Yesterday I was gallery sitting all day for our exhibit MAXIMUS/minimus at ART at Bay. It was an impossibly blustery day, so traffic in the gallery was minimus. That is, until Flux Zig Zag Staten Island showed up, or rather, blew in.
Mary Campbell and Viv Vasser, of Day de Dada and local representatives of Fluxus, led an international group of people participating in Flux Fest NYC. The group was making their second stop in Staten Island after making a commemorative trip on the Staten Island Ferry. I greeted the group with a brief introduction about the gallery and the exhibit.
Then Mary initiated an action for Slow Art Day (www.slowartday.com). She asked each person to choose an artwork in the exhibition to concentrate on. Then she led a guided meditation, which was really a guide to looking at art. It was a formalization of the process that I would say most artists go through when they visit an exhibit they are approaching with reverence, in order to learn from the art and pay homage to it. Whenever you go to a gallery or museum, the person who is 6" away from the surface of a painting and "smelling" it, or checking out the edges - you can bet is an artist, trying to discern the artmaking process and unlocking the logic of its beauty, and paying homage to the genius of its maker. Mary left printed versions of the meditation at ART at Bay. I personally want to have a smaller version laminated for my wallet.
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| Fluxus artists, each doing their thing |
Next, another Fluxus artist asked everyone to lie down on the floor (euww! grungy!) and everyone did, intrepid souls that they are. The room was quiet, relaxing, and motionless, until a few of the artists felt compelled to do what they do.
What Mary chose to do was wrap things, in honor of Christo, although Mary was using Christmas wrapping paper. Here's Jenni Vitek, who was gallery sitting with me, holding one of Mary's pieces.
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| Jenni holding a wrapped piece, in front of Sheryl Humphrey's paintings. |
All in all, it was a breath of fresh air and energy that blew into the gallery with the Fluxus group. I hope the time they spent on Staten Island was as enriching for them as it was for us.
Your work is different. I visited your web site and saw your collages and I love it. I am exploring a collages. I am a emerge artist and I like a oil, acrylic and oil pastel but the collages is a medium that is old but new for me. And I want to practice more because collages is a dream puzzle to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't have many exposition of my art here in Louisiana. Is a hard place for art believe it or not. But my family my best fans like my collage work You have more experience and art education like me and will be a honor that you see my work.
www.nellynazario.weebly.com
And my blog
www.artpaintingshiddentales.blogspot.com
www.nazarioartpainting.wordpress.com
I loved your collages! You have a very different approach to collage than me, for sure. They are very refreshing. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I just want to say, here in Staten Island we artists decided to make our own opportunities. We have banded together, opened our own homes and studios to the public, worked with a generous landlord to create a cooperative gallery, and with small businesses to exhibit work in their establishments. Your art community can do it, too.