“Navigating New York” Exhibition
Fountain House Gallery
This event has ended.
Fountain House Gallery (formerly Fountain Gallery), located at 702 Ninth Avenue and representing artists living with mental illness, presents the group exhibition “Navigating New York.” This exhibition features works by more than two dozen Fountain House Gallery artists who have employed diverse mediums to explore the ways in which they “navigate” their daily lives in New York City – physically, intellectually and emotionally. “Navigating New York” is curated by Jason Rohlf.
“For an artist, managing life in New York City happens on various levels – from the literal to the emotional – taxing even the most resilient among us in myriad ways,” said Rohlf, a Brooklyn-based contemporary artist who has shown his work across the U.S., and, among numerous noteworthy achievements, created an installation for the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). “From the subtle dance with fellow pedestrians to learning that your subway station stop is being bypassed, the obstacles encountered en route to even the simplest goals can prove daunting. Add to this the managing of a mental illness and the hurdles grow exponentially. Or do they? As I spend time with Fountain House Gallery member-artists, my sense is that we all have our bag of tricks to be invisibly deployed when needed. Looking at the work of these artists immediately conjures the urban experience; from the rivet-like repetition of Mendoza’s circular collage forms to Kadosh’s solitary subway map lines set against a void of negative space, the images convey the shared and insular zone we inhabit at the same moment. In choosing the Senft painting for the show postcard, my reaction to the work was, ‘I have been on that very train ride.’ Seeing Terese’s ‘I’m Chasing Rainbows’ gives us an insight into both the icon of a map pin and the variety of medications allowing that destination to be reached. It is my feeling that an inner quiet must be supported in order for one to last any length of time in New York, and Taylor’s ‘Tunnel’ painting speaks to that belief. Tuning out all but the essentials is key and maintaining a strong sense of self in the process is preferred.”
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and by generous support from the Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation, the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Media
Schedule
from May 14, 2015 to June 17, 2015
Opening Reception on 2015-05-14 from 18:00 to 20:00