JOHN ANDERSON
My Father's Dilemma, 2010-2012
found tree limbs carved and turned
56 x 96 x 4 inches
statement | | |
Excerpt from “The Disorder of Everyday Life” by Andrew K. Thompson:
Material love and visual games is predominantly mixed with personal biography in the piece My Father’s Dilemma (2010 – 2012), which is made of four rows of twenty-five, variously sized wooden bottles. Each wooden bottle began as tree debris that had fallen during the recent super storms along the North Eastern coast of the United States. Anderson had dutifully recovered the cast down tree branches from his local region and spun them on a lathe. When discussing the artwork, Anderson admitted that his father was an alcoholic who could get violent from time to time. Anderson, who left home by age seventeen, described a home that had empty bottles strewn everywhere from under the table to under the bed. He continued on about how the scattered tree limbs throughout his neighborhood reminded him of his father’s empty bottles and expressed the cathartic nature of this specific artwork. For Anderson, the materials have a say in what an artwork will become but it is the human heart, he firmly believes, that is most important.
JOHN ANDERSON
My Father's Dilemma [detail], 2010-2012
found tree limbs carved and turned
56 x 96 x 4 inches
statement | | |
Excerpt from “The Disorder of Everyday Life” by Andrew K. Thompson:
Material love and visual games is predominantly mixed with personal biography in the piece My Father’s Dilemma (2010 – 2012), which is made of four rows of twenty-five, variously sized wooden bottles. Each wooden bottle began as tree debris that had fallen during the recent super storms along the North Eastern coast of the United States. Anderson had dutifully recovered the cast down tree branches from his local region and spun them on a lathe. When discussing the artwork, Anderson admitted that his father was an alcoholic who could get violent from time to time. Anderson, who left home by age seventeen, described a home that had empty bottles strewn everywhere from under the table to under the bed. He continued on about how the scattered tree limbs throughout his neighborhood reminded him of his father’s empty bottles and expressed the cathartic nature of this specific artwork. For Anderson, the materials have a say in what an artwork will become but it is the human heart, he firmly believes, that is most important.
RACHEL BORGMAN
Velázquez Letter Investigations, 2014
various materials
120 x 140 x 60 inches
statement | | |
Currently, my practice is focused on conducting art historical investigations based on the lives of painters. Beginning with archive documentation and biographical knowledge on figures throughout history, I weave together a complex web of possible narratives while marrying fact and fiction. In my intimate experience with the author, I am referencing a long history of a neurotic obsession with the mystical and romantic persona of the “master” painter. The act of apprenticeship and academic artistic training associated with this tradition provide a model for my experience that also draws on my own autobiographical aspirations and conceptual inquiries. I attempt to pay homage by reimaging states of mind, times, and spaces.
RACHEL BORGMAN
Velázquez Letter Investigations [detail], 2014
various materials
120 x 140 x 60 inches
statement | | |
Currently, my practice is focused on conducting art historical investigations based on the lives of painters. Beginning with archive documentation and biographical knowledge on figures throughout history, I weave together a complex web of possible narratives while marrying fact and fiction. In my intimate experience with the author, I am referencing a long history of a neurotic obsession with the mystical and romantic persona of the “master” painter. The act of apprenticeship and academic artistic training associated with this tradition provide a model for my experience that also draws on my own autobiographical aspirations and conceptual inquiries. I attempt to pay homage by reimaging states of mind, times, and spaces.
JUSTIN GAFFREY
Susupended Torso, 2015
welded steel, wire, and acrylic
84 x 39 x 34 inches
statement | | |
Over the last couple of years, I have been putting together a body of work that comments on the human condition, more specifically patterns, behavior and truth that are derived from both personal experience and observations of those close to me. Metal, Paint and String Until now, I have been a paint purist, working only in that medium for some 12 to13 years. A tactile exploration of new sculptural materials has opened up a new and enjoyable path of self-discovery. String left a tremendous impression, especially as I began work on a piece titled Self Portrait. I was trying to integrate different elements of the work so I dyed cotton string in a variety of colors to tie the components together. In the process, I felt a profound link to string as the connector among parts of myself; I was mapping myself. Every time I sew string into my work it’s like making another connection. Last fall, I started welding Metal, which brought a new dimension to the concept of connection and form in combination with my traditional medium of paint. What evolved was a distance I kept from textural painting; I began to like working with flat Paint and the depth it produces. Recently, I have been teaching myself to draw with pencil, a technique that brings new breadth to my work. I am excited about all of the new media that I have been exploring and developing as an expression of me through my work. What am I trying to communicate? Much of what I am working on today deals with things in my life that have been personally challenging, such as attachments to and fear of letting go of old patterns and behaviors. As I get older it has become clear that we may not be who we think we are, that we act from places of conditioning, habit and fear. Truth intrigues me. Historically, it has been easier to rationalize or bury those things I didn’t want to know about myself. In other words: confront the truth. To become whole, we must embrace both the good, as well as the uncomfortable.
RICHELLE GRIBBLE
Social Unit, 2011
ink on panel
18 x 144 inches
statement | | |
I examine how networks take on similar structural properties and characteristics under various conditions. By comparing the visual compositions and behaviors of networks, I use art as a tool to draw parallels between them. It is my goal to visually reveal that no matter how simple or complex, macro or micro, clustered or dispersed, networks are similar and therefore generate highly predictive qualities over cross-disciplinary systems. Whether natural, technological, social or material, networks shape our entire lives and imply how everything in our universe tends to work in a highly interconnected way. As John Muir once said, “[w]hen you tug at a single thing in the universe you find that it is attached to everything else.” I aim to illuminate the common threads that link people, ideas, places, and objects together to promote our innate bonds and inevitable dependence. My work has evolved from making comparisons between networks (i.e. molecular systems, social networks, neural pathways, freeways systems, etc.) into a deep analysis of an important question: how does connectivity influence our lives and our future?
RICHELLE GRIBBLE
Multiverse, 2015
acrylic and NovaPlex on panel
16 x 20 inches
statement | | |
I examine how networks take on similar structural properties and characteristics under various conditions. By comparing the visual compositions and behaviors of networks, I use art as a tool to draw parallels between them. It is my goal to visually reveal that no matter how simple or complex, macro or micro, clustered or dispersed, networks are similar and therefore generate highly predictive qualities over cross-disciplinary systems. Whether natural, technological, social or material, networks shape our entire lives and imply how everything in our universe tends to work in a highly interconnected way. As John Muir once said, “[w]hen you tug at a single thing in the universe you find that it is attached to everything else.” I aim to illuminate the common threads that link people, ideas, places, and objects together to promote our innate bonds and inevitable dependence. My work has evolved from making comparisons between networks (i.e. molecular systems, social networks, neural pathways, freeways systems, etc.) into a deep analysis of an important question: how does connectivity influence our lives and our future?
RICHELLE GRIBBLE
Navigation Set, 2013
hard-ground etching on zinc and Hahnemuhle
29.5 x 22 inches
statement | | |
I examine how networks take on similar structural properties and characteristics under various conditions. By comparing the visual compositions and behaviors of networks, I use art as a tool to draw parallels between them. It is my goal to visually reveal that no matter how simple or complex, macro or micro, clustered or dispersed, networks are similar and therefore generate highly predictive qualities over cross-disciplinary systems. Whether natural, technological, social or material, networks shape our entire lives and imply how everything in our universe tends to work in a highly interconnected way. As John Muir once said, “[w]hen you tug at a single thing in the universe you find that it is attached to everything else.” I aim to illuminate the common threads that link people, ideas, places, and objects together to promote our innate bonds and inevitable dependence. My work has evolved from making comparisons between networks (i.e. molecular systems, social networks, neural pathways, freeways systems, etc.) into a deep analysis of an important question: how does connectivity influence our lives and our future?
RICHELLE GRIBBLE
Networked Life, 2013
mixed media on paper, framed in plexi
365 panels, 6 x 6 inches each
installation dimensions variable
statement | | |
I examine how networks take on similar structural properties and characteristics under various conditions. By comparing the visual compositions and behaviors of networks, I use art as a tool to draw parallels between them. It is my goal to visually reveal that no matter how simple or complex, macro or micro, clustered or dispersed, networks are similar and therefore generate highly predictive qualities over cross-disciplinary systems. Whether natural, technological, social or material, networks shape our entire lives and imply how everything in our universe tends to work in a highly interconnected way. As John Muir once said, “[w]hen you tug at a single thing in the universe you find that it is attached to everything else.” I aim to illuminate the common threads that link people, ideas, places, and objects together to promote our innate bonds and inevitable dependence. My work has evolved from making comparisons between networks (i.e. molecular systems, social networks, neural pathways, freeways systems, etc.) into a deep analysis of an important question: how does connectivity influence our lives and our future?
TERI HAVENS
Burlesk, Detroit, 1991
platinum/palladium print
25 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I’ve always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I’m mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers- raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. Humble, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. An authentic down-to-its-rotting-bones refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.
Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night.
Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past.
TERI HAVENS
Jeffrey City, Wyoming, 2012
platinum/palladium print
25 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I’ve always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I’m mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers- raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. Humble, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. An authentic down-to-its-rotting-bones refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.
Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night.
Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past.
TERI HAVENS
Jack's Place, Delta County, Colorado, 2013
platinum/palladium print
25 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I’ve always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I’m mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers- raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. Humble, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. An authentic down-to-its-rotting-bones refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.
Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night.
Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past.
TERI HAVENS
Silver Sage Saloon, Shoshoni, Wyoming, 2012
platinum/palladium print
25 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I’ve always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I’m mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers- raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. Humble, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. An authentic down-to-its-rotting-bones refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.
Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night.
Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past.
JOO LEE KANG
Chaos #4, 2011
hand cut double-sided inkjet print of ballpoint pen drawing installation
70 x 220 x 14 inches
statement | | |
By drawing mutated animals and plants, I question nature’s place in the modern context. What is nature? What is natural? The subjects that I portray in my drawings reflect the ambiguity of such definitions. They show how I feel at loss to describe what is natural in our present day. Cross-breeding, genetic engineering, and so on; the ways in which humans can control and reconfigure the natural process become more abundant as technology advances. Should the results of such human-developed processes be construed as a part of nature, or should nature exist independently of human progress?
Take for example a tree or a forest specimen replaced in a city setting. Simply because we are able to nourish and grow a tree on top of a building, it doesn't mean that we can neglect the effects of doing so. Couldn't it be that we are moving the tree with enough tact and speed to keep our minds from realizing anything is different, while on a more fundamental level, even our most basic faculty of perception is becoming unavailable to us? A loose verbal rendition of the question I try to ask in my works is, "If a tree is removed from its natural habitat, even though the basic qualities of it stay intact, is it still the same tree, or better yet, is it even a tree at all?
JOO LEE KANG
Still Life with Insects #11, 2015
ballpoint pen on paper
20 x 21 inches
statement | | |
By drawing mutated animals and plants, I question nature’s place in the modern context. What is nature? What is natural? The subjects that I portray in my drawings reflect the ambiguity of such definitions. They show how I feel at loss to describe what is natural in our present day. Cross-breeding, genetic engineering, and so on; the ways in which humans can control and reconfigure the natural process become more abundant as technology advances. Should the results of such human-developed processes be construed as a part of nature, or should nature exist independently of human progress?
Take for example a tree or a forest specimen replaced in a city setting. Simply because we are able to nourish and grow a tree on top of a building, it doesn't mean that we can neglect the effects of doing so. Couldn't it be that we are moving the tree with enough tact and speed to keep our minds from realizing anything is different, while on a more fundamental level, even our most basic faculty of perception is becoming unavailable to us? A loose verbal rendition of the question I try to ask in my works is, "If a tree is removed from its natural habitat, even though the basic qualities of it stay intact, is it still the same tree, or better yet, is it even a tree at all?
JOO LEE KANG
Still Life with Insects #12, 2015
ballpoint pen on paper
20 x 21 inches
statement | | |
By drawing mutated animals and plants, I question nature’s place in the modern context. What is nature? What is natural? The subjects that I portray in my drawings reflect the ambiguity of such definitions. They show how I feel at loss to describe what is natural in our present day. Cross-breeding, genetic engineering, and so on; the ways in which humans can control and reconfigure the natural process become more abundant as technology advances. Should the results of such human-developed processes be construed as a part of nature, or should nature exist independently of human progress?
Take for example a tree or a forest specimen replaced in a city setting. Simply because we are able to nourish and grow a tree on top of a building, it doesn't mean that we can neglect the effects of doing so. Couldn't it be that we are moving the tree with enough tact and speed to keep our minds from realizing anything is different, while on a more fundamental level, even our most basic faculty of perception is becoming unavailable to us? A loose verbal rendition of the question I try to ask in my works is, "If a tree is removed from its natural habitat, even though the basic qualities of it stay intact, is it still the same tree, or better yet, is it even a tree at all?
JOO LEE KANG
Pattern Life #4 [detail], 2013
inkjet print of ballpoint pen drawing on self-adhesive canvas wallpaper
dimensions variable
statement | | |
By drawing mutated animals and plants, I question nature’s place in the modern context. What is nature? What is natural? The subjects that I portray in my drawings reflect the ambiguity of such definitions. They show how I feel at loss to describe what is natural in our present day. Cross-breeding, genetic engineering, and so on; the ways in which humans can control and reconfigure the natural process become more abundant as technology advances. Should the results of such human-developed processes be construed as a part of nature, or should nature exist independently of human progress?
Take for example a tree or a forest specimen replaced in a city setting. Simply because we are able to nourish and grow a tree on top of a building, it doesn't mean that we can neglect the effects of doing so. Couldn't it be that we are moving the tree with enough tact and speed to keep our minds from realizing anything is different, while on a more fundamental level, even our most basic faculty of perception is becoming unavailable to us? A loose verbal rendition of the question I try to ask in my works is, "If a tree is removed from its natural habitat, even though the basic qualities of it stay intact, is it still the same tree, or better yet, is it even a tree at all?
REBECCA KUZEMCHAK
Picture, revisited, 2013-2015
acrylic and ink pen on wooden cubes
one thousand 1 x 1 x 1 inch cubes
statement | | |
Last fall, I lifted a quote from the Winter 2001 issue of October: “The artist must be a kind of dumb copying machine,” attributed to Vito Acconci. I made that quote my mandate and branded myself accordingly, inserting my work into a history of appropriation and solidifying a dedication to creating only by reproducing content that already exists.
I make art in order to reposition ideas for expanded analysis: to contextualize text and textualize context, to probe labor and value, and to test the power ties that bind writing and systems of social control. I’m interested in the critical conversations that unfold because my work engenders them, less so in technical or formal analysis. That said, the following statements on process are intended to conceptually ground the work on display:
My practice consists of drawing words and writing images, staging a mixing of forms that exploits the overlap between visual and verbal communication. Framed as art, the texts become conscious of their visual functions; when disengaged, they collapse out of time-based reads into space. An active agent is required to control this slippage between language, image, and sign.
My work develops as an act of scribal labor that masks its own hand. Performing on the edge of futility, the process results in a manmade image so similar to its digital source that the copy can slide back into the language of machine-based technology with minimal friction. I make mimetic doubles that signify back through the history of writing.
My products derive their value according to the idea of labor rather than in direct relation to the labor that forms them. Anonymous but handmade, sensuous but not overtly so, they humble themselves by presenting as documents that perform as art. They return to intentional simplicity as an opposition to the outsized power of media, but although they flaunt dissatisfaction with the cultural economy, they willingly play into its system. My art postures as a ballpoint jab at commodity fetishism.
My work is calculatedly dry. It stems from an automaton-like effort to remove my presence from my product, eliminating the biases of creative identification and filling their void with a palpable tension between lack of authorial presence the digitally- enabled tendency to overshare. The work opens a sterilized space on the edge of subjectivity, and plies it out with tensions.
REBBECA KUZEMCHAK
Mantra, or Acconci adapting Lewitt, 2014
ink pen on paper
12.5 x 16.5 inches
statement | | |
Last fall, I lifted a quote from the Winter 2001 issue of October: “The artist must be a kind of dumb copying machine,” attributed to Vito Acconci. I made that quote my mandate and branded myself accordingly, inserting my work into a history of appropriation and solidifying a dedication to creating only by reproducing content that already exists.
I make art in order to reposition ideas for expanded analysis: to contextualize text and textualize context, to probe labor and value, and to test the power ties that bind writing and systems of social control. I’m interested in the critical conversations that unfold because my work engenders them, less so in technical or formal analysis. That said, the following statements on process are intended to conceptually ground the work on display:
My practice consists of drawing words and writing images, staging a mixing of forms that exploits the overlap between visual and verbal communication. Framed as art, the texts become conscious of their visual functions; when disengaged, they collapse out of time-based reads into space. An active agent is required to control this slippage between language, image, and sign.
My work develops as an act of scribal labor that masks its own hand. Performing on the edge of futility, the process results in a manmade image so similar to its digital source that the copy can slide back into the language of machine-based technology with minimal friction. I make mimetic doubles that signify back through the history of writing.
My products derive their value according to the idea of labor rather than in direct relation to the labor that forms them. Anonymous but handmade, sensuous but not overtly so, they humble themselves by presenting as documents that perform as art. They return to intentional simplicity as an opposition to the outsized power of media, but although they flaunt dissatisfaction with the cultural economy, they willingly play into its system. My art postures as a ballpoint jab at commodity fetishism.
My work is calculatedly dry. It stems from an automaton-like effort to remove my presence from my product, eliminating the biases of creative identification and filling their void with a palpable tension between lack of authorial presence the digitally- enabled tendency to overshare. The work opens a sterilized space on the edge of subjectivity, and plies it out with tensions.
MICHELLE RAMIN
(De)Construction Photoshoot, 2012
colored pencil on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
An Uphill Climb, 2014
watercolor on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
End of Session, 2012
colored pencil on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Wins, 2012
colored pencil on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
Quiet Riot, 2013
colored pencil on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
River Rats, 2014
watercolor on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
Searching for Paradise, 2014
watercolor on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
Summer Moon, 2014
watercolor on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
MICHELLE RAMIN
What a View, 2015
watercolor on paper
22 x 30 inches
statement | | |
I make work that is figurative in nature, often utilizing watercolors and/or colored pencil on paper. Negative space is employed in order to focus the attention on the figures and to create an unknown other as the background. Imagination is required to give the figures a setting, which, in turn, creates a greater dialogue between the viewer and the piece.
Conceptually, I feel compelled to expose the implications of masking - the kind seen in grainy surveillance tapes of bank robberies, in YouTube postings from Wall Street Occupiers, and on the faces of loved ones concealing bad news. In my 2011 and 2012 bodies of work, the ski mask or balaclava played an integral part in the portrayal of masking. In my more recent bodies of work, masking comes in a less literal form, often through layering of figures, occultation, or simply by posing the figures with their backs to the viewer.
My work also discusses a particular socio-economic demographic and their lifestyles. This lifestyle can be considered "slacker" culture or "hipster" culture, emphasizing lounging, partying and inexpensive activities that young people can afford. As this also describes my own personal demographic, I consider many of these pieces to be self-portraits or at least portraits of my generation - a generation that is lost and is searching for something that prior generations can not help us find.
KIM RICE
Illusion of Ordinary, 2014
magazines and tyveck
96 x 48 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Illusion of Ordinary [detail], 2014
magazines and tyveck
96 x 48 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Captain America, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Secrets of American History, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
The New Yorker, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Just Say It!, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Lucky, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
How to Spot Talent, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
Pottery Barn Kids, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
KIM RICE
The Art of Color, 2014
magazines
19.25 x 16.25 inches
statement | | |
I want to explore the concept of whiteness in America because I see it as a missing piece in the conversation on race. This matters because we cannot reason about the role the white race plays in our lives until we can collectively agree that it exists.
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-‐unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
HERB ROE
J'ai vu le loup, le renard et la belette, 2014
oil on canvas
36 x 48 inches
statement | | |
My work focuses on depicting the relevance of traditional communal and community building events such as the boucherie and the Courir de Mardi Gras. The majority of this focus has been on the Courir, the traditional pre-Lenten celebration of the Prairie Cajuns of southwest Louisiana, an entire day of masked revelry with its roots in the ancient Roman Lupercalia and Saturnalia. The participants don elaborate costumes drawn from medieval traditions, frontier era depictions of Native Americans and political and social commentary; costumes meant to simultaneously conceal ones identity and through the temporary repeal of societal inhibitions display their inner selves.
My most recent work is an exploration of the mythic qualities of the festival and its costuming. I search to portray the otherworldliness of the day by placing the participants into a dream like setting of spreading moss draped oaks and vibrant splashes of color. This lets me explore the psychological implications of the holiday from my status as an outsider; lending more of an impact to the brightly colored costumes by contrasting them against their background environments. More than just a likeness, my work is an interpretation of the Light and Darkness involved in the holiday, draped in symbolic layers meant to elicit thoughts and perceptions of its place in our modern world.
The system I use helps me to build detailed compositions on my canvas before the application of color, a technique heavily based in western classical realist traditions. I add drama and focus to my pieces with layering of light and color, built up through multiple layers of impasto and oil glazes, but built upon detailed graphite drawings and value studies before color is applied to the canvas. This technique allows me to determine the subject and mood for a piece at its inception; and then to focus on achieving that effectively through use of light and color without the distractions of rearranging my compositions in subsequent layers.
HERB ROE
Tu le ton son temps, 2014
oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches
statement | | |
My work focuses on depicting the relevance of traditional communal and community building events such as the boucherie and the Courir de Mardi Gras. The majority of this focus has been on the Courir, the traditional pre-Lenten celebration of the Prairie Cajuns of southwest Louisiana, an entire day of masked revelry with its roots in the ancient Roman Lupercalia and Saturnalia. The participants don elaborate costumes drawn from medieval traditions, frontier era depictions of Native Americans and political and social commentary; costumes meant to simultaneously conceal ones identity and through the temporary repeal of societal inhibitions display their inner selves.
My most recent work is an exploration of the mythic qualities of the festival and its costuming. I search to portray the otherworldliness of the day by placing the participants into a dream like setting of spreading moss draped oaks and vibrant splashes of color. This lets me explore the psychological implications of the holiday from my status as an outsider; lending more of an impact to the brightly colored costumes by contrasting them against their background environments. More than just a likeness, my work is an interpretation of the Light and Darkness involved in the holiday, draped in symbolic layers meant to elicit thoughts and perceptions of its place in our modern world.
The system I use helps me to build detailed compositions on my canvas before the application of color, a technique heavily based in western classical realist traditions. I add drama and focus to my pieces with layering of light and color, built up through multiple layers of impasto and oil glazes, but built upon detailed graphite drawings and value studies before color is applied to the canvas. This technique allows me to determine the subject and mood for a piece at its inception; and then to focus on achieving that effectively through use of light and color without the distractions of rearranging my compositions in subsequent layers.
BETH WALDMAN
City of Sillar No. 2, 2014
acrylic and inkjet print on canvas
56.5 x 47.75 inches
statement | | |
Like so many thoughts or memories of place, my paintings are constructed from montage of imagery. The fractured quality of the work, resulting from digitally deconstructed photographs and thick layers of paint, creates an interlude between the images speak to the way we experience and register life visually and mentally. Just as we move from one fleeting moment to the next, my paintings use multiple perspectives to tell the story of a place compound time. Large abstract textured planes are juxtaposed with layers of realism to bring about another level of focus and guide the eye to travel in and out of various dimensions in the painting. For almost four decades now, I have been setting up camp around the world. I work with what is revealed by site and the fingerprints I impart always with the help of strangers. My art considers site, community, material and experience using architectural language and materials from or inspired by imaginary & actual sites. My current series of painting are reconstructed urban landscapes inspired initially by a 2014 trip to my maternal homeland Arequipa, Peru. Since trips to "The Motherland" Greece, The Dominican Republic, Mexico & Ireland have served as building blocks for my paintings.
BETH WALDMAN
Urban Ruins No. 5, 2015
acrylic and inkjet print on canvas
30 x 30 inches
statement | | |
Like so many thoughts or memories of place, my paintings are constructed from montage of imagery. The fractured quality of the work, resulting from digitally deconstructed photographs and thick layers of paint, creates an interlude between the images speak to the way we experience and register life visually and mentally. Just as we move from one fleeting moment to the next, my paintings use multiple perspectives to tell the story of a place compound time. Large abstract textured planes are juxtaposed with layers of realism to bring about another level of focus and guide the eye to travel in and out of various dimensions in the painting. For almost four decades now, I have been setting up camp around the world. I work with what is revealed by site and the fingerprints I impart always with the help of strangers. My art considers site, community, material and experience using architectural language and materials from or inspired by imaginary & actual sites. My current series of painting are reconstructed urban landscapes inspired initially by a 2014 trip to my maternal homeland Arequipa, Peru. Since trips to "The Motherland" Greece, The Dominican Republic, Mexico & Ireland have served as building blocks for my paintings.
BETH WALDMAN
Urban Ruins No.6, 2015
acrylic and inkjet print on canvas
20 x 30 inches
statement | | |
Like so many thoughts or memories of place, my paintings are constructed from montage of imagery. The fractured quality of the work, resulting from digitally deconstructed photographs and thick layers of paint, creates an interlude between the images speak to the way we experience and register life visually and mentally. Just as we move from one fleeting moment to the next, my paintings use multiple perspectives to tell the story of a place compound time. Large abstract textured planes are juxtaposed with layers of realism to bring about another level of focus and guide the eye to travel in and out of various dimensions in the painting. For almost four decades now, I have been setting up camp around the world. I work with what is revealed by site and the fingerprints I impart always with the help of strangers. My art considers site, community, material and experience using architectural language and materials from or inspired by imaginary & actual sites. My current series of painting are reconstructed urban landscapes inspired initially by a 2014 trip to my maternal homeland Arequipa, Peru. Since trips to "The Motherland" Greece, The Dominican Republic, Mexico & Ireland have served as building blocks for my paintings.
BETH WALDMAN
Urban Ruins No. 8, 2015
acrylic and inkjet print on canvas
40 x 50 inches
statement | | |
Like so many thoughts or memories of place, my paintings are constructed from montage of imagery. The fractured quality of the work, resulting from digitally deconstructed photographs and thick layers of paint, creates an interlude between the images speak to the way we experience and register life visually and mentally. Just as we move from one fleeting moment to the next, my paintings use multiple perspectives to tell the story of a place compound time. Large abstract textured planes are juxtaposed with layers of realism to bring about another level of focus and guide the eye to travel in and out of various dimensions in the painting. For almost four decades now, I have been setting up camp around the world. I work with what is revealed by site and the fingerprints I impart always with the help of strangers. My art considers site, community, material and experience using architectural language and materials from or inspired by imaginary & actual sites. My current series of painting are reconstructed urban landscapes inspired initially by a 2014 trip to my maternal homeland Arequipa, Peru. Since trips to "The Motherland" Greece, The Dominican Republic, Mexico & Ireland have served as building blocks for my paintings.
MARGI WEIR
We are All Targets, 2015
vinyl on plexi
17 x 18 inches
statement | | |
In my current practice, using acrylic paint, adhesive-backed vinyl and resin, I group images of related things or repeated objects in stacked rows that suggest tapestries, rugs or Southwestern Pueblo pottery decoration. This stacking of unranked layers of mirrored imagery is a visual metaphor for the way that bits of information are thrown at us daily, with only occasional “in depth coverage”. I piece together these fragments of imagery relating to a topic that is important to me such as ecology or politics with the hope that the viewer can make his/her associations and create personal meaning. Last year, for example, I worked on a series based on antimacassars the Victorian era, lace-like needlework that was used to protect home furnishings from men’s hair and hand oil. When the BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, it seemed that we needed earth-sized antimacassars. So I worked on several versions of antimacassar pieces that I made by repeating and stacking combinations of oil company imagery with endangered species imagery. The images can combine to suggest possibilities that are unique to each viewer’s personal history.
Working in vinyl has allowed me to increase the scale of my work. In 2006, I sent my first vinyl installation piece across the country to ATHICA (Athens Institute of Contemporary Art) where it was installed on the wall, 14 feet high by 9 feet wide. In these vinyl pieces that are high contrast designs, the wall plays an active role in the piece because of the perceptual shifts between positive and negative imagery. Working in vinyl is allows me to explore unusual placement of my work such as on the floor or the windows of a gallery. The increased scale gives more presence to the work even if the pieces are transitory, like theater. The work exists first as a digital image, which can be sent to a cutter rather than a printer. The vinyl is then weeded (the negative space pulled off) and the image is translated into a direct vinyl-on-wall installation. The pieces use a peel and stick technology similar to the word text used in museum displays that allows them to be easily shipped in a few pieces and assembled on the wall of the destination. The size of this image is variable. Each realization of the piece is unique to each venue. Each installation is similar to an artist’s proof from a digital plate, however, they do not survive de-installation.
MARGI WEIR
Antimacassar II, 2015
vinyl on plexi
17 x 18 inches
statement | | |
In my current practice, using acrylic paint, adhesive-backed vinyl and resin, I group images of related things or repeated objects in stacked rows that suggest tapestries, rugs or Southwestern Pueblo pottery decoration. This stacking of unranked layers of mirrored imagery is a visual metaphor for the way that bits of information are thrown at us daily, with only occasional “in depth coverage”. I piece together these fragments of imagery relating to a topic that is important to me such as ecology or politics with the hope that the viewer can make his/her associations and create personal meaning. Last year, for example, I worked on a series based on antimacassars the Victorian era, lace-like needlework that was used to protect home furnishings from men’s hair and hand oil. When the BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, it seemed that we needed earth-sized antimacassars. So I worked on several versions of antimacassar pieces that I made by repeating and stacking combinations of oil company imagery with endangered species imagery. The images can combine to suggest possibilities that are unique to each viewer’s personal history.
Working in vinyl has allowed me to increase the scale of my work. In 2006, I sent my first vinyl installation piece across the country to ATHICA (Athens Institute of Contemporary Art) where it was installed on the wall, 14 feet high by 9 feet wide. In these vinyl pieces that are high contrast designs, the wall plays an active role in the piece because of the perceptual shifts between positive and negative imagery. Working in vinyl is allows me to explore unusual placement of my work such as on the floor or the windows of a gallery. The increased scale gives more presence to the work even if the pieces are transitory, like theater. The work exists first as a digital image, which can be sent to a cutter rather than a printer. The vinyl is then weeded (the negative space pulled off) and the image is translated into a direct vinyl-on-wall installation. The pieces use a peel and stick technology similar to the word text used in museum displays that allows them to be easily shipped in a few pieces and assembled on the wall of the destination. The size of this image is variable. Each realization of the piece is unique to each venue. Each installation is similar to an artist’s proof from a digital plate, however, they do not survive de-installation.
JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY is pleased to announce the 19th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will be on view from 2 through 26 September 2015, with an opening reception on Saturday, 5 September, from 6-9 pm where several of the artists will be present.
The NO DEAD ARTISTS exhibition was founded by Ferrara in 1995 to give a voice to emerging artists. The exhibition's name is derived from the old adage that artists never achieve success until they are dead. NO DEAD ARTISTS turns that notion on its head and gives emerging artists their first break in the art world. In the 90's, the exhibition was open only to New Orleans-based artists and subsequently grew to include artists of Louisiana. In 2010, the exhibition expanded to become a national juried exhibition open to artists from the entire US, and finally in 2014 the exhibition went international.
The exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections. Each year the gallery invites a panel of renowned arts professionals and collectors to select the newest creative talents; the exhibition draws a crowd of thousands interested in discovering the work of this selected group of emerging artists. The exhibition serves as a rite of passage for many artists, some of whom are developing their initial relationship with a commercial gallery.
Now in its 19th iteration, the exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections. Each year gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara invites a panel of renowned arts professionals and collectors to select the newest creative talents. Past jurors have included Prospect.1 Founder and Curator Dan Cameron, Museum Director Billie Milam Weisman, Collector and Philanthropist Beth Rudin DeWoody, MacArthur Fellow John Scott, Whitney Trustee and Ballroom Marfa Co-founder Fairfax Dorn, NOMA Director Susan Taylor, artist Tony Fitzpatrick, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum Eric Shiner, Director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and Founder and Artistic Director of the VOLTA Fair Amanda Coulson, Dishman Art Museum Director Megan Koza Young, ArtBridge Curator Jordana Zeldin, Collector and MoMA Board Member Lawrence Benenson, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Director Bill Arning, Brooklyn Museum of Art Board of Directors Stephanie Ingrassia, and Collector, Hedge Fund Partner and Prospect New Orleans Biennial board member Nick Mayor.
For the 2015 edition, three renowned arts professionals served as the NO DEAD ARTISTS jury :::
Max Fishko --- Max is a third generation gallerist from New York City and the grandson of Bella Fishko, founder of Forum Gallery, which is now run by his parents. Max entered the art fair business at the age of 14 when he was an assistant to the sign maker for Art Miami. Since then, he has worked in various capacities for dozens of production companies. Max Fishko currently directs Art Market Productions’ seven fairs including Miami Project, Art on Paper (NYC and Miami), Seattle Art Fair, Art Market San Francisco, Texas Contemporary (Houston) and Market Art + Design (South Hamptons).
Valerie Cassell Oliver --- Valerie is the senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Prior to her tenure at CAMH she was director of the Visiting Artist Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. Cassel Oliver has lectured widely and published extensively. In 2000, she was one of six curators selected to organize the Biennial for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 2007, she received a Getty Curatorial Research Fellowship for initial research for the exhibition on Benjamin Patterson and was a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in 2009. In 2011, she was awarded the prestigious David C. Driskell Award for her scholarly excellence and contribution to the field of African American art and culture.
David Workman --- David is an active member and supporter of numerous museums, artist collectives and arts organizations (inter)nationally including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (founding member) New Orleans Museum of Art, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art. He is a private collector and serves as a board member of Prospect Biennial and Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans.
Of the approximate 2,500 artworks submitted to this jury by over 500 artists worldwide, only twelve artists were selected to have their work exhibited at JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY.
The 19th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS :::
JOHN ANDERSON ||| Roslindale, MA
REBECCA KUZEMCHAK ||| New York, NY
RACHEL BORGMAN ||| Baltimore, MD
MICHELLE RAMIN ||| San Francisco, CA
JUSTIN GAFFREY ||| Santa Rosa Beach, FL
KIM RICE ||| Norman, OK
RICHELLE GRIBBLE ||| Idyllwild, CA
HERB ROE ||| Lafayette, LA
TERI HAVENS ||| Carbondale, CO
BETH WALDMAN ||| San Francisco, CA
JOO LEE KANG ||| Boston, MA
MARGI WEIR ||| Detroit, MI
Comprised of painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, conceptual, installation, and cutting-edge, digital mediums, NO DEAD ARTISTS is an exhibition known for a great diversity in media but with a cohesive cross-section of the pulse of Contemporary Art. The 2015 installment features over 40 artworks ranging in medium and style from Richelle Gribble’s metaphysical, 365-panel, mixed media “Networked Life” installation to Beth Waldman’s architectural and abstract, collaged paintings on canvas. Other highlights from the exhibition include Michelle Ramin’s figurative, watercolor and colored-pencil on paper works and Joo Lee Kang’s animalia works of ink on paper drawings, wallpaper installation and large-scale sculpture. Returning for the third year in a row, Margi Weir’s typically site-specific vinyl works will now be exhibited as individual works on plexiglass. All of these works and much more will fill the entire gallery space for the month of September.
In addition to having their works exhibited at JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY, selected jury winners will be featured in a review by D. Eric Bookhardt, critic for Gambit Weekly and regional editor of Artpapers. The article will be featured on his blog New Orleans Art Insider, followed by a condensed editorial in The Gambit.
For the grand prize of the exhibition, one of the selected jury winning artists will be awarded a solo exhibition in 2016 at JFG. The 2012 winner was Boston-based artist Nikki Rosato whose hand cut road map artwork has now been exhibited in not only the solo show at gallery, but also, art fairs in New York City, Miami, Basel (Switzerland), San Francisco, Houston and Seattle. These opportunities have garnered much interest from Curators and Museums, with museum exhibitions opening in New York City and New Orleans in the coming months. Likewise, the 2014 winner is Indianapolis-based artist Marna Shopoff whose work was exhibited in the gallery for the month of August 2015, opening in conjunction with Whitney White Linen Night, which brought 50,000 people through the gallery. With the overwhelming success of the exhibition, Shopoff’s work is certain to be included in the gallery’s rotation of art fair participation and bring similar career advancements to those of Rosato. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2015 winner at the close of the exhibition.
For more information, press or sales inquiries please contact the gallery director Matthew Weldon Showman at 504.522.5471 or email matthew@jonathanferraragallery.com.
![JOHN ANDERSON, My Father's Dilemma [detail], 2010-2012](https://img.artlogic.net/w_1010,h_580,c_limit/exhibit-e/5493565707a72c7342335013/f8f47499715c9aefa691d64c6fa41fe0.jpeg)
![RACHEL BORGMAN, Velázquez Letter Investigations [detail], 2014](https://img.artlogic.net/w_2020,h_1160,c_limit/exhibit-e/5493565707a72c7342335013/bde1ba6b5020a3e73ed7e0dd18bf6213.jpeg)
![KIM RICE, Illusion of Ordinary [detail], 2014](https://img.artlogic.net/w_2020,h_1160,c_limit/exhibit-e/5493565707a72c7342335013/a17aca25ec2f821b44ad37900d0dc78c.jpeg)
