Vernita
(Vernita N'Cognita) a photo (taken a while back) by Rose Hartman of me & Molly Bloom, a truly zen cat.
The second, a portrait my mother drew of me when I was 3 or 4 or 5 & the last image - me last year. The mask because we all wear them as we present ourselves to the world but also, for me, not only that symbol of our outer self, but my primary prop as I create performance art inspired by my worries, fears & reflections on my life now & in the past. Butoh, a Japanese movement and performance forms the basis - which the mask is part of- is the root of my performance movement- slow, very slow.
I also create art objects, primarily of otherwise useless ephemera, discarded fragments of others and myself. My Endless Junkmail Scroll, over 400 feet of junkmail on security envelopes & more conventional collages that allow me to peruse magazines as the first step of inspiration. Now I am focussed on the problem of plastic in our environment and creating art from discarded plastic that would otherwise eventually end up in landfills. I am very concerned with our ongoing destruction of the earth's environment and I try to use my art as a tool to spread the message of re-use, upcycling and sustainability.
In July of 2024, at Viridian Artists:
As an honorary Affiliate of Viridian I show once a year in what I call a group mini solo show. There are 6-8 artists in the show who each get a wall of 6 to 8 linear feet. In the July 2024 Affiliate exhibit, entitled "Moments in Time", I showed new sculptural works of upcycled plastic very different than those I had shown in my solo show "Evil Plastic" at Carter Burden Gallery. These works are almost 3-D cartoons that bring a smile to some as they look at them & fascinate kids which is a good thing! Images to come!
October 2023
What has happened to our lives?? What is a normal life anymore? I shouldn't ask these questions perhaps, for there are no clear answers, but I confess that perhaps, no, not perhaps! For it is the difficult questions I ask that lead me into my creative practice. Sometmes I come home so tired, so discouraged, but then I turn to my purpose. my self-chosen identity & I feel better, with a sense of where to begin again...
So, I am looking for plastic produce containers for the sculpture I am creating for a solo show in February at the Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea- give me a call if you have some & also some of those spray tops that can be unscrewed from cleaning products & the like- I need those too for my new small scupture. Send them on to me!
July 2023
APOLOGIES, FOR THOUGH i HAVE CONTINUED MAKING ART, i HAVE NOT WRITTEN HERE FOR TOO LONG A WHILE. I AM THINKING OF CREATING A NEW WEBSITE BUT SO MUCH TO DO BEFORE THAT, SO .... UNTIL THEN, PLEASE DROP ME A LINE & LET'S STAY IN TOUCH!
AND IF YOUHATE TO READ THESE WORDS & PREFER TO SEE IMAGES - PLEASE SCROLL DOWN! OR JUST CLICK ON ONE OF THE CATEGORIES ABOVE THAT SHOWS pictures of my art & performances...
February 1
October 2022
Im always amazed at how quickly time goes by! Summer is over and fall has nearly passed us by. Will it snow this year? Will we solve any of the madness of this moment? All the problems of the world seem to continue and grow, despite our knowing better. We solved so much in the 70's and now all is being undone. Art still has the power to remind us of the good and to comfort us if we let it.
If you can, see the exhibit "The Difference We've Made", 23 women artists of the 70's who still working which I co-curated with Cynthia Mailman & Susan Grabel. It is on til November 9th at Carter Burden Gallery, 548 W28th Street, 5th floor. Linda Montano & I performed with audio assistance provided by Toki Osaka on October 20th, & on November 5th at 2pm, you can meet the artists & hear them talk about their work & careers. Check it out at www. carterburdengallery.org. There is also a catalog available. My piece for the show, "Teardrop for the Planet" was created over the past year and also became a part of the performance.
Im so pleased that friends who were saving their plastic produce containers for me to construct the piece of, were made more aware of the tremendous amounts of plastic we throw away that contributes to the destruction of our eco system in the process as they collected the containers rather than throwing them in the trash. Even art can help! It was wonderful to have Linda stay with me over the weekend. She is so giving! Images of the show to come! And an article on the November issue of Gallery & Studio will also be available soon...
August 2022 already!
How did time pass so quickly? what have I been doing? A performance at Zurcher Gallery July 23rd on Bleeker Street as part of Kazuko's show there... so much happening for her now its wonderful. Just in time, some might say, for we are no longer so young and have been making art for a long time.
And its been so hot! Global warming has arrived despite the non-believers...
March 2022
March 4th: I just finished a virtual panel discussion with Horasis USA on the web about shaping America's Role in a Post-Pandemic World. Our panel was called "The Arts Envisioning the Future of American Art " . I wanted to particularly address the last sentence in the panel description which asked how to make art understandable by all. I proposed that conferences of all sorts, such as those dealing with the environment, science, health, should have art exhibits in conjunction with them. I talked about having organized an exhibit of Art from Detritus at a conference of the National Recycling Coalition after seeing only children's art at the conference & proposed that grown up artists have been recycling & upcyclying trash for decades into their art & suggested to the conference organizers that they have an exhibition in conjunction with the conference. They agreed & I was able to create an exhibition at the Portland, Oregon Conference & the following year at the conference in Pittsburgh where 5 galleries donated their space. I proposed that in the future such conferences would be an ideal place to have exhibits related to the topic at hand - a way of communicating their message visually through art and also give artists opportunities to address world issues through their art. Of course, today's issues of the war in the Ukraine and global warming are the most pressing, but artists are already begining to deal with both. But there are so many pressing issues- what is the matter with the human race that we seem to create such problems for ourselves? Lack of forethought for sure. Better it was foreplay...
But below is the panel description & the artists talking-
"All art is predicated by contemporary culture wherever one is; and its recognition depends on local visualization. We do not readily perceive foreign art so how to comprehend future American art? What form, structure and storyline will it offer? Is American Art going to be figurative, abstract, conceptual, or what? How will it make itself open for all to see if we are not trained to understand it?"
Natalia Anciso, Artist and Educator, USA
Marcia Annenberg, Artist, USA
Jaq Chartier, Visual Artist, USA
Lauren Elder, Artist, USA
Vernita Nemec, Visual and Performance Artist, Curator, and Arts Activist, USA
Chaired by Louis Bury, Associate Professor, Hostos Community College, CUNY, USA
January 2022
Thankfully 2021 has ended and we can only hope that this year is better than last or that we are tough enough to fight all the battles we must fight. Climate change, global warming, the war against democracy happening throughout the world, women's rights and countless other stuff that we shouldnt have to keep fixing.
On the 18th of this month was Linda Montana's birthday (80th!!!) & a host of us were invited to performance online live in celebration for 2-3 minutes. What an event! I hope it can be seen on youtube in the future. Look for it! I did a brief Butoh piece with my white mask & a gold frame- making myself the artwork & gift to her. She was so helpful to me through the years! She invited me to be a part of her ongoing "Seven Years of Art", read my palm or taroh years ago & gave me fantastic advice that sadly I didnt take! She also included me in her book "Performance Artists of the 80's", featuring me in the chapter about artists whose themes are primarily about sex.
I continue making art, performing & curating. I would be pleased if you would look at videos of my performances, which you can see on You Tube. Google Vernita N'Cognita and/or Vernita Nemec. Or, go to https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vernita+nemec to see my latest.
November 2021
My Endless Junkmail Scroll is hanging at Rowan University's Center for Art & Social Engagement until December 17. 2021. If you happen to be near Philly, stop off at Glassboro NJ where the University is located & see my scroll along with the Sister Chapel, a wonderful installation of paintings honoring strong women by some of my old Soho20 Gallery cohorts, Shron Wybrants, Cynthia Mailman & Maureen Conner along with Alice Neel & Sylvia Sleigh plus others.
Here are articles about my show, published online in AI AP/DART: Opening Thursday, October 28, 5:00 pm: Vernita Nemec a.k.a. NCognita |
The Weight of Paper: Endless Junkmail Scroll; The Center for Art & Social Engagement, Rowan University Art Gallery
Vernita Nemec, a.k.a. NCognita, began the Endless Junkmail Scroll in 2006 as a form of artistic protest and as an environmental statement about the oppressive quantities of junk mail that fill our mailboxes. She adds fragments of paint, words, drawings, and photographs to the surface of the security bank envelopes that serve as the basic structure for the scrolls, which is over 400 feet in length and continues to grow.
The artist states, I think of the Endless Junkmail Scroll Installation as an interactive site to be physically experienced as an environment that in past times might have been a forest or jungle since destroyed in order to make the paper that becomes the endless junkmail filling our mailboxes daily.
As a feminist and activist artist, recycling has become an important component of Vernitas practice. In 1969-70, she co-curated X12, an important early feminist group exhibition, and worked with Art Workers' Coalition (AWC), Women Artists in Revolution (WAR), and Artists Meeting for Cultural Change. She began to use the pseudonym NCognita, to honor under-recognized artists. She is currently the director of Viridian Artists, an artist-owned contemporary gallery in New York City.
The Weight of Paper: Endless Junkmail Scroll continues through December 17 at Rowan University Art Gallery, 301 West High Street, First Floor, Glassboro, NJ Info
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And in the Rowan University college paper, The Wit. There is a great photo of the installation (see above) which is totally different than the way its been shown in the past & Im so pleased that Mary Salvante, the gallery director, come up with the idea. Below is the review, the quotes arent exactly correct but I think she did a great job nonetheless.
Nemec began creating this in 2006 and with every year that passes, the scrolls continue to grow. Currently, the scrolls combined span over 400 feet long.
Each scroll is made from her recycled mail and pages taken from her favorite fashion magazines. Looking closely at the exhibit you may find envelopes, checks, credit card advertisements to name a few.
She combines the papers together with glue in a mix-match random pattern before using predominantly gold, red, and blue paint. The gold paint, she thought, would add value to an otherwise discardable pile of junk mail.
Im fascinated to see the patterning on the inside of the envelopes especially because its like a security apparatus, said Tyler Kline, a professor of art at Rowan. Im reading it as these different mark-makings that are allowing me to almost look under the hood Im enjoying seeing all the varying patterns [especially] at this scale.
I think its really interesting how the Weight of Paper came together, said Jessica Roders, a junior mechanical engineering major. As a person who studies science and [who] hopefully [will create] things that end up changing the way we deal with technology and the way we mass-produce things in the United States, its inspiring to see there are actually people here who understand Oh this is a problem.
Its that problem specifically that inspired Nemec to create this piece and others similar. While attending the National Recycling Coalition Conference in 1993, she saw a small exhibit that changed the way she viewed art. A collection of childrens art made out of recycled materials such as milk cartons was displayed. Nemec immediately thought adults should be creating recycled artwork as well and thus the art collection Art from Detritus was born.
Nemecs top piece of advice for new artists was to keep and maintain a day job. Dont solely rely on your arts income because you could find yourself creating art that others want or like. Instead, you must let the art that is within you manifest itself. Nemec was able to create the displayed work as art gallery director for Viridian Artists Inc.
It is very hard to sell this kind of art and I know that and I dont care because I do have another job. I am the director of a gallery, said Nemec. Im always telling my artists because they always get upset if their work doesnt sell. I say, Listen you really shouldnt be focused on that. You should be focused on the making of it and having people see it, but not to sell it. Its wonderful if you can sell it but all that does is corrupt art.
July 2021
I came across documentation of a show I did at The Wah Salon in 2013 & want to share the link with you: https://www.wahcenter.net/salon/2013/nemac/. Time passes so quickly and it was pre-pandemic times which feels like another world, far away and deep in memory.
Have been doing much curating & jurying. So excited about the "Upcycling Detritus" virtual exhibit online & virtual @ the sculptorsalliance.org. Marco Palli was wonderful to work with and we are both hoping to make the show happen live somewhere in NYC. Suggestions welcome!
And "30 Under 30" at Viridian Artists now is a selection from the virtual iteration of the show. our first live reception on July 15, Thursday @6-8pm like the old days! It will be masked but we will also serve wine so thinking straws might work just fine. Ever had wine through a straw? Hope to see you there!
March 2021
Well, things are much better- a new administration, more vaccines available tho sadly some are still refusing to wear masks, some restaurants and businesses are opening too quickly & we are all worn out & crabby. Though I have had both vaccines, I am still wary and uncomfortable in the real world, so I am spending too much too online & watching netflix. Online though, I confess I have been looking at both my own videos and Viridian's. There is much more to upload onto the gallery channel, but I came across an interview or conversation I had with Sylvia Sleigh, a wonderful feminist painter and the widow of art critic Lawrence Alloway who was so supportive of women's art. Here is a link to the first part of our conversation in which we talk about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrmNKez8Ao
Of course, feel free to look at part 2 & 3 and maybe at some of my past performances. More later, for I confess I am worn out from isolation, talking to cats and yearning for spring and better times.
February 2021
I want to share pictures of my exhibit of the "Endless Junkmail Scroll & other Trashformations" on view at Southeastern Missouri State University through March in their Catapult Gallery. I love the way they installed the show! Each time the scroll has been shown, it takes on a whole new configuration- on the walls, the ceiling, around columns and rolling along the floor. Unfortunately I was unable to go to the reception or to see the show in person because of the pandemic & current travel restrictions, but we must deal with the reality of this moment. And fortunately, the digital/ virtual world is nearly like being there. Well, not really, but we must just get used to it, for times, they are a changin...
Professor Joni Hand did interview me via zoom however & we talked about my political activism over the years as well as my art. You can hear our conversation if you go to You Tube with this link: https://youtu.be/3EjRiHWcdcs. Talking about the past made me miss old friends and colleagues Nancy Spero, Leon Golub, Lucy Lippard, Silvianna and others but those are all good memories and we accomplished a lot with our protests and demonstrations. May it happen again when it is needed & may we be as successful as we were in the 70's.
November 2020
It's time I wrote here again, as I wander my studio searching for the frustrated calm I need to begin new work. I spend too much time at the computer, too much time longing for freedom, too much time googling myself on the web seeking reasurance that I have chosen the right path. Though, of course, I know its too late to change, so I must just keep on keepin' on as some might say. & so, I am inspired to share one mention I found that led me to drawings I made of my cat Shadow & one of my most recent sales. Here's the link in case you'd like to see some of the other drawings from that series. Highlight & link:
https://viridianartist.com/virtual-gallery/2020/5/6/apocalypse-now-vernita-ncognita
But here's the poem of that moment:
Pandemic Poem #4/ version 4
My cat is my only companion
as I kill time & negative thoughts
in this pandemic of the moment.
Sheltering in place
I confess there are 2 cats, but
the other one sits by himself
somewhere else.
This one sits with me
in the sunlight.
The sun feels
other-worldly.
Everything is different,
As if it's coming
from outside worlds,
but reality is
just outside the window.
Memories & almost
philosophical koans
proliferate my brain.
5/2020
JULY 2020
Still here but not going out at all! What a crazy virtual world we are living in. I try to make art & will again but so hard right now to focus on anything but surviving this madness. Running Viridian Artists Gallery virtually with 3 exhibits online & another coming. Dont know when reality returns. Dreaming of making art, dreaming of going to galleries & museums, but for now just dreams...
In my Canal Street studio the art carries memories of my life-
Dubrovnik in'78 in collage & paint
small collages, postcards,
found objects for future works
in wild array
beneath
that image
of a moment.
March 2020
"The life of the artist is the life
that separates us from the rest of life",
is a thought that just came to me
&
As I hold it
as my own,
I share it
with you too -
in these crazy times
of self-protection & anxiety.
yet,
a realization
that our world is at stake -
and
will never be the same.
& yet
we must try...
to figure out the ways
to continue.
It's been a long time since I've written here or added new images. Ive been busy, but now we have plenty of time - especially those of us in New York City & other large cities under lockdown because of the Corona virus. I am in my studio on Canal which has light traffic and few walkers. Shadow nevertheless, still loves to sit in the window looking at the outside world.
And now I join him, wondering if I dare go out & perhaps walk around the block. Making art is hard still despite not having to be anywhere else. Friends email and text and I continue to keep Viridian Artists open virtually with Jenny's assistance.
Ive been trying to finish art that I started ages ago- among the works are xeroxes of marbled paper collages that I sew together- but sadly I just broke the sewing machine needle, so must move to something else. Amazon said they wouldn't deliver new needles til April 30th- over a month away, so I am cancelling the order for now. Just before this madness of our world I had made a series of new collages with a vellum overlay & happily one was sold. Here are the others, framed & ready foe the walls of some adventursome collection or someone who buys art because they like it. Not because they are investing in real estate in the form of art- or is it art in the form of real estate?
"Of Moments with Old Loves"
And Im sure that many of us will make some interesting art of this surreal moment...
Fall 2019
Links from my past:
http://thedorseypost.com/?p=2804
October 18, 3-6pm, I performed my first "durational" piece called "I Still Am" for Art In Odd Places (AIOP). My performance was at 38 W14th St. in front of Party City - about invisibility - the theme of this year's AIOP event - in all its aberrations. Thank you LuLu...
Still 2019
I recently sold 2 Haiku Collages at Susan Eley Gallery uptown Manhattan. So happy! Now, the hot summer is nearly over and fall is on its way and the art season begins again... as the rest of the world continues in its madness. Sometimes it seems that only art will safe us... Here's an image of one of them:
These collages are all around 3x4 inches on rag board and sell for $250. More can be seen on Artsy & are available through Viridian Artists. & on 1stdibs.
My day job as Director of Viridian Artists begins again on the 10th of September with a show entitled "Looking Outward/ Looking Inward".the reception will be Thursday September 12th, the usual time. Hope you come to see these wonderful artworks!
Diane Root recently wrote a wonderful article about me for Gallery & Studio which is now online. Thank you Diane & thank you Jeannie McCormack!
2019 it can't be but it is already! Still Busy!!!
I am again included in the "Treasure that Trash" exhibit at the Herman Melville Foundation in Stoneybrook L.I. Newsday featured one of my works
"Scrolling Junkmail Movements", a performance at Viridian Artists (548 W 28 th St NYC of course) on Thursday January 10 @ 7PM & at Judson via Movement Research on January 14, 2019. Performing with me in my company, "The Moving Performance", are Veronica Pena & Lorin Roser.
Photos by Angela LaMonte
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2018 March & April
Here are images of my show of The Endless Junkmail Scroll & other Trashformational Art that was shown in my solo at Crary Gallery in Warren PA.
& at Viridian, "Evil Plastic", a show I curated with sales to benefit an environmental org that battles evil plastic! Curating this trippy show of art made from discarded plastic, humor & serious thoughts, got me to finish my installation of partly melted food containers called "Plastic Ocean Blues". See the show in person for it is plastic transformed.
Also, more Endless Junkmail Scroll in Stoney Brooke Long Island... through April 15th with a reception April 12, 4pm on I think... their website is a bit sketchy... "Stony Brook, NY In commemoration of Earth Month, the Ward Melville Heritage Organization presents Treasure That Trash, a not-to-be-missed exhibit of impressive artistry created from a variety of common items including recycled materials, spray paint, glass and many more. The exhibit will be on display March 10 through April 15 at WMHOs Educational & Cultural Center. The exhibit is free of charge and will be open Sundays through Fridays, 10 am to 4 pm (closed Easter Sunday). For further information call 631-689-5888 or visit stonybrookvillage.com."
& I am juror for a fascinating show at Womanmade Gallery in Chicago- "Word Play", a competition of images using word... something I've often played with... their website womanmadegallery.org I think...
from the 80"s
but I really want to travel the Endless Junkmail Scroll & related Trash-formation collages... so here are some that you maybe havent yet seen... suggestions on where to propose this ongoing exhibit, welcome!
2018 February
Welcome to another year of art & madness. I"ve been "good" busy! Let me give you some links from my show & performance at Crary Gallery in Warrn, PA.where the closest airport was Buffalo & I worried about February snow.
The 2 1/2 drive was through the kind of beautiful American landscape I grew up in. Not so far from there though a long psychological distance from NYC.
In the Times Observer, Stacey Gross wrote 2 wonderful articles and here is one of them below. A link to the second one follows this one.
Stacey did two pieces as well as a blog entry with images & video and here is the other:
And Janelle Turk, a board member at the Crary, was my guide and savior, making it all wonderful. She even brought one of her art classes at Bradford HIgh School who watched me perform my newest butoh work called "Aspects" at 10am on Monday morning & after asked brilliant questions as I confessed the reality of the artist's life in the 21st century.
Also, in Gallery & Studio David Rodgers wrote his take on the Endless Junkmail Scroll after a visit to my Canal Street studio:
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2017 almost over but I am keeping busy!
I have curated a new exhibition at Sabay Thai Cafe in Jackson Hgts Queens-
most trains heading into Queens stop there- E or F OR #7 & to Roosevelt Av/Jackson Hgts.
come & see Allison Brzezinski's evocative photos. Time & Memories are just some of the subjects she addresses in these images.
Also
*I am one of the artists featured in Emergency Index: an annual document of performance practice vol.6
*until January 13, 2018 You can see my recent sculpture @Denise Bibro Gallery/ 529 West 20 th St, 4th floor, in "Art From the Boros V"
*December 15th, around 8:45/9 pm I, Vernita N'Cognita will be performing with others at A Space, organized by ... @ 614 east 9th st betw B&C . the evening starts around 7pm.
*You can see a collage of mine @ Viridian til December 30th. Also do your holiday shopping at Our Olde Arte Shoppe for artust made stuff from $25-
*February 3rd, 2018! my solo exhibition will be opening at Crary Gallery/ Warren Pa, 6-8 PM
*Spring 2018 an article about my "Endless Junkmail Scroll" & other stuff... Gallery & Studio Online by David Rodgers
*Guerrilla Performances in Venice, Italy March 8-10 or so, 2018 maybe at Elizabeth Ginsberg's solo exhibit
It's past September & soon it begins again, so let me share my quick little summer retrospective of segments of the Endless Junkmail Scroll & other Trash-formative artworks that I will be showing in a solo exhibit at the Crary Gallery in Warren, PA in February of 2018. From there I will be traveling the show, so if you are or know a venue that would be interested in showing my work, please get in touch without hesitation!
"Protect & Defend" "What Are You Doing?" "Assyrian Draw-In"
& installation shots of the installation at Viridian
& here are more images of some junkmail & security envelope collages:
"Lady in the Lake" "Garden of Memories"
"More Burning Hills"
these 2 sided fragments of scroll, framed in plexi:
"Behind the Curtain" "Killing Beauty"
and these smaller & less dimensional collages also on security envelope fragments:
There are many more but for the moment, I will stop here, so that you can read my intentions and motivation in creating these artworks...
but please dont hesitate to contact me if you are interesting in purchasing or exhibiting these artworks!
2017 already!
Time moves so fast! Already it is August but it seems like the summer just barely began. Perhaps its the madness of the weather & what us sad humans are doing to the environment. Miles wide gyres of plastic in the ocean being consumed by birds and fish who are starving for lack of nutrition. And then there's global warming and too much trash and not enough recycling or upcycling.
Which leads me to return to my junkmail scroll and the other art I have created from Junkmail in an attempt to make something dispicable and valueless into something priceless. ART.
You can click on the image to the left of a fragment of The Endless Junkmail Scroll hanging from the ceiling of Gallery One Twenty Eight in NYC, its first outing in 2006. The scroll continues to grow & is over 400 linear feet now and I have created more art works from junkmail that I want to share with you.When you click on that image check out various views of the scroll, but also click on security collages on the top of that page, also created from junk mail.
Here are a couple of newish works also made primarily from junkmail but in the format of wall works that can be framed or not. These works on junkmail collaged are around 50 inches high.
My battle against junkmail and plastic packaging continues. so drop me a line if you are interested in expanding the message! Yes and that's a dress print, a body print and a mask.
And I recently framed some security collages also made from junkmail envelopes and gift wrap paper etc, if you like art presented more conventionally. First one is entitled "Lady in the Lake", acrylic & collage on collaged security envelopes; "The End of Culture" next is collage, acrylic & leather on security envelope. All these & more will be exhibited in February 201 at the Crary Gallery in Warren Pennsylvania. Those below, smaller and 18"x24" framed are in teh heat is On exhibit at Viridian as part of the summer Affiliate show there thru early August.
I probably should do a blog and really try to say something about art in general for I feel we are losing sight of what art really is. Our focus is so much on selling & the fact that selling somehow justifies its existence more than the reality of what it should be or what art really is. We must remember that it is self-expression, a reflection of our inner selves which sometimes leads us to reveal more than we mean to. Or nothing at all.
I was recently in Frankfurt Germany for a little over a week, performing solo and with David Rodgers in an incredible event about Moondog organized by Gabrielle Juvan with musician Teresa Buschmann at St.Paulsgemeinde - a beautiful and historic chapel in the old center of the city. An incedible week of communicating and sharing. Pictures to come...
Also, politics are the motive for much art, so just before the election, I curated an exhibit at Viridian called "Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality". Some great pieces were in the show which you can see on Viridian's website (www.viridianartists.com) but for the moment I want to show you my contribution, "It's an Upside Down World."
here are views of the 'upside down world in my studio and next on view at
Viridian with a Len Rosenfeld and Philip Gerstein painting behind it.
And here is the Plasticism Plasticbag Dress of shopping bags ironed together and sewn. Though its been shown, its still not totally finished and I hope to use it in a performance.
Still, I want to show it to you now. And after that image, a few from my show of Plasticism at Gallery Gaia in September 2015- already so long ago.
gotta save so much these days especially when it's plastic, for all that we discard contributes to the distruction of life on our planet, as well as our planet irself.. All of the art I am making with plastic is stuff that is intended for discard. The wall constructions are plastic vacuum formed packaging & the orange pyramids are plastic catfood containers. This wonderful material we invented is destroying our sealife and oceans especially.
But the work continues for our environment is more at stake than ever.... more in the works at my studio....
May 2016
I cannot lie though I should. It's nearly the end of May & so much time has passed. Time goes faster & faster. In April it was week in CUBA. with Carolina Poggi, but I have no pictures of me there but for this shadow that I took of myself. It was a wonderful trip though and I have tons of great photos & even a few videos I've shot.I fear that pictures of Cuba are those taken by every person who's gone there to see it before it's changed... while the beautiful old cars are still there and those beautiful old buildings.
&
My Open Studio with TOAST & art in an artfair in Osaka, Japan and finally "Outer Realities/ Inner Visions", the Affiliate Show Im in at Viridian.
etc
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Winter is nearly here and 2015 is almost over. What happened to those moments?
On Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 1:32 PM, Vernita N'Cognita <ncognita@earthfire.org> wrote:
My apologies if I have been inattentive but I have been quite overwhelmed with living in an unheated store for the past month with only cold water, a toilet & 40 years of stuff in unlabeled boxes around me that I must sort out. (Though I confess on the positive side it was akin to beginning my artist life & reliving my more bohemian youth!) All because my landlord is covering my beautiful tin ceiling with sheet-rock for fire code. They removed everything to put in an empty store downstairs on Canal St where I was basically crashing with the cats. (In May they gave me my first real bathroom with walls!) > >
And then I decided I hated my worn out painted floor and had it sanded & waxed back to its natural self - covering everything with dust in the process. This crazy new beginning I am having in my life is like moving but not moving- packing everything up and then after a month, unpacking it all again in the same place! I had so many fantasies of how my loft would be after all the renovation and so much discarding of things I've been saving- primarily to make art from! Some stuff I hadn't seen for 42 years! > >
But its been a mixed experience for I confess that having to pack up and discard so much reminded me of my mother deciding she couldn't handle taking care of a house anymore and would move into an assisted living instead and so got rid of what my siblings & I couldn't rescue...
The night before the movers brought everything back up to my loft, Jan & I sat looking at the beautiful emptiness and freshly sanded & waxed floors (& the boring white sheet-rock covering my beautiful old tin ceiling) as I fantasized making new art and having dinner parties again. I threw away so much and yet when they brought what was left back upstairs, it felt more crowded than before! > >
Any how, will be spending the rest of 2015, trying to get rid of more stuff. And return to thinking about the real problems of our crazy world! > >
September has come & gone and I am thinking about how quickly time passes.
Soon it will be winter - if it isn't already.
I have finally begun to read Dave Hickey's "Air Guitar" and recommend it to all interested in life & art. No time really to read but his words, his revelations, his confessions of imperfection are helping me to cope with the insanity of our world.
Yes, art! I want to fill walls with my "Plastic Blues" to spread the word & raise awareness of the evils of plastic, despite how incredibly useful it has become. All those plastic bags, the takeout containers, the styrofoam cups, the vacuum formed packaging. & THAT - THE VACUUM FORMED PACKING - save that for me to make more "PLASTIC BLUES" from! Email me when you've collected a pile of it & if you are in NYC, we can meet for coffee or a glass of wine & you can hand it over to me!
That's all for the moment- I just wanted to touch base, but now must go back to getting rid of stuff! Ebay- will I finally try to use you???
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
still 2015 but August already & the summer is almost over!
A solo show of mine coming up at Ursula Clark's Gallery Gaia in Vinegar Hill... that's Brooklyn, near DUMBO.
Here's your invite!
PLASTIC BLUES
VERNITA NEMEC AKA N'COGNITA
SEPTEMBER 2015
GALLERY GAIA
opening reception & maybe even a performance
Thursday, September 3rd, 6-8pm
gallery hours Saturday & Sunday 1-6pm
Gallery Gaia in Vinegar Hill Brooklyn is pleased to present the new art of Environmental artist Vernita N'Cognita. Vernita Nemec aka Vernita N'Cognita is at it again with her aesthetic works of ecological ingenuity. Gallery Gaia in Vinegar Hill Brooklyn at 79 Hudson Avenue, adjacent to Dumbo, is reachable by taking the "F" Train to York Avenue or the "A" train to Jay St in Brooklyn.
N'Cognita's latest endeavors are collectively entitled Eco-Plasticism, an art movement originated by the artist that focuses on art created primarily from that ubiquitous discarded material called PLASTIC. The artist has been collecting & recycling for years, and turning her various collections into art. Previously it was the Endless Junkmail Scroll and found object assemblages & collages, but it is with a new determination that she has begun creating a variety of new artworks that are made from PLASTIC. Our environment is at stake.
Invented at the start of the 20th century, plastic has gone through numerous evolutions. It began as an exciting new substance for creating a range of objects from nylons to jewelry to cookware. Then plastic became the magic solution for inexpensive but hardy materials for packaging food and objects needing to be both protected & visually pleasing to buyers.
Sadly though, plastic has become the scourge of planet earth because it is used to cover nearly everything & now has spread to every part of our planet including the most pristine. Not only are there islands of plastic in the oceans but fish, birds & other sea life are consuming it as apparent food or becoming entangled in it and perishing.
The solution? ART with a capital P. PLASTICISM is part of this solution! ECO-PLASTICISM! Malleable art that responds to heat but lasts forever.
The Women Environmental Artists Directory listed 307 women environmental artists, singling out three artists including Nemec...(who) recently used junk mail to demonstrate the complexity of modern life." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_artists.
Critic Ed McCormack said The Endless Junkmail Scroll with its intricate array of symbolic, diaristic, autobiographical, and spontaneous elements, is a defining, careercrowning achievement for Vernita Nemec. Encapsulating the philosophy of aesthetic ecology that prompted her to found the Art from Detritus movement, along with numerous other career-spanning concerns, in an innovative ongoing conceptual format, it is a major statement which seems slated to extend this artists influence far beyond the underground where it has for too long languished as one of the better kept secrets of the avant garde.
Nemec, who uses the name N'Cognita to honor under-known artists, has presented more than 70 exhibitions and performance artworks in the United States, Hungary, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Mexico and France, including guerrilla performances at the Pompidou Museum in Paris and Documenta 13 in Kassel. Videos of some of her performances can be seen on You tube and more information about her can be found on wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernita_Nemec.
She is a past recipient of the Franklin Furnace Jerome Foundation Grant and was selected for the 2nd time by Movement Research to perform at Judson Dance Theater. Her visual art is in the collections of MOMA, the Savaria Museum in Hungary, Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Feminist Art@Rowan University, Asian American Art Center, Franklin Furnace, Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, Groupa Junij, Belgrade and many private collections.
For further information, please contact the artist at ncognita@earthfire.org or 212 925 4419 & check out her website at www.ncognita.com
2015 has struck!
I am ready! I have moved from the personal to the environmental in my art and call it Plasticism. Plastic is everywhere and most of it will end up in the ocean. Already the plethora of plastic in our oceans confronts us at every turn.
For ages, I have been saving the vacuumed-formed plastic protecting new objects, but now I have begun to save plastic packaging in earnest & am shocked at the amount we must discard and recycle. Using these materials to make art is an attempt to address the problem, not offer solutions, for that is something that requires the efforts of all.
I feel, I hope, that perhaps my art can creatively bring attention to the problem now with images of my Plasticism constructions, installations, reliefs, and gatherings that I call art.
here is my first draft!
and a detail with microbeads from a pillow
and with a "painting of water behind on arches- the precious with the trash
with a close-up
and those ubiquitous plastic bags ironed & melted that I can turn into a garment to wear in
my performance at CERES (in Chelsea) @7PM on the 29th of January, a Thursday, called "New Beginnings"
& upclose & personal
with a shower curtain, a mermaid among the sealife &
a poem by Anne Sexton called "The Nude Swim" (more dangerous now) and more plastic
& see? with bottles (plastic of course) of more plastic
there are now at least 5 islands (or gyres) of plastic in the ocean entrapping sealife that also mistake small bits of plastic for food, ingesting it and dying.
We must do something for the "islands" of plastic keep growing and will continue we find a solution...
2014 is finished already tho' it has barely begun
I cant believe how quickly 2014 came & went! It was a busy year, but perhaps no busier than other years.
Made art, performances, curated some shows, made some $, got older.
No resolutions to break.
Beginning a new body of work using discarded plastic. There is so much, too much and now islands of it in the oceans, 5 at last count.
Ive been saving vacuum formed packaging for years & finally am confronting it but as I do I think of all the other plastic we discard.
Much recycled but then that discarded too. Have been attacking plastic bags too to transform into "art" or at least objects less easy to just throw away.
Not ready to show you pictures yet, but hopefully soon.
Its the 20th anniversary of Art from Detritus and am in the midst of curating a show to open at Viridian February 24th. There's still time to apply if its just January when you read this!
click the link "Its happening again" above!
Perhaps the most exciting thing professional occurence this year was being included in Wikipedia.
Thank you powers to be & thank you Andrew & Jan for helping to make this happen!
copy & take a look!
AUGUST & NEARLY THE END OF SUMMER
So here are some of the new works finished & out in the world at Cannon's Walk down at the South Street Seaport.
And the "Endless Junkmail Scroll" again makes an appearance!
Vernita Nemec aka Vernita N'Cognita
presents
Security/Insecurity
An installation & performances
@ Cannon's Walk (206 Front St), South St Seaport
July19-August 15, 2014
Environmental artist Vernita Nemec aka N'Cognita is presenting her Endless Junkmail Scroll & other collages at Cannons Walk located at 206 Front Street at the South Street Seaport.
The exhibition opens July 19th & continues through mid-August with a reception on Saturday, July 19th 6-8PM.
The Women Environmental Artists Directory listed 307 women environmental artists, singling out three artists including Nemec...
environmental statement regarding the oppressive amounts of junkmail that fill our mailboxes. Particularly bothersome are those from financial institutions offering loans, credit cards & even checks printed in your name
that you can use as a high interest loan. To highlight the ubiquitous nature of these offers, she has collaged the security envelopes from them into a 400 foot & still growing scroll that hangs from the ceiling of this historic structure.
In addition she created 5 new collages from the envelopes, incorporating magazine cutouts, a mask from her performance work and monoprints of her body & a dress that echo her performances.
JULY ALREADY!
I'm FEELING crazy with so much to do... finish new art for my solo show & performance at CANNON'S WALK AKA 206 South St @the South St Seaport. Installng the extended & Endless JunkMail Scroll & the new wall works on Thursday July 17th & reception & performance with Sean Carolan 6-8 on Saturday July 19th.
Almost too labor intensive collaging on collage & then addind yet another layer of paint and hopefully some drawing as well. But gong to Ohio next week- the day after the reception at Viridian for the 25th Annual Juried Exhibition. Take a look at Viridian's website.
Oh, & the Summer Affiliate show at Viridian Artists - "HOT!" July 22-August 9 (my father's birthday), a reception Thursday the 24th, 6-8PM & preparing installation pieces for that- finally the Tower Of Babel, "Entangled" (the braided ribbon, the little chair, the empty frame & the golden bough...
still the performance to conjure with Sean - maybe both places?
And a Viridian show at Sabay Thai restaurant 75-19 Broadway in Jackson Hgts (look at sabay section above) & at Acumen Gallery in LIC in the Standard Motors Products Building.
And my cat Shadow who is making me crazy too...
the life of the artist...
Almost June
The Ceres performance has been moved to Saturday, May 24th, 4PM, the last day of Masayo Nishimura's exhibition. I had to change the date because "Director's Choice II: From Virtual to Actual" opens at Viridian on Thursday evening, the 22nd, 6-8PM. Though I was going to try to be in two places at once, it turned out to be impossible in this lifetime.
Too, I will be performing Sunday, May 25th at 9PM at Theater for the New City- in the lobby- as part of the LES Festival- 1st Av just below 11th St.
Come to it all!
springing into action
Coming up now is my annual open studio with TOAST- May 9-12. Friday night 6-8 & then Saturday, Sunday & Monday 1-6. Please stop by- if you dont know my address, drop me an email - ncognita@earthfire.org.
I will be doing a performance on May 22. 7PM at Ceres during the photo exhibition of Masayo Nishimura. Performing with me for the first time is William Benton, guitarist, of CatCasual.
At Viridian in June is "Director's Choice (that's me!): From Virtual to Actual", a group exhibition of 17 artists whose work I selected from our 23rd Juried Competition. 2 have become Viridian Artists since then- Angela Smith & Joshua Greenberg.
Working hard both at the studio & at Viridian Artists- oh & at Sabay too where I am installing a show of Viridian Artists with a reception sometime in June, so stay in touch.
I have given one dinner party- a surprise going away party for my friend/ painter, Mary Frances Judge, whose leaving NYC for St Paul where life is cheaper, studios are larger, there are fewer artists but lots of snow. I'll miss her.
Experimenting a lot... installations, sewing collage- until I discovered both of my sewing machines needed repair! Everything breaks down...
Thought I'd include this drawing from a series of "Dick Drawings" which I did 10 years ago or so. This one is called "Housewife's Revenge" - though I confess I used to love to iron!
2014 has arrived!
Resolutions? Getting my life in order! My files & art from the past as well! Opening my studio more often & a few dinner parties... we will see.
Mostly performing, but some ideas brewing for works on paper, on canvas, etc. As I said, we will see... look above at MY PERFORMANCE ART for images of 2013 rehearsals & performances.
MOVEMENT RESEARCH'S MONDAY NIGHTS SERIES
presents
Vernita N'Cognita
with SEAN CAROLAN
ENTANGLED
8 PM Monday January 6, 2014
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
NO RESERVATIONS and ADMISSION IS FREE
In Entangled, N'Cognita again incorporates out of scale props to search through the media of performance for a clearer understanding of what it is to be a woman today. In this new work in progress, she has braided 600 yards of ribbon into a large ball and sits in a child sized chair as she explores unanswerable questions discovered in a paperback book. The artist uses Butoh movement forms interpreted uniquely & personally to explore, along with words and props, the conceptual ideas embodied in her performance work.
Vernita Nemec, also known as N'Cognita to honor underknown artists, has presented more than 70 performances in the United States, Hungary, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Mexico and France, including guerrilla performances at the Pompidou Museum in Paris, Documenta 13 in Kasel. This is the second time she has been selected by Movement Research to present a work in progress and perform at Judson Church. Her performances can also be seen on UTube and Vimeo.
Sean Carolan, Singer/songwriter and guitarist for his band Sean Carolan Project has been writing and performing for over 20 years with a variety of artists. He has worked frequently with N'Cognita, exploring & relating sound to movement. With his band, he has also performed in New York City, Hoboken, NJ, Boston & Worcester MA, and Virginia Beach VA. Outside of performing, he is an audio engineer and instructor at The Institute of Audio Research in NYC and a freelance film editor.
Nemec, also a visual artist, has presented more than 20 solo exhibitions of her mixed media collages & installations in the United States, Ireland and Hungary. Her art is in the collections of MOMA, the Savaria Museum (Hungary), Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Feminist Art, Rowan University, Asian American Art Center, Franklin Furnace, Groupa Junij, Belgrade and others.
The artist gratefully thanks Materials for the Arts for their assistance.
NOVEMBER NOW
Thinking I should be making more art & then I realize I am performing my live art all over the place. Just almost finished an incredible- shall I call it residency in the city ? for it was like that. With The Field I did a Fieldwork with a wonderful group of actors, dancers & poets. Great writers, great movers & great conceptualizers & for lucky me, resulting in a new performance work.
Well, if I cant find the image I'm tellin' you now, I will be performing at:
Eden Expressway
in Soho at 537 Broadway between Spring & Prince Sts on the west side of Broadway...
7pm (Tuesday the 12 of November)
7pm but get there at 6:45 to get a seat.
til then...
October already but still 2013
A new performance
"You never know the value of a moment until it is a memory"
Dr.Seuss
"One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late."
Agatha Christie
Vernita N'Cognita presents a new performance artwork
"A Moment"
7PM Thursday October 17, 2013
Chelsea- Soho20 Gallery is pleased to present a performance by Vernita Nemec aka N'Cognita on Thursday, October 17 at 7PM. Entitled "A MOMENT", the artist states
"Life is filled with moments & one can never know for sure which ones will be important and change your life forever...."
"A MOMENT" is the newest performance work that N'Cognita has created. Uncomplicated on the surface, the work attempts to project to the audience the deeper implications of our simplest actions and how, even they can change the course of our lives. The Butoh slowness of her movements allows the viewer to notice infinitesimal details and her smallest gestures. This will be the first public viewing of this work still in development. Its final form will be presented at Judson Church in January.
Vernita Nemec AKAN'Cognita began performing in conjunction with her visual practice in the late 70's. One of her earliest performances, gHumoretteh, occurred at Soho20 in 1978 in conjunction with her solo exhibit & installation there. She has studied Butoh and performance theory with many noted Japanese & American performers including Eiko of Eiko & Komo, at PICA in Portland OR with Deborah Hay & Akira Kasai, and most recently Body Resonance at Schloss Broellin in Germany with Yumiko Yoshioka. Butoh adapted forms an important aspect of her performance work.
Nemec, also known as N'Cognita to honor underknown artists, has presented more than 70 performance in the United States, Hungary, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Mexico and France, including guerrilla performances at the Pompidou Museum in Paris, Documenta 13 in Kassel, and more than 20 solo exhibitions of her mixed media collages & installations in the United States, Ireland and Hungary. Her visual art is in the collections of MOMA, the Savaria Museum in Hungary, Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Feminist Art, Rowan University, Asian American Art Center, Franklin Furnace, Groupa Junij, Belgrade and others.
Articles and reviews of her work have appeared in the New York Times, The Village Voice, High Performance, Nation Magazine & the New Yorker among other publications. Her performances can be seen on UTube and Vimeo. She is included in "The Power of Feminist Art", 1994, Harry Abrams (Pub), edited by Norma Broude & Mary Garrard, "The Pink Glass Swan: Selected Feminist Essays on Art", 1995, Lucy Lippard. and "Performance Artists of the 80's" by Linda Montano. She currently lives and works in New York City.
The artist can be contacted at ncognita@earthfire.org.
& an exhibition at Ursula Clark's Gallery Gaia in Vinegar Hill Brooklyn, next door to DUMBO
GALLERY GAIA
79 HUDSON AVE
VINEGAR HILL
BROOKLYN 11205
GIRLTALK
October 5th- - November 2nd, 2013
Reception: Sunday, October 20th, 4-6 pm
Ursula Clark * Susan Happersett * Bibi Lencek * Kazuko * Sabra Moore *
Hyo-Jeong Nam * Vernita Nemec aka N'Cognita *
Katherine Ellinger Smith * Judy Thomas *
Gaia Gallery in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn is pleased to present GIRLTALK, a group exhibit of 9 artists addressing Feminity and Feminism in the 21st Century. The show opens Saturday October 4th and continues through November 3th, 2013. There will be a reception on Sunday October 20th from 4-6pm.
There is still much to debate and explore in these issues in the real world of work and politics. Bibi Lencek, Ursula Clark & Vernita Nemec have bought together 9 artists who make their art seriously, seductively and in some cases, scintillatingly, each in her own unique way creating art that makes her voice heard.
When we first presented Girltalk in 2005, we said "Yes. we are serious but not in a tormented, hard on, super sized way. We are celebrating and preserving the feminine and the feminist sensibility. We as women respond to the world with intuition, collaboration and nurturing. Through our bodies and our senses we know who we are and why we are here."
Since then, little has improved in the world for women. As a result, many of us are tormented inwardly as well as outwarding, asking why are women and their work still undervalued and often, even de-valued. In some cultures, we are still little more than gpropertyh and in our own country we are not paid wages equal to those paid our male counterparts. Sadly, Feminism is still an ugly word to the unenlightened.
In the Art World too, women artists must still struggle to have their work seen in museums, commercial galleries and public collections. Still we persevere and with the help of enlightened male and female curators, writers, collectors and activists, the numbers are slowly changing.
The whole world is changing more rapidly and radically, particularly because of the growing importance of the virtual world and the growing realization that we must change to continue life on this planet. Crowd sourcing and the internet have equalized the playing field and we will continue to have our voices heard as we dare to speak louder and louder.
Gallery hours are Saturday & Sunday 1-6 PM
For further information, please contact Vernita Nemec at 212 925 4419 or email her at ncognita@earthfire.org
SUMMER 2013
First it was body prints, than clothing & fabric was added, then collage and finally some plant life to make these mixed media monoprints up to 38x 50 inches on Stonehenge rag paper and even some body & dress prints on rolls of arches.
Here's just a sampling. More to see soon when you click on Large art works above.
BODY PRINTS
"BODY OF COLOR"
CLOTHING AND FABRIC PRINTS
COLLAGE ADDED
ORGANIC MONOPRINTING AND COLLAGE
OH MERRY MONTH OF MAY
sharing some images of collages made from those little net produce bags. These are not brand new for I showed them in Oslo in 2011 in "The Oslo Open" a show curated by Irene Christenson.
clever Vimeo, realizing how much we are loving cats these days, for April Fool's called themselves VIMEOW".
My cats are great and Shadow gets more & more loving each night... Jacob is a lap sitter as usual. And I'm updating my website... adding links to videos of recent performances to look at under My Performance Art... and thinking about the next one... but also thinking about new collages... inspired a bit by the Surrealist's Drawing Show at the Morgan Library. Gotta go again to look at the collages!
FEBRUARY ALREADY!
& MY SHOW AT THE AMARIN THAI CAFE - A PART OF WAH'S SALON SHOWCASE - IN GREENPOINT AT NASSAU AV & 617 MANHATTAN AV
(G TRAIN TO NASSAU). THE SHOW CONTINUES TIL MARCH 3RD. I'M SHOWING MY MARBLE COLLAGES & VEGGIE MESH BAGS.
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS LINK FOR BETTER PHOTOS & MORE INFORMATION.
& OF COURSE, A GREAT NEW SHOW AT VIRIDIAN ARTISTS- THE 3RD ANNUAL PHOTO COMPETITION, OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9TH, 4-7PM & CONTINUING THROUGH FEBRUARY 28TH.
COMING UP IS VIRIDIAN'S 24TH (!) ANNUAL COMPETITION IN ALL MEDIA JURIED BY ELISABETH SUSSMAN OF THE WHITNEY MUSEUM. GO TO WWW.VIRIDIANARTISTS.COM FOR MORE INFO
OH & I CAN'T FORGET TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE NEXT ARTMEAT AT VIRIDIAN ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 20TH 5:45PM
SEE YOU SOMEWHERE!!!
2013 OH NO
I shouldn't say Oh No for already its ok. Things are slowly sorting out & much already is happening both for myself & for those artists I attempt to support in their endeavors in this crazy world.
OK, let me talk about myself for just a moment. Many things that I am involved in are going on right now as I attempt to hit the right key.
First, at Soho20:
"Se lec tions"- whatever that means.
A group of 20 artists, mostly female but not all, which I confess has always been somewhat of a problem for me, having come up in an artworld devoted primarily to male artists. But that is something to discuss at Viridain Artists 1st ArtMeat:
ARTMeat... an artist discussion/salon/meeting to talk about whatever. Next meeting 5:45 Wednesday January 23rd AT VIRIDIAN ARTISTS, 547 W 27TH ST. #632. COME one Come All!
Back to ME!- I'm n the show afor mentioned above & opening at the Amarin Cafe Friday January 11th, 6-8pm - do come! in Greenpoint- the G train to Nassau Av @ 617 Manhattan Av- not an easy trip unless you are Polish or a starving artist who lives nearby but serving Thai appetizers & wine & talk about ART, that blessed topic of converse & solutions to what troubles all if all would only realize & listen!
& then yet another exhibit at Viridian itself which I confess I am the Director of in the spirit of Betty Parsons. She not only "discovered" Pollock but was able to recognize so many valuable artists of today. Already those artists are no longer young but leave a legacy of survival to the cultural world of the next generation of artists who are willing to fight their own battles despite the powers that continue to be.
That show - "Disconnected Realities", an international gathering of 11 fascinating artists who will show a sampling of their art January 15 th to February 2nd with a joyful reception on Thursday January 17th 6-8 pm @ 547 W27th St. suite 632. Come one, come all!
MID-JUNE 2011 already!
so much has been going on, I dont really know where to begin so I'll just plunge in & mix it all up... what's happened & what's happening!
Also, a Shadow has entered my world- a kitten I rescued at one week who needed to be bottled fed every 2 hours- the perfect grey of the color of shadows & so his name.
Will try to add pictures if I can!!!!
Almost May 2011
What an incredible week!!!!
Opened the Detritus Show Saturday at WAH Center - www.wahcenter.com- the show has 64 artists and more art made from trash... its on thru May 29th - Wednesdays- Sundays 1-5. Directions on the WAH Center (Williamsburgh Art & Historical Center) website. We got our first New York Times write-up in the Metro Section Sunday, April 24th!
WAH Center is at 135 Broadway at the corner of Bedford Av near South 5th St. By subway, take the J to Marcy & walk 3 short blocks on Broadway towards the bridge. Call 718 486 7372 or 718 486 6012. Or take the L to Bedford, then the bus on Driggs to Broadway, Or if its a nice day, walk the 15 blocks south on Bedford. Hope to see you there!
And April 29 to May 2 is my Open Studio as part of the TOAST ARTWALK. I have to be 2 places at once 4-6 on Saturday, so I will only be open 1- 3:30 that day, but sunday & Monday I will open 1-6 & Friday night 6-9. Phone 212 925 4419.
April 2011
Apologies, but the reception at Sabay has been postponed. We will let you know when it is re-scheduled... but the art is up, so stop by for lunch or dinner and perhaps we will see you there!
Finishing up details for upcoming Art from Detritus Exhibition of 60 or so artists at the Williamsburgh Art & Historical Center (WAH)
opening April 23rd - for images of the show click on Detritus at the top of the site...
& then theres always the curatorial space at Sabay Thai Restaurant- to see some of those shows click on Sabay at the top of the page...
SABAY CURATORIAL SPACE has a changing exhibition of contemporary art every 2 months or so
showing art that isn't seen enough outside the conventional gallery setting.
Whether you are an artist or art lover, we hope that you will enjoy
having your meal in this creative setting & perhaps,
even consider purchasing an artwork for your home.
Artists, is your art seen enough?? If not, send me your jpegs!
March 2011
Already we approach the Ides of March... what that means I'm not sure, but its a warning that time is passing oh so quickly. So I must make mention of this wonderful recent review of a performance at Ceres that I did with Sean. Check it out here. Thank you thank you, Chelseagallerista! You and your honey got it!
January 2011
For months I've been thinking about creating a blog and now finally I've decided to just do it here since I must frequently update what's going on in my creative & curator life.
So, first, coming up April 23rd, 2011 (the day after EarthDay), I will be opening the latest "Art from Detritus: Recycling with Imagination" exhibit at the Williamsburgh Art and Historical Center (WAH). Its a huge and beautiful exhibition & performance space in an old bank building just across the East River and near the Williamsburgh Bridge in Brooklyn. Since the space is huge, there will be even more artists- some you've seen in past Detritus shows and artists who are new to us. There is a March 1 deadline for new artists to apply who work with recycled materials, trash, found objects. More info to come, but basically send me 3-5 jpegs to my email: ncognita@earthfire.org with the usual info. Click above on Art from Detritus to see what I need.
By the way, the Art From Detritus show that happened at Viridian Artists in November was named the best group show of the week by NY Arts!
There's a new exhibition at Sabay Curatorial Space which consists of photographs by the artist David Rodgers. Small 8x10" black & white photos, they are his version of anonymous photographs found in an attic. The reception was also a "good-bye for the moment" party for his lady friend Katrina, a German photographer returning to her home there. She'll be back though! David's show will be up through February, so stop by the Sabay Thai restaurant ( address in September 2010 listing below) for lunch, dinner &/or happy hour & take a look at the walls. I'm always interested in looking at new work, so email me your jpegs if you feel your art goes with Thai food!
September 2010
There will be a new Art from Detritus Show at Viridian Artists Inc in Chelsea in November. If you make art from trash that you have salvaged or stuff that would have been discarded if you hadnt rescued it, click on Art from Detritus above for info on how to apply for this latest incarnation of the show.
I like to stay busy & so have accepted a request of Viridian Artists in Chelsea, to return as their director. If you don't know the gallery, you should, for the artists who exhibit there create art in a diverse range of media, style and contemporary concerns- all outstanding. If you are a serious contemporary artist who wants to have your work seen in the art capital of the world, check out www.viridianartists.com and see how to apply for representation. Also, we are having a photo competition that will be juried by Elizabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum. As an insider reading my website, I will let you in on a secret- I am extending the deadline til november 15th so do not dispair! There is still time! Currently on view there are the paintings of Arthur Dworin- filled with lush & sumptuous color.
I have recently begun a curatorial space for exhibiting the art of under-recognized artists at the Sabay Thai Cafe in Elmhurst, NY. Far psychologically from Manhattan but an easy E train ride there. And its where the Q60 bus leaves for LGA Airport so you can even fly away after!
Beautiful art & delicious food! Images will be here soon but check out their website for location and menu. If you are an artist interested in showing there, email 6 jpegs (no larger than 500 dpi in either direction), your bio & a brief artist statement to: ncognita@earthfire.org. You might check out the space (& the food!) before so that you can select art that will be appropriate size-wise. I suggest no art larger than 40" square or smaller then 8x10". And of course, ready to hang.
As you may know, I am an artist of split persuasions- a performance artist and a visual artist as well as a curator of exhibits in which art and politics touch or,
if necessary, collide. My base is New York City but I love to travel & as often as possible, I use my art as an excuse to go somewhere I've never been.
I've had some wonderful interns these past few months who have been working diligently on archiving videos of my past performances , some of which you can now see on UTube. They also were stage crew for my most recent performance, "Dress", presented at DTW in NYC at the end of June. It was a new piece that I have been developing at Farspace through a Fieldwork grant. I hope that will be up on the web soon too. Special thanks to Jenn Hitchings, Katherine Walton, Joselyn Crocco and Cameron Kafura. Also, special thanks to The Field, dancer Nicole Lee and artist Katya Grohovsky. I am hoping to take the piece to Tokyo!
I will be performing in Tokyo- actually in Izu City just outside Tokyo- in October, 2010. If you have friends there who might like to attend or friends I can touch base with there, please let me know. I will be performing there with the Japanese guitarist Kazuyosi Yamada at the studio of friends of artist Namiyo Kubo.
At the end of April, in connection with the TOAST Artwalk I had an Open Studio at my loft on Canal Street. Please email me at ncognita@earthfire.org if you'd like more information (about any of this!) or just want to touch base!
Thank you for all to came to the Artists Talk On Art evening which I hosted to honor Nancy Spero, who died last October and whom I consider to be my "art mother". She was an incredible lady who never compromised her art or her character. She was generous to all with information, support and love and will be greatly missed. A video of the evening will be available soon that includes much footage of her speaking about her art, so contact Artist Talk On Art directly if you are interested. Now there is a wonderful show of Leon Golub's (her husband) last series of drawings & a wonderful vidoe of them both at the Drawing Center in Soho.
In December, I will be presenting an evening of "Open Performance at Artists Talk On Art which meets at Soho 20 Gallery in Chelsea. These will be 5 minute live performances, quick set up & take down with no tech. If you are a performance artist, please send me a brief description of your piece & your website or Utube video of your work to my email address by November 1. 20 or so performances will be selected.
I hope to interview Arthur Danto about his latest book & his thoughts about Art & Philosophy soon on video after we had to cancel our live interview at ATOA. I will let you know when that is available.
I really should start a blog I suppose, but...
My recent past included:
Performances fall/winter 2009 occurred at Soho 20 Gallery Benefit when they moved to their new location @ 547 W 27th St, Chelsea, NYC on October 24; Dance Theater Workshop, Movement Research Open Performance Series, on November 18.
In December 2009, I presented a performance at Ceres Gallery in Chelsea called "The Other F Word", presented during their Exposures Exhibition Series. I exhibited 4 large collaged and painted pieces from my dress series and sold "Forgiveness" to a friend/ collector! This body of work has not been seen much but it is a series that I will continue developing in 2010.
I am continuing too my ongoing installation entitled the Endless Junkmail Scroll in which I collage security envelopes into an ongoing artwork that is sold by the linear inch. That work has been most recently shown in 2009 at Manhattanville College in Purchase NY. Before that it appeared at Gallery 128 on the Lower East Side of NYC, at Central Wyoming College in Riverton WY, at Huntington Long Island in June of 2006 and Cape Girardeau MO in September of 2006.. I see it as ongoing, just as our junkmail sadly seems to be, but please don't send me any until I've figured out a way to work faster!
I am also a performance artist in New York City and have been studying butoh for the last 10 years or so which I incorporate into my performances. I' ve practiced Butoh movement with Noboru Kamita, Eiko, Kim Ito, Akira Kasai, Atsushi Takenouchi, Ko Murobushi, Yumiko Yoshioka & others at Japan Society & The Cave in Williamsburgh, Bklyn; I also participated in the Time Based Art Festival in Portland Oregon, September 2004 with 33 Fainting Spells; Deborah Hay, etc. I plan to present a Butoh workshop in Skopelos Greece in 2011.
In 2005 I performed in Darmstadt Germany in an international project of art & performance in gardens. Previously I was part of the 5 Cities Project in Tokyo, as well as being a presenter at the PSI (Performance Studies International) Conference in Mainz Germany.
In January 2006 I presented a guerilla performance at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, France entitled "The Silver Rose." and another in 2007, "Barbie in Paris". In 2007, I also performed in Dublin, Ireland at Monster Truck Gallery and in 2009, I was honored to be selected by Movement Research to perform at Judson Church, where it all began. As you might guess, I love to travel and have been around the world (in 90 days) and in addition to those cities mentioned above, I have performed or shown my art in Budapest, Hu and Mexico City and aim to still add more to the list...
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