PEEKSKILL, NY.- The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA) in Peekskill, NY, will present in.flec.tion- new works by 13 New York area artists, meeting monthly to share open, incisive dialogues in the tradition of the artists' salon. The show opens on February 28 and runs through July 26, 2010.
The exhibit is a watermark for The Artists' Club, a community of emerging painters, sculptors, and video artists who have gathered for the last year and a half beyond the purview of galleries and curators. They share a passion to grow and improve through intensive peer discussions, critiques, and mutual trust.
The idea began at HVCCA, a young museum committed to profiling cutting-edge contemporary art. Discussions focused on the creative process, precedents impacting contemporary works and the need for the artist to produce work regardless of commercial challenges.
The talks were in the best tradition of the 1950s salons established by Robert Motherwell in downtown Manhattan, where Jackson Pollock, De Kooning, Rothko, Newman, Resnick, Guston and others gathered to debate the new Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism.
During an Artists' Club meeting, one artist presents his or her work, without explanation and sits silently as fellow artists analyze and discuss the work; only at the end may the artist under review choose to respond. Intense listening provides a great opportunity grow, through honest commentary, generosity of spirit, and a common desire to be helpful and supportive.
in.flect.ion reflects the artists' evolving dialogue, in which art is seen as a matter of expressing the self as well as absorbing critical comments and the influences of a constantly changing world. It refers to maintaining one's independence, personal vision and artistic integrity while listening, adapting, adopting and evolving.
The members of the The Artists' Club are: Justin Allen, Kadar Brock, Michael Brown, Aaron Johnson, Amy Myers, Mike Nemire, John Newsom, Don Porcella, Jason Repolle, Andrew Sendor, Adam Stennett, Helen Verhoeven and Bryan Zanisnik. A catalog, including essays about each artist's work written by another club member, is forthcoming.
