Day With(out) Art
Web Gallery
526 W.26th St. #510
new york, ny 10001
t.212.627.9855
f.212.627.9815
visaids@earthlink.net
Visual AIDS'
Art +
is Located On
Issue 11
Spring 2000
Download PDF (61KB)
|
Broaden Your Links If you have a link to share, please email it to us at
visaids@earthlink.net This month's on-line exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Burke and Abbey Messitte, founders and Co-Directors of Clementine Gallery in the West Chelsea art district in New York City. Messitte and Burke are also adjunct professors at New York University's graduate program in Visual Arts Administration and members of the faculty at the New School for Social Research Continuing Education Department.
Mapping the Grid features the work of Alex Greenfield, Frank Jump, David Knudsvig, Samuel Lewis, Alan Walker, Joseph Stabilito and Steed Taylor. Messitte and Burke have said of the show: "We selected two pieces by each artist which incorporated the grid to some degree, either through stylized abstraction (Greenfield, Knudsvig), or by the repetition of a representational image (Walker, Lewis, Jump). Others, like Steed Taylor, utilize the grid as a simple framing device for a photograph, or like Joseph Stabilito, choose to subvert and destroy the grid, pushing it towards the organic."
The Visual AIDS Web Gallery here at The Body offers a unique collaboration between the arts and AIDS sectors. Visual AIDS invites guest curators, drawn from the arts and AIDS and Internet communities, to select up to 15 works from the Visual AIDS Archive Project. Each curator approaches the Archive with their own intentions, assembling an exhibition which represents his or her own personal interests and aesthetic. The resulting program of exhibitions offers an eclectic and insightful introduction to the diverse artwork created by artists from the Visual AIDS Archive. As of May 1, 2000, Visual AIDS' web gallery, located at: http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/web_gallery is changing from a six week cycle to a monthly format.
Organized by Visual AIDS, and curated by Barbara Hunt, Bodies of Resistance had a successful run December 1999 through January 2000, at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Bodies of Resistance travels to Durban S.Africa in July for the thirteenth International World AIDS Conference. Bodies of Resistance is the first major contemporary art exhibition in ten years to reconsider the AIDS pandemic in the United States, and to position it in relation to representations of the body and disease in different cultures. More importantly, it is the first significant art initiative to explore the massive impact of the virus globally, and the complex relationships between the West and the developing world regarding AIDS. Seventeen international artists' work is in the show, including Archive artists Barton Lidice Benes, Sunil Gupta, Chuck Nanny, Frank Moore, Steed Taylor and Albert J. Winn. A number of positive reviews have appeared, exerpts from two of which follow. An abbreviated version of Bodies can be viewed in our web gallery archive
Excerpts from the following reviews of Bodies of Resistance highlight the work of members of the Archive Project: Art Review The history of American art at the end of the 20th century is at least in part the history of AIDS. Many artists died of the disease. Its presence shaped the image of the human body as a potent and volatile cultural emblem. Art played an aggressive role in battering away at the politics of denial that surrounded the epidemic....
Although AIDS is the underlying theme, most of the work is metaphorically fluid rather than issue-specific, which wasn't necessarily the case in similar exhibitions a decade ago. Still, certain motifs are constants, and one is the body: present or absent, attractive or repellent, debilitated or empowered...
Most of the work in the show (including a temporary outdoor performance-based piece by Steed Taylor) was commissioned for the occasion...the results feel individually thought through and collectively strong.
The human presence is only implied in a beautiful abstract piece by Chuck Nanney in which hundreds of tiny cutout and painted canvas circles wind across the gallery wall like human cells on the loose....
Uninhabited space assumes a life of its own in Albert Winn's photographs of deserted American-Jewish summer camps where ramshackle bunks and empty lockers are eerily reminiscent of internment camps....
Photographs by Sunil Gupta pair images of his own AIDS treatment with shots of gay clubs in London...
The New York artist Barton Lidice Benes deals directly with physical traces of the disease in the context of gay culture. His pigeonholed "Art Reliquarium," one of many such pieces he has made, holds, among other things, a swatch of a St. Marks Baths bathrobe, circa 1971; funerary ashes; and a coil of the red ribbon used to make the first batch of AIDS lapel insignia in 1991.
...Frank Moore's [a member of the Visual AIDS artist caucus which created the Red Ribbon], painting "Release" is one of the highlights of the show... Walking in the woods near his home in Deposit, NY, ... he saw plants growing from a rotting fallen tree, and this image, with some adjustments, inspired the picture. The tree has become his bare arm, stretched impossibly long. Bleeding sores and lesions are turned into miniature ecosystems of plant and insect life. His hand springs open to release a cloud of butterflies...
...The psychic experience of AIDS has long since infiltrated the bloodstream of American culture. In all kinds of indirect ways it filters into new work, and it will continue to be an active component, both as stimulant and depressant, in a contemporary art world that has recently found global extensions. Ever since there has been an AIDS epidemic, there has been art about it... Photographers
to assist Visual AIDS. The Archive Project of Visual AIDS utilizes volunteer photographers to document the work of artists living with HIV/AIDS. Without this service much of this work would go undocumented, leaving low-income artists without slides, and no record of their work for future generations. We have an ongoing list of artists who need documentation. Many Archive artists are in New York City, however we have artists around the globe, with particular concentrations on the East and West Coasts. Each shoot lasts 2-3 hrs. and documents up to 20 works per artist. When the shoot is done, the film can be mailed to Visual AIDS for processing.
Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS strives to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts, creating programs of exhibitions, events, and publications, and working in partnership with artists, galleries, museums, and AIDS organizations. By mobilizing the visual arts communities, Visual AIDS raises money to provide direct support to artists living with HIV/AIDS. These services include: representation in the Archive Project, the largest national slide archive of works by artists with HIV/AIDS, and used by curators, galleries, museums and historians; free photo-documentation of art work; artists materials grants to artists on a low income; emergency grants; free access to lawyers for estate planning; opportunities to exhibit work; quarterly newsletters; advice and advocacy.
Visual AIDS is located at 526 West 26th Street #510. If you are interested in donating a shoot, please contact us at visaids@earthlink.net or call 212-627-9855 or fax 212.627.9815.
Call for Entries:
Better Represent: A multi-generational perspective on the social revolution. This exhibit is being designed to showcase contemporary artists whose work deals with our generations' inheritance of the social revolution and civil rights movements begun in the 1960s. The contemporary artists chosen will be asked to identify an older, more established artist whose work has influenced theirs. These artists will also be contacted to participate in the exhibit creating a visual, multi-generational dialogue that will be centered around such issues as: the struggle by women, people of color and homosexuals to be accepted into the mainstream culture; the contemporary phenomenon of the seeming acceptance by the mainstream culture of formerly marginalized groups as a facade for what is often little more than a strategy to identify a new market demographic; the seemingly sympathetic depiction of marginalized groups by the mainstream media as a facade for the continuing perpetration of stereotypes; the generational differences between strategies of self-identification and self-representation. Please send slides, slide narrative, artist's statement, resume and SASE to: Eddie Torres, Visual Arts Director, Longwood Arts Project/Bronx Council on the Arts, 965
Longwood Avenue, suite 213, Bronx, New York 10459. Phone: 718-842-5659. Email: longwood@artswire.org. Web: http://www.bronxarts.org. Deadline: July 1st, 2000.
Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation
Seeking Materials Harvest Donations
Welcome to the following artists who have joined the archive in the last six months:
Visual AIDS: 526 w26th st no 510 new york new york 10001 tel: 212 627 9855 fax: 212 627 9815 email visaids@earthlink.netContents
Artists Wanted
Calling all HIV+ artists: we want you to become a member of the Archive Project. Membership includes many benefits such as a quarterly newsletter, materials grants, exhibition opportunities, advice and advocacy. Forms are available on this website -- you can fill them out and email them to us to initiate the membership process.
www.visualaids.org
www.homovisiones.org
www.apicha.org
www.thething.com
www.artistswithaids.org
RFD Journal: www.rfdmag.org
www.abbottart.com
underbelly@newsgrist.com
The New York Times
Friday, January 21, 2000
Excerpt from "Defiantly Confronting The Plague"
By Holland Cotter
Art
The New York Times
Sunday, December 26, 1999
Excerpt from "Thinking Globally, Artists on AIDS"
by William Zimmer
Another wave of color across a wall is Chuck Nanney's "Germs." It's a sprawling, amorphous pattern of 1,500 variously colored paper disks fixed by push pins. The pattern, perhaps unintentionally, takes roughly the form of a dinosaur. It is tempting to try to discern some logic, to find significance in occurrences of certain colors. There is none, as befits a disease that no one yet has a firm handle on. Along with the sweeping political and cultural statements made by the artists are works more personal and poignant. Frank Moore is widely known as a realist painter in oils with an excellent command of his medium. His own experiences with AIDS have been a major subject, and because he paints so well, his content is all the more strong. The image on his rather small horizontal painting "Release" is an extended arm that takes on the weight and meaning of the earth itself. On the arm all sorts of natural, cyclical activity is occurring, and the individual body in the course of an illness mimics these changes...
Current Archive Member Shows
Philip Calkins, June 30 - July 16 at Barbara Ann Levy, Fire Island.
Steed Taylor in ID/y2k; Identity at the Millennium at Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle, NY Jan 30 - Mar 24.
Freddie Borgia Mar 27 - 31 at the Art Students League Gallery, NYC.
Joyce McDonald is the featured artist at the Marriott Hotel in Brooklyn, Sunday April 30, 2000 12pm - 5pm, accompanying the play The Merry Go Round. Brooklyn, NY 333 Adams Street, in the Spirit of Life: From the Shooting Gallery to the Art Gallery.
Thomas "Tret" Tierney in Not a Theme Show at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
Thomas "Tret" Tierney in two group shows: Three Rivers Art Festival June 2 - 18 at Wood Street Galleries, and Associated Artists of Pittsburgh New Members Show, June 10th - July 7th both in Pittsburgh, PA.
Brian Buczak, Freddy Borges, Mark Carter, Ken Goodman, Chet Holcomb, Edwin Lacend, Luna Luis Ortiz and Jorge Veras in Our Wandering Thoughts, curated from the Archive Project by students of ABACA's Satellite Academy Class at Thread Waxing Space, NYC June 13 - July 24.
Recent Archive Member Shows
Bearing Witness Grant Program
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new grant program, made possible by Thomas McGovern, photographer and author of the book Bearing Witness. Thomas spent ten years documenting the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. His intent in making the book was to foster education and awareness about the AIDS crisis, compassion for all people with HIV/AIDS and encourage positive actions toward finding a cure and vaccine. Tom is grateful to the many folks who allowed him into their lives, enabling him to create this beautiful photo essay. To express his gratitude Tom worked out a plan with Visual AIDS to use proceeds from the sale of the book to create a grant program which would help HIV+ artists. The Bearing Witness grant offers $1,000 in general support in recognition of excellence to an artist who is HIV+, under-recognized, and has financial need.
Please donate at least one photo-shoot to help artists living with HIV/AIDS.
Even donating one shoot will help Visual AIDS
Opportunities!
For more information use the contact info listed. Please do not contact Visual AIDS.
Call for Exhibition Proposals
Rotunda Gallery's open call for curatorial proposals aims to provide opportunities for emerging curators. Submit a written description of your idea for a thematic group exhibition (up to one page). Include up to 10 slides of artwork. For complete submission guidelines, send an SASE to Rotunda Gallery, 33 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 or download from our website:
www.brooklynx.org/rotunda. Deadline August 1, 2000.
Urbanworld Film Festival: Call for Entries 2000.
The 4th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival will take place August 2nd - 6th, 2000 in New York City. Urbanworld is accepting feature films, shorts, documentaries, digital video and animation as well as feature length screenplays. Submission forms are available on Urbanworld's official web site: www.urbanworld.com or call 212.941.3845 / fax 212.941.3849 for submission details and guidelines. Deadline: June 30, 2000.
Call for Entries
Asian American Arts Centre invites young emerging artists of Asian ancestry and artists with strong Asian influence to submit their visual materials to be reviewed for the Arts Center's Annual Exhibition. Send slides with your name on each side, bio and artist statement of 300-500 words to Asian American Arts Centre, 26 Bowery, New York, NY 10013. Email: aaartsctr@aol.com. Deadline: June 20, 2000.
A non-profit gallery and archive for lesbian and gay artists. Established in 1990 to promote, sell, protect and exhibit that art which may be censored due to ignorance and prejudice. LLGAF has a regular exhibition schedule and reviews artists for inclusion in upcoming shows. It also has a permanent collection of art in its archive. Call for further info 212.673.7007. No deadline
Are You Looking for Work?
MTS (Mobilizing Talents & Skills -- a non-profit agency) is offering free job training. To qualify, you must be HIV+, live in NYC, and be willing to work. Call 212.697.8234 for further information.
Watershed Workshop for People with AIDS is an eight day residency workshop exploring images of personal and collective healing. Through the use of clay, drawing, painting, and mask making, facilitators
encourage an experience which touches strengths and fears in a safe, supportive and life-affirming community, with ample time for retreat and relaxation. Held at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, in Newcastle, Maine. June 8 - 15. Deadline May 1, 2000.
Postage Stamp Design Competition
All entries must be standard postage stamp size. Stamps can be single compositions, in a block format of four stamps, or in sheet form. Stamps need not be perforated. All stamps will be exhibited to the public in standard philatelic presentation pages. Images should be suitable for viewing by children of all ages. All entries will be exhibited and there will be no returns. This exhibition is a non-profit enterprise. A web site list of participating artists, the exhibition and venues of this exhibition will be posted on October 30, 2000. An exhibition list will be sent to all artists. Artists statements are welcomed and will be used as space permits. Please send entries to: Ground Zero Studios, A. H. Krieger, 1309 Irving St NW, Washington DC 20010 OR http://www.tribalpop.com/postage OR gkstudios@hotmail.com. Deadline Oct 1, 2000.
Call for Artwork from HIV+ Artists.
The visual AIDS Archive Project is launching a new public awareness campaign. A series of broadsides will be issued and distributed. Each will feature a credited self portrait of an artist living with HIV/AIDS along with informative text. We are seeking black and white self portraits. Please submit clean reproduction of a self portrait. Works may be submitted as photos, slides, or computer print, photocopies, or as a graphic file on disk or via email. No original artwork accepted. Deadline for Submissions: May 15, 2000. Submit To: Visual AIDS, 526 W. 26 Street, #510, NY, NY 10001.
Aljira Emerge 2001. Preparing Artists for the 21st Century.
Emerge 2001 is an artist development program designed to provide practical and timely career advice for emerging artists. The program consists of twelve seminars conducted by specialists in the field at appropriate locations throughout the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey and New York). Seminar subjects will include professional preparation, exhibition strategies and opportunities, financial and legal issues, grant writing, gallery representation, public relations, and arts management. The seminars will culminate in a curated exhibition of the participants' artwork. There is no cost to apply or participate. Determining factors for inclusion in the program will be artistic excellence and motivation. Call or write for application: Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, P.O. Box 7506, Newark, NJ 07107
973.643.6877 or email aljirainc@aol.com Deadline: July 28th
Call for Entries: Asthma 2000.
Seeking visual artists whose work deals with the visual metaphor of breathing/the inability to breathe. The theme is being treated loosely. Encouraged to apply: Artists who use medical imagery and/or who deal with issues of body integrity. This exhibit is being designed to support a series of symposia centered around the high rate of asthma in the South Bronx.
Please send slides, slide narrative, resume, artist's statement and SASE to:
Karine Duteil
Io Art Gallery, 170 Broadway, Suite 904, New York, NY 10038. t- (917)623-0852 f- (212) 477-5380. iogallery@netscape.net www.bronxmall.com Deadline: July 15, 2000
Artists Materials Grants
If you are an Archive Project member on a low income, and in need of art supplies, you can download a Materials Grant application from this website and email it to us, or you can request a form by email visaids@earthlink.net or by telephone 212.627.9855. Harvested materials grants and grants at Pearl Paint are awarded quarterly based on economic need. Special requests for materials from other suppliers are welcome.
Materials Harvest Grants
We are in the process of expanding our grants programs by harvesting materials from suppliers and individuals. We are interested in fine arts materials such as paints oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, alkyd, pigments, paint mediums, brushes, inks, pens, papers, canvas, stretchers, stretched canvas, printmaking supplies, oil sticks, sculpture materials, photography supplies, and darkroom usage. Do you have or know of artists materials which are available for donation to our materials grants programs? If so, please call the office to arrange for a drop off or pick up!
Jeremy Lucas, Derek Jackson, Clifford Smith, Philip Calkins, Gytrell Griffith, Yolanta Rakowska, Carlos Gonzales, Joe Monroe, Donna Haggerty, Garrett Lambert, Eric Abrams, Fran Lewis, Joseph Magliaro, Francisco Diaz, Tom Teebe, Barry Huff, John Howard, Tim Lonergan, Sunil Gupta, Harry Broussard, Jerry H. Hooten, Martin Freeman, Jeremy G. Landau, John Engstrom, Justine Paratore, Yolanda (Roger Mapes), William Lincoln Tisdale, Hattie Powell, W. Benjamin Incerti, Garret Lambert, Jose Vazquez, Michael Binkley, Edgard Guanipas, Neil Stannard, Nancer LeMoins, Michael P. Moore, Jay J. Bigos.