“Signs Of The Times” Exhibition
Westbeth Gallery
This event has ended.
THE WEST IS ON FIRE…
GERMANY IS UNDERWATER…
AFRICA IS PARCHED…
POLAR ICE CAPS ARE MELTING
The legendary home for artists, Westbeth Gallery (57 Bethune Street), will host Signs of the Times, an art show highlighting issues torn from today’s headlines.
Signs of the Times reflects the work of eight artists who depict the world that our past, present and future actions are leaving to future generations and features a breathtaking cross-section of visual artistry: paintings, photography, sculpture and installation.
Scottish born artist Stephen Hall, with his compelling paintings depicting ocean pollution, climate change and corporate greed, juxtaposed with natural beauty, heads up the array of international artists, each with their own take on the subject.
Westbeth holds great historical significance in the art and culture of NYC. It was created as a nonprofit housing and commercial complex dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations. Its tenants have include Diane Arbus, Robert DeNiro, Sr., and Vin Diesel.
The artists featured in Signs of the Times are Illtyd Barrett, Christina Duarte, Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen, Stephen Hall, Steve Joester, Martin Mahoney, Rob Plater, and Robert Ross. The show is curated by Samantha Hall.
Illtyd Barrett will explore the phenomena of the rise of populism and consumerism which has led to a climate of anti-intellectualism and religious fundamentalism. Using handmade pigments and substrates, Barrett proposes to exhibit both sculpture and 2D elements reflecting the above concerns.
Christina Duarte writes, “Now is the time to recognize that society requires women to behave in a particular way that often hides their true selves. My pieces are a diptych dialogue about women showing two sides of their personalities as a narration of rising against prejudice, sexism and the stigma of personal struggle.”
Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen’s Cut Work, is a free hand paper cutting process that charts the contours of our ever-changing emotional experience through the movement of form, line, color, and light and shadow. Evolving over the course of ten years, Cut Work traveled through Gregory-Gruen’s diverse vocabulary of mediums from paper and metal, to leather and 12-gauge gunshot blasts to understand the play between visceral emotional responses and meditative rest.
Stephen Hall writes, “I continue to make paintings that draw attention to our planet in crisis.
Whether it is plastic pollution or the fossil fuel industry and climate change, it is most certainly greed at the heart of it. I draw attention to these things by rendering scenes that show the beauty of our natural world juxtaposed with symbols of the aforementioned.”
Steve Joester captures the cultural explosion propelled by Rock n Roll from the Rolling Stones to the Sex Pistols. Loud, brash, colorful and fueled by youth rebellion!
Martin Mahoney always had a keen interest in photography which has intensified recently due to the alarming acceleration in the gentrification of his beloved East Village, attempting to capture what’s left of the old neighborhood and its denizens, which are being replaced by glass boxes, banks and bubble tea joints.…
Rob Plater. The re-appropriation of styles and traditions within Robert’s work serves to bridge the gap between his favorite genres within the extensive history of image making.
Robert Ross STOP, DANGER, HAZARDOUS MATERIAL, KEEP TO THE RIGHT, TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED, CAUTION, DEAD END AHEAD.
Media
Schedule
from October 14, 2021 to November 13, 2021