its clear that the inspiration for Stacey Clarfield Newman’s art now at Viridian Artists comes both from within and from the ongoing experiences of life that are constantly changing and moving our lives forward.

Critics have called Stacey Clarfield Newman’s art “ethereal and painterly … lyrically evoking surreal dreamscapes, drawing the viewer in…,” and “richly suggest(ing) an organic landscape of the mind,” but her complex & intricate artworks encompass much more.

A life-long visual artist, musician and dancer, Stacey has been teaching and working in the arts for over 25 years. No stranger to the tragedy and the drama of life, she uses her work to conquer all that life encompasses and explores colors and symbols to transform the negative into the positive. Influenced by music, her love affair with color, life’s events and her deep reverence for nature, she feels that her purpose is to share her art with the world by creating and teaching – empowering people to recognize their self worth within – to discover their authentic selves. Newman does this in so many ways beyond her artmaking.

“My work is a cross pollination of media,” states the artist. “Color has music, music has color. Nature is my cathedral. “Inner Child”, the title of a mixed media work of intense color that utilizes her unique painterly approach to mixed media collage, suggests the experience of being able to dance with abandon- like a child- dancing that brings her back to “my most sacred and authentic self, tapping into my spirituality”. The phrase “cross pollination” in the exhibition title, refers to how music and dance have fed her art and how her art has fed her dance. This new body of work expresses more than ever that sense of the connectedness of all we do in life. The cross pollination of life’s experiences & joys- dance- music- art- the joy of being alive is what Newman’s art is about.

This will be Newman’s first solo exhibition since returning from India, and she feels a shift has occurred – a “pollination”. The butterfly is not a new symbol in her work, but a symbol that exemplifies in a greater sense, the journey that artmaking is, especially for the creator.

“Stacey Paints India”, is a book the artist created about time she spent living and working in Kolkata, India at the Udayan School, a welfare and rehabilitation school for children of leprosy patients.  There she taught techniques of “painting with paper”, her unique collage media, living with the students and crossing cultural and language barriers through art.

The works in this exhibition display a vibrancy of color that is new and fresh. Too, in the photography that she is including for the first time, there is a sense of visualization that goes beyond reality. Newman’s unique form of visualization in both her photography and her collage/paintings, her unique approach to imagery created from hand-painted papers and her conviction that artist have a responsibility to open a dialog with the viewer about life issues, were all incorporated into a mural commission for the Albert Einstein Medical Outpatient AIDS wing, entitled “the Powers of Healing”. Stacey Clarfield Newman’s painting “Tree of Life” was selected as one of fewer than 75 artists for publication in ArtQuench Magazine‘s (AQM) Best International Creatives 2016.

In addition to teaching in India, Stacey is a former faculty member of the private art enrichment program for children “Young At Art”, incorporating music and movement, in Westchester as well as the Scarsdale Continuing Education Art Program and artist in residence at the Green Chimneys School in Brewster, NY.  The artist attended Franklin & Marshall College, SVA, Purchase College at SYUNY and studied privately with the artists Richard Miller, Leo Manos and the sculptor Caryl Stone.

Ms. Clarfield Newman has exhibited widely both in the United States and abroad, most recently showing in Chicago and Colorado. Her art is in numerous private and public collections, including the White Plains Hospital Center; Bridgepoint Capitol, Inc., The Aesthetic Surgery Center, Darien, CT, The Toberoff Collection and the law firms of Latham and Watkins; Berle, Kass and Case in New York City.

Press Release: “Outer Realities: inner visions”

“OUTER REALITIES: inner visions”

Viridian Affiliates
May 17- June 4, 2016
Reception Thursday May 19, 6-8pm

 Phyllis J. Featherstone * Elizabeth F Hoff * Katherine Ellinger Smith
Carolina Poggi * Srividya Kannan Ramachandran
Jenny Belin * Vernita N’Cognita

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “OUTER REALITIES: inner visions” featuring 5 artists from Viridian’s Affiliate program, as well as the gallery director and assistant who are both artists. The exhibition opens May 17 and continues through June 4, 2016 with a reception Thursday May 19, 6-8pm.

 The two words that best describe the art of Elizabeth F Hoff are eclectic and idiosyncratic. “I fell in love with clay while studying with Jennie Lea Knight and Anne Truitt at Ms, Knights” studio in Louden County in Virginia. I have journeyed far, but my roots are in the south and with the multi- racial situation I grew up with.”

Phyllis J. Featherstone likes to focus her work and states “Color is my noun, adjective, adverb, verb, and subject at the moment; and the flavor is all about blue.”

“Exegesis” is defined as the analysis and interpretation of specific texts. In her work with this word being its title, the artist Srividya Kannan Ramachandran invites you on “a hermeneutic meditation of hieroglyphics through which you can perceive the ancient light at the end of a modern tunnel.” The artist suggests that the viewer try locating the word “focus” within the cryptic text.

Katherine Ellinger Smith’s drawings are a combination of people she knows, film images, landmarks, and other personal objects. In “collaging” these images together the artist found that the combinations had subconscious associations for her. These accidental discoveries and chance arrangements are what she enjoyed most in creating these pieces and what – for the viewer – adds personal meaning.

Photographer Carolina Poggi travels the world from her native Uruguay searching for images, particularly documenting dancers. This series though, is from earlier travels within Uruguay to a formerly lonely fishing village called “Punta del Diablo” which the Lonely Planet Travel Guide now calls a tourist destination.

In soft pink undertones, Viridian’s gallery assistant Jenny Belin draws from both pop culture and from her own personal relationships to create portraits of strong women who aren’t afraid of controversy. Often focusing on fame and fashion, Belin’s small paintings bring these fantasy worlds into closer view.

Though the director of Viridian for more than a decade, Vernita Nemec AKA N’Cognita has managed to maintain her ongoing art practice. Her recent solo exhibit at GAIA Gallery in DUMBO featured her current environmentally concerned art which focuses on the over-abundance of discarded plastic and it’s environmental destructiveness, some of which will be included in this show. A performance artist as well, Nemec will be performing at the Theater for the New City at the end of May.

Viridian’s Affiliate program is one of the many ways in which our gallery continues its mission of supporting the art of outstanding “underknown” artists.

 

Press Release: “Internal Politics: Great Expectations”

“Internal Politics: Great Expectations”
Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational
Curated by Vernita Nemec

Wally Gilbert * Deborah Sudran * John Nieman * Alan Gaynor * Susan Sills * Kathleen King *Michael Miller * Barbara K Schwartz * May DeViney * Arthur Dworin * Bob Tomlinson * Arlene Finger *Fred Gutzeit * Angela LaMonte * Jackie Inglefield * Suzanne Morlock * Carolyn Applegate * Bryan Smith * Elizabeth Ginsberg * Marcia Bernstein * Robert Cenedella * Scott Kulok * Barnaby Ruhe * Julia Healy *Jenny Brown * Sam Wiener * N’Cognita * Emmanuel Monzon * Margery Appelbaum * Kathy Levine * Lynne Mayocole * David Yendes * Len Rosenfeld * Alex Woodhouse * Irene Christensen * Ed Herman* Cheryl Vlachos * Deborah Beck * Jackie Lima * Norma Greenwood

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Internal Politics: Great Expectations”, a Photographic & Mixed Media Invitational curated by Vernita Nemec. The exhibition continues from April 26th – May 14th, 2016 with an opening reception Thursday, April 28th, 6-8pm.

Wikipedia says Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition “of, for, or relating to citizens”) is the practice and theory of influencing other people. Another similar phrase is “playing politics”, which means doing something in order to become more powerful rather than doing what’s right.

But what are our “Internal Politics” What are our “Great Expectations”? Perhaps those politics concern one’s secret wishes about reality or what reality should be – our personal politics and how we respond to the world around us with images rather than with our voices.

Artists like Daumier spoke directly about politics with his art but much art that does not seem political still carries within it a belief system that can be as persuasive as a placard in a protest march or demonstration.

Recently, Holland Cotter addressed the issue of art & politics in his New York Times essay entitled “Making Museums Moral Again” (3/19/16). He reminds us of the power of art to address political issues when in the late 60’s, Art Workers Coalition met & created the Poster “Q: And Babies? A: And Babies. Today’s issues are numerous and equally troubling.

The artists in this exhibit are expressing their beliefs visually – and as some might say, “It’s art – what does it mean to you?” These artists have expressed through their art their concerns about the environment, the presidency and numerous other matters that affect our world today.

This is not the first time that Viridian has presented an exhibit focused on politics or social concerns. In September 2002, gallery artists created works in memory of 9/11 for an exhibit entitled “Elegy”. The card for the show was a photo of an empty downtown sky by Vernita Nemec (as N’Cognita) and was featured in The Nation magazine by Arthur Danto in an article he wrote about artists’ reaction to 9/11. The following September, artist Mary Miss curated the “9/11 Memorial show” at Viridian and in September 2004, Stuart Nicholson and Vernita Nemec invited Viridian Artists and Ridge Street Artists (a LES artist collective) to participate in “YW”(why War? Why Dubya?), an exhibit featuring both visual art and performance.

We hope you will join us and see the power of art to express what is on the minds of artists in today’s tumultuous world.

Press Release: Robert Smith “It’s curtains!”

Robert Smith
“It’s curtains!”
April 5 to 23, 2016
Opening Reception Thursday, April 7, 6 to 8pm

 

 Chelsea: Viridian Artists is pleased to present Robert Smith’s new series ofphotographs entitled “It’s curtains!” from April 5 to April 23, 2016. The opening reception is Thursday, April 7, 6 to 8 p.m.

Some twenty-five years ago, Smith created a series of images of drapes and shades influenced by filtered sunlight that gained him recognition in one-person and juried shows. But then, he returned to pursuing his signature statement of the close-up, undisturbed natural landscape. Now, Smith, in a way revisiting that past, has explored a different close-up vision that combines the ubiquitous staple fiber, cotton, woven into curtains that cover wood windows joined together by a breeze and natural light.

By simply opening the window, Smith has created a fresh, new landscape, a series of dramatic, desaturated images amplified through movement of air currents and rays of streaming light. As the breeze whipped curtains are sucked inward onto the window frame and sash and then moved outward, the compositional possibilities become endless. The series encompasses a wide range of chiaroscuro effected, visceral feelings, from the quiet, voluptuous folds within the curtains to the sensation of chaotic, crashing bolts of black. There are stark contrasts, broken planes, unexpected angles, arresting textures and striking forms. His mind’s eye has one image offering the mystery of an operatic masked ball while another is reminiscent of a Robert Motherwell painting.

Smith’s sense of humor is readily apparent with his choice of the exhibition’s title. It’s a play-on-words throwback to the old, gangster slang expression similar to “the jig is up” signifying it’s the end. However, here “It’s curtains!” is just a beginning with Smith infusing new life in visual language. He invites you to come with your imagination and a readiness to have a conversation with his photographs.

Robert Smith lives and works in New York and has a summer studio in Maine where he offers “Steps to Seeing” walks, opening eyes to the richness of the natural landscape. His photographs are widely collected across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Australia and South Africa.

 

Press Release: Robert Tomlinson’s “Fragments of Myth”

March 15 to April 2, 2016
Opening reception Thursday, March 17, 5-8 pm
Coffee and conversation with the artist,
Saturday, April 2, 3–4 pm

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present recent oil and collage paintings by Bob Tomlinson on the theme “Fragments of Myth.” The exhibit opens March 15 with a reception on Thursday March 17, 5-8 PM. The work will be on view through April 2. The artist will be at the gallery on Saturday, April 2, the final day of the exhibit, for coffee and conversation from 3-4 pm.

Tomlinson’s complex canvases combine areas painted in oil with elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as computer manipulated photographs. Hovering in rococo ambiences the artist’s figures are awash with vivid yet subtle color harmonies. Ignoring the traditional distinction between naturalistically depicted and abstracted figures, the sensuous color and bold, sinuous contours of these elusive and lyrical paintings play on the tension between figurative references and abstract forms.

As art critic Lawrence Downes wrote: “Tomlinson employs classical anatomy as a vehicle for gestural abstraction.” The emphasis on formal elements of shape and rhythm as independent entities, along with the fragmentation of forms, creates a tendency towards abstraction. At the same time the figurative elements evoke themes with distinct referents. The subjects of the paintings are echos of myths, be they ancient, literary, historical or personal.  However, both formally and philosophically, they can reach us only as fragments

Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American artist born in Brooklyn, New York. He has shown widely in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York and is represented in many international public and private collections including those of the Clark-Atlanta University Museum, City University of New York, the late Dr. Maya Angelou, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, Mme Linda Weil-Curiel and Herr Frits Bernard. A graduate of Pratt Institute and the CUNY Graduate Center, he is also a scholar of French Literature and Aesthetics and has lectured and published in both disciplines, as well as in Afro-American Studies.

He figures in the books, 100 New York Painters by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer, 2006) and Black Paris Profiles by Monique E. Wells (2012) and is one of the artists studied in a recent Masters Thesis by Charlotte Barat, Artistes noirs américains à Paris (1945-1969). Vie de bohème, liberté artistique et négociations identitaires (Université de Paris I, Panthéon- Sorbonne, 2014). He is also the subject of a film project by the well-known documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.

Press Release: Namiyo Kubo’s “Water Series Vol. 24″

Namiyo Kubo
‘Water Series Vol. 24’

February 23 – March 12, 2016
Opening Reception: Wednesday February 24, 5-7p.m.
Closing Reception: Saturday March 12,3-5 pm

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present the new work of Tokyo artist Namiyo Kubo. Her exhibition of painting on paper entitled “Water Series Vol. 24“ continues from February 23rd through March 12th, 2016 with an opening reception Wednesday, February, 24th, 5-7 PM.

This will be Namiyo Kubo’s fourth solo exhibit at Viridian Artists. The artist has again filled the gallery walls with large collages of 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 and perhaps clouds. One sees hints of buildings and light and of water, but we cannot be sure of what we are seeing nor can we be sure of what the artist was looking at or thinking of when she created the work.

Namiyo’s new work was inspired by travel to India & the Taj Mahal. She found herself charmed by the ancient art and color there and the works reflect that memory. The reds and golds are reminiscent of the sunsets and dawns that shine brilliantly there, glowing in the light.

In the past, Kubo’s paintings were about nature, particularly water but 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. The silhouettes of skyscrapers & the lights of Tokyo, Shanghai, London, New York City and other cities one can almost recognize by the shapes she has conjured. 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. Knowing that about her, one cannot help but search for vestiges of those experiences in the work. Though masked in the beauty of her colors and the expressive surface of the paintings, one cannot help but see the pain that often underlies beautiful art objects.

PRESS RELEASE: WALLY GILBERT’S “BROKEN IMAGE”

WALLY GILBERT
 “Broken Image”
 Feb 2 to 21, 2016
Opening Reception Thursday, Feb 4, 6 to 8

 

Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present the exhibition “BROKEN IMAGE”, digital prints on aluminum by Wally Gilbert. The show opens February 2nd and continues through February 24, 2016. There will be an artist’s reception Thursday, February 4th, 6-8PM. In this exhibit of new “Broken Images”, Gilbert continues exploring the microcosmic possibilities of the fragment.

With 6 large 60×40 inch images, along with some 11 small 30×20 images on aluminum, the scientist that the artist is experiments with both color and the fragmentation of a building and of a tree. As new & fresh as these images are, Gilbert has often referred to his images “as fragments of the whole” and that identification remains applicable to these works as well.

In The “Broken City” images one can still see the echo of the shapes of buildings and windows but the transformation is extreme. The same can be said of the “Broken Tree” which seems to implode on the surface with a burst of branches that appear to be coming from a hot core surrounded by darkness. Complex recreations of the forms and luminous color transformations abound in these works.

In the early 2000’s, Nobel Laureate Walter “Wally” Gilbert started pursuing photography on a professional level. Since then, he has had over 50 solo exhibitions around the world.

As in past exhibitions, Gilbert continues his fascination with transforming images on the computer experimenting with color and other digital effects. He loves pushing colors to their extreme and continues to do so in this new body of work, sometimes to express the psychological pain of the artistic process, sometimes exploring through color transformations, how we see objects.

In his first exhibit at Viridian in 2006, “The Norblin Project”, Gilbert explored & documented an ancient and abandoned factory in Poland. About the works in that show, Ed McCormack in Gallery & Studio said “For Gilbert, the continued exploration of the fragments of reality particularly via the computer & creating strategies to provoke accidents … inspire the search for & evolution of the next image.”

In his solo “Stillness & Motion” in 2008 the images were derived from travels. In the “Squares and Triangles” exhibit at Viridian in 2011, the critic Peter Frank said “Gilbert … systematically unfolds entirely unassuming shapes into elaborate scintillations.”

His 2013 show “New Black & White Images” exploited the play of natural light across the objects to produce haunting results without color but in his 2014 exhibition “Transformations”, his images again glowed with color driven to full saturation creating new and strange interactions, until they became – in the artist’s words – “abstract meditations”.

In his previous career as scientist, Gilbert was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1980 for his landmark work in DNA gene sequencing. As a scientist, he examined the world in its smallest details, but now through his photography, he makes the small huge to reveal the beauty that he sees in the world around us.

PRESS RELEASE: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

“Similarities and Differences”

January 12- 30, 2016
reception Thursday January 14, 6-8pm

JOSHUA GREENBERG, RENEE KAHN, ELVIRA LANTENHAMMER,
ROSEMARY K Lyons, JEFFREY MELZACK, SARAH RILEY,
KATHLEEN SHANAHAN, SHEILA SMITH, MEREDETH TURSHEN

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by nine artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The “Similarities and Differences” in these artists’ creations are not immediately apparent, but each has a personal vision that that often supersedes their imagery. Their meanings & motives reveal themselves and it is then that we understand move clearly their “Similarities and Differences”. The show extends from January 12th to 30th with a reception to meet the artists Thursday January 14th, 6-8pm.

“In his “Urban Abstracts” series, Joshua Greenberg uses abstraction to portray the determined vigilance and complex beauty of urban landscapes.”

In Renee Kahn’s “Waiting” a Masai warrior is tending his flock and waiting and watching in case a lion should appear and threaten his flock.”

      “During her 2015 residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Elvira Lantenhammer produced the new series “Virginian Siteplans“. “Coming from colorfield painting, the traditional landscape view is not visible in Lantenhammer’s artwork. Painting in bright and intense colors with pigment/eggtempera on Himalayan paper, {the work}gives back to a rational world that what cannot be measured, only sensually perceived: the aura, the atmosphere, of a location“ ( Beate Reese )

      Rosemary K Lyons talks about her new “Alter Piece”. “This series of new works has its base in early Medieval altar pieces. They present a flower painted in the ancient technique of egg tempera. They are surrounded by bas relief gold structures embossed with evocative words. The words are from an internal dialogue about my existence as an artist.”

     Jeffrey Melzack’s painting, “Inscape Architecture” was given an honorable mention in the online “Art Competition.net” website. The painting visualizes a moment in the life of the mind, a “snapshot” freezing the moment to make possible a forensic study.”

Sarah Riley created a series of monoprints paying tribute to Camille Claudel, Rodin’s rejected protégée and lover. A talented scuptor in her own right, but often emotional, economic and family considerations beyond her control stood in front of her artmaking.

     Kathleen Shanahan’s Torii Series are 4 mixed media works born out of repurposing various by-products of the printmaking process. Anthropomorphic Skate,another mixed media work, is a combination of various print making processes with additional hand painting and collage.

    Sheila Smith’s latest photos are a series entitled “Night – N.Y.C.” The artist feels that photographing at night in N.Y.C. (especially rainy nights) can produce moody images that are magical.”

    Meredeth Turshen is exhibiting new bold, layered and textured paintings on paper in oil paint; the compositions evoke energy and movement and radiate light.” 

Viridian’s Affiliate program is one of the many ways in which our gallery continues its mission of supporting the art of outstanding “underknown” artists.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM

PRESS RELEASE: “IN THE SPIRIT”

“IN THE SPIRIT”
Viridian Artists’ 46th Annual Holiday Invitational
December 15 – January 9, 2016
Reception Thursday, December 17, 6-8

Chelsea: In celebration of Viridian Artists’ 46th annual holiday invitational, the gallery is pleased to present the exhibition “In the Spirit”. Opening December 15th with a reception Thursday, December 17, 6-8PM the exhibition continues through January 9, 2016.

As we near the close of 2015, many of us do so with a sense of trepidation and apprehension. Today’s world has filled most of its population with angst of all sorts – political, religious, environmental, to name just a few. The planet is in dire straits as is humanity, for our differences in belief seem to outweigh our similarities. Some have too much & some have too little and we seem unable to agree on how to improve existence despite all the advances we have made scientifically- the solution we are told for living better lives.

Earlier times knew better for in the past, many cultures realized that the artist was the shaman who possessed the powers to make us well, to create wealth and power. It was art, not science that soothed the spirit, that saved us. Much of the art in this show carries reminders of the negativity of our times within the spirit of today’s artistic shaman. We see Dragons (Kat King), Venus Fly traps (Deborah Sudran), “Muerte” (Carolina Poggi), “Stargazer” (Sarah Riley) & a Noir Madonna (May DeViney).With the power of the creative spirit in mind, Viridian has invited over 80 artists to present their art to aid in the healing of your spirit. In addition, to aid visitors in finding gifts for those who matter in their lives, the gallery has created its annual Ye Olde Arte Shoppe, filled with artist-made gifts of prints, photography, jewelry, cards, etc all priced under $100.

Angelique Anderson, Todd Anderson, Jenny Belin, Marcia Bernstein, Doug Billings, Annaliese Bischoff, Layne Bourgoyne, Renee Borkow, Taisha Brehaut, Carol Brookes, James Campbell, Fiona M. Cashell, Irene Christensen, Henry Coupe, May DeViney, Eliana Donini. Du Lin, Arthur Dworin, Bernice Faegenburg, Claudia Fainguersch, Phyllis Featherstone, Flashlight, Tazuko Fuji, Alan Gaynor, Moira Geoffrion, Celia Gilbert, Wally Gilbert, Joshua Greenberg, Mary Hendricks, Ed Herman, Lucy Hodgson, Kathleen King, Melisca Klisanin, Bernice Kramer, Namiyo Kubo, Angela LaMonte, Elvira Lantenhammer, Kathy Levine, Barbara Listenik, Marcia Lloyd, John Lloyd, Rosemary Lyons, Susanna Stefanachi Macomb, Kaitlin Martin, Donna Marxer, Robert Marvin, Matakia, Lynne Mayocole, Naum Medovoy, Jeffrey Melzack, Matthias Merdan, Michael Miller, Eileen Mullan, Vernita N’Cognita, Stacey Clarfield Newman, Nancy Nicol, Patricia Owsiany. Carol Quint, Carolina Poggi, Filippo Prandi, Srividya Kannan Ramachandran, Bill Rabinovitch, Sarah Riley, Bruce Rosen, Leonard Rosenfeld, Oi Sawa, Barbara K Schwartz, Kathleen Shanahan, Bullet Shih, Susan Sills, Derrick Smit, Virgina Smit, Angela Smith, Katherine Ellinger Smith, Robert Smith, Sheila Smith, Helaine Soller, Judy Somerville, Renata Stein, Deborah Sudran,Toto Takamori, Jane Talcott, Channing Taylor, Bob Tomlinson, Courtney Lee Weida, Sam Wiener, Alex Woodhouse, Sharon Wybrants , Larry Zdeb

 

Press Release: Hob’Art @ Viridian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“hob’art @ Viridian” Nov. 24-Dec. 12, 2015

Viridian Gallery
547 W 27th ST./548 W 28th St.
6th Floor
New York, Ny 10001
Hours: 12-6pm Tues. – Sat. (212-414-4040) Artists Reception: Dec. 3, 2015 6-8 pm

Contact:
Liz Cohen: conchart@aol.com (201) 424-12

hob’art @ Viridian

hob’art @ Viridian is hob’art co-operative gallery’s latest collaborative art show. In conjunction with Viridian Gallery, 547 W 27th St., New York, NY 10001, hob’art co-operative gallery members will be showing a group, mixed media show from Nov. 24 – Dec. 12, 2015. The participating artists will host an opening reception on Dec. 3 at Viridian Gallery from 6-8 pm.

hob’art co-operative gallery will be exhibiting a wide variety of works at Viridian Gallery. Artists Miriam Untoria, Katie Duffy McGheein, Liz Cohen, and Ibou Ndoye have sculpture, assemblage, and glass paintings created with a variety of unique materials including found and recycled objects. Sumptuous paintings shown by Meredeth Turshen and Alberte Bernier are deep and luxurious explorations of color and line. Sculptor Jesse Ensling explores the beauty of form and positive/negative space in his exquisite stone carvings. Delving into the complexities of digital art, the photographers Tom Egan, Don Sichler, Starr Tucker Ortega, Dara Campbell and digital collagist, Janet Kolstein present images that are both abstract, surreal, and evocative. What is seen and what is actually in their enigmatic images will surprise the viewer. Erik Attia displays his amazing skills through the art of papier mache with the extraordinary mask constructions that he is contributing to this diverse and fascinating show.

hob’art gallery information can be found at www.hob-art.org or by calling gallery president, Liz Cohen at 201-424-1275.

Press Release: Matakia

 Matakia
“Spontaneous Combustion II”

November 3rd – November 21st, 2015
Opening Reception:Nov. 5th 6PM to 8PM

 Chelsea, NY – Viridian Artists is pleased to present “Spontaneous Combustion II,” a retrospective by Matakia (aka Diane Root) at Viridian, 548 West 28th Street, from November 3rd to November 21st. In celebration, a special reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, November 5th, from 6PM to 8PM.

Described by some as a “latter-day Abstract Expressionist,” Matakia’s work is primarily executed in acrylics on canvas or paper, often with touches of pen and ink, collage and mixed media. Of French and American parentage, she grew up and was schooled in the US and Europe, graduating from the Sorbonne. Later, she studied briefly at the Beaux Arts in Paris and the Annex of the Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Still, she feels largely self-taught as an artist.

She was brought up in an artistic environment replete with artists, musicians, and writers, thanks to her father, a journalist whose work made the world of fine arts and travels to foreign lands an integral part of the landscape of her childhood.

The artist has traveled the world and glimpses of all that she has experienced can be seen in the lifetime journey that is her art. By eleven, after a transatlantic solo trip on an ocean liner, she disembarked in the South of France, and knew that she was and would always be, a painter.

Though Matakia does not show often in gallery settings, she has had one-woman shows in Athens, Greece; Saudi Arabia, the Ivory Coast, Australia and the US, as well as in her native France. This will be her first solo exhibit at Viridian.

“I am,” she says, “what the French call une illustre inconnue (“an illustrious unknown”). For Matakia “Art is a voyage in and of itself; it is more than what you see at first glance, it is what the mind’s eye glimpses in the distance. It is not only where you are, but where you are transported”.

Hardly a household name by her own admission, her works are nevertheless to be found in private collections all over the world. Viridian is pleased to be sharing the works of this fascinating artist.

Press Release: Filippo M. Prandi

Filippo M. PRANDI
“The Deceitful Distortion of Time”

October 6th – 31st, 2015
Opening Reception Thursday, October 8th, 6-8 PM

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artistsis pleased to present Filippo M. Prandi’s first solo exhibit at Viridian. A filmmaker and photographer, the artist will be present on Thursday October 8th. The exhibit will continue from October 6- 31.

His first discovery of the creative possibilities in photography occurred in a college photography class in his hometown of Bologna, Italy. The revelation of photography’s magic was not from taking photos, for picture-taking was not part of that experience, but instead he was inspired by the Man Ray photo of Duchamp posing as his alter-ego Rrose Selavy. For Prandi, this photo opened the door to the possibilities of creating images that go beyond reality- images that take photography into the realm of fantasy & the limitless realities that artists create. Later, after coming to NYC, where he has resided for the past 8 years, he attended the NY Film Academy and put the final touches on his formal photographic education.

Filippo Prandi is primarily a filmmaker who became engrossed with still photography just two and a half years ago. He uses a 35mm camera to create his own reality with long exposures, a tripod & flash light. With these basic tools, he developed a technique, which he calls “light painting & flight brushing”. He’s not interested in the digital image or Photoshop, but instead still uses 35mm film, light and time to create his alluring, sometimes mysterious, sometimes erotic, sometimes ghostly imagery. Prandi sees himself as being akin to a farmer planting and harvesting seeds, but instead the artist he is “harvests” these “portraits” as moments sown in time.

Filippo’s intention is to create scenarios whose characters dwell in a world he has created for them as a director creates an actor’s world. An accomplished and prize-winning filmmaker who’s also working on his second film, Viridian looks forward to sharing these exciting and imaginative photographic images that tell a story in every image.