Visual
AIDS and The Body
present:
Many Lands
Curated by Allison Hawkins
Back to the Future (Self-Portrait), 1998-1999
Bruce Wesley Boyce
collage (oil sticks, wax, acrylic on Masonite), 59.5" x 45"
Featuring the artwork of Archive Members Thomas Belloff,
Michael Berbube,
Michael Binkley, Raynes Birkbeck, Bruce Wesley Boyce, Garret Brock,
Brian Buczak, Niccolo Cataldi, Jerry Lee Frost, Christian Grados, Russ
Hansen,
Jerry Hooten, Tim Jocelyn, Nancer LeMoins, Fran Lewis, Mark Lida,
Steven Mendelson, Eduardo Mirales and J. Robert Reed.
In the Curator’s
Statement:
The pieces in
this selection convey an amazing openness and intimacy.
A great deal of freedom is evident as well -- a loss of
inhibitions and a real intensity in hand and feeling.
As the group came together there was an apparent fluidity
and compatibility in the sentiments of the images. They
are topics that I am very drawn to in my surroundings, my
own work and the work of others -- clearly being that of
land, animals, our relationship to the two, and a spirituality
that can be gained from both and has been throughout history.
The extreme form of the animal-human hybrid is represented
here as well -- in the way of fantastical creatures and
costume-zoomorphic masks and headdresses. As a result there
is a mythic, totemic, and ceremonial quality to many of
these pieces, as if they are guides. We anthropomorphize
them too -- the baby eagles, the dancing zebras, and the
lion monkey. The thoughtful owls, watching fish, and soft
swan offer a potential companionship, a sensitivity. They
create their own worlds that we can access. The quality
of escape, quiet, and the comfort of land -- of nature --
makes our entry that much more satisfying.
b i o g r a p h y
Allison Hawkins was born in Ohio in 1978. She now lives in
Brooklyn and makes her drawings there as well. She is represented
by The Proposition Gallery. Allison is Program Director at
The Joan Mitchell Foundation, where she provides support to
their grant opportunities for artists.
Every
month, Visual AIDS invites guest curators,
drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several
works from the Frank Moore Archive Project.
Founded in 1988 by arts professionals as a response to the
effects of AIDS on the arts community and as a way of organizing
artists, arts institutions, and arts audiences towards direct
action, Visual AIDS has evolved into an arts organization
with a two-pronged mission: 1) Through the Frank Moore Archive
Project, the largest slide library of work by artists living
with HIV and the estates of artists who have died of AIDS,
Visual AIDS historicizes the contributions of visual artists
with HIV while supporting their ability to continue making
art and furthering their professional careers, 2) In collaboration
with museums, galleries, artists, schools, and AIDS service
organizations, Visual AIDS produces exhibitions, publications,
and events utilizing visual art to spread the message “AIDS
IS NOT OVER.”
The Body
is now the most frequently visited HIV/AIDS-related site on
the Web, according to the Medical Library Association and
also the most frequently visited disease-specific site on
the Web, according to Hot 100. The Body contains a rich collection
of information on topics ranging from HIV prevention, state-of-the-art
treatment issues, humor and art. An invaluable resource, The
Body is used by clinicians, patients and the general public.
Part of The Body's mission is to enable artistic expression
to reach the Web, and to join art with other resources needed
to help the public comprehend the enormity and devastation
of the AIDS pandemic and to experience its human and spiritual
dimensions. |
Visual
AIDS
526 W. 26th St. # 510, New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212.627.9855
· Fax: 212.627.9815
e-mail: info@visualAIDS.org
Visual AIDS Gallery
|
