Glimpse
Curated by Evonne M. Davis and Jo-El Lopez
February 22nd, 2020 – July 10th, 2020 Opening Reception – February 22nd, 7-10pm Main Gallery
Glimpse arose from Evonne M. Davis’ fascination with and love of materials that reveal the artistic process. With almost 100 national artists and collectives participating, the exhibit features a substantial, immersive range of sketches, sketchbooks, artist books, lists, musings, drawings and studies, “black books,” proof sheets, and doodles on napkins or the backs of envelopes dating from as early as the 1940s to the present day. In select sketchbooks, a new page will be turned for each day the gallery is open, creating a subtle change in the composition of the exhibit that evokes the shifting nature of consciousness and memory. Whether it is a black book offered as proof of one’s virtuosity as an aerosol artist or an intimate document mixing text and imagery that has never been shared publicly, each object is evidence of a creative life lived, a dialogue sustained, erased, amended, retraced, and begun again.Participating Artists:
Jill Adler • Gema Alava • Drew Alexander Ennis • Fanny Allié • Michael Amter • Gladys Barker Grauer • Milcah Bassel • Anonda Bell • Mashell Black • Louie Blaka • Ash Casti • Kailyn Cavaluzzo • Patricia Cazorla • Gwen Charles • Santiago Cohen • Gannon Crutcher • Montserrat Daubon • Jesse Davis • Victor Davson • Kevin Durkin • Dahlia Elsayed • Michael Endy • Maryann Ficker • Justin Francesco • Julie Gallagher • Jerry Gant • France Garrido • Tai Hwa Goh • Cheryl Gross • Gilbert Hsiao • Lisa Iglesias • Caren King Choi • Sarah Kipp • Nina Kuo • Norene Leddy • Ann LePore • Wendy Letven • Laura Lou Levy • Sandra Liu • Lara Loutrel • Roxanne, Sonia and Xavier Lucas • Melissa MacAlpin • Stephen McKenzie • Anne Q. McKeown • Arturo Meade • Elizabeth Ndoye • Joseph O’Neal • Suliman Onque • Kelly Pinho • Rob Plater • Christine Romanell • Steve Rossi • Tiffany Salas • Nancy Saleme • Triada Samaras • Carolyn Sheehan • Marah Siyam • Elenore Smith • Ceaphas Stubbs • Kea Tawana • Michael K. Taylor • Calla Thompson • Bleriot Thompson • Mary Valverde • Eli Vandenberg • Bisa Washington • Ken Weathersby • Shoshanna Weinberger • Jaither West • Troy West • Eleanor White • Emma Wilcox • Gail Winbury • Jesse Wright
Maria Driscoll McMahon: By The Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient
Curated by Evonne M. Davis
February 22nd, 2020 – July 10th, 2020 Opening Reception – February 22nd, 7-10pm Eleta J. Caldwell and Rodney M. Gilbert Memorial Gallery
As of 2019, 29 million people have had their DNA tested. By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient by interdisciplinary installation artist Maria Driscoll McMahon, is, in part, a time-traveling, time-compressing meta-genealogical investigation that ruminates on the psycho-socio-political implications of mass DNA testing, patriarchy, loss, anemia, and other things. National lore and mythology originating in one’s ancestral stomping grounds can inform the perceived purpose of one’s life, as “the self,” in identification and sympathy with one’s ancestors permeates boundaries of time and space. What happens when many find heroes, barbarians, princes, paupers, and sworn enemies sitting on the same branch of the family tree? How will the past inform the future?
Raw Umber
October 12th, 2019 – Temporarily On Hold Opening Reception – October 12th, 2-4 PM
NICO Kitchen + Bar, 1 Center Street, Newark, NJ
Raw Umber is the inaugural exhibit that launches a new partnership between Newark’s artist-run Gallery Aferro and NJPAC. Rotating exhibitions featuring artists curated by Gallery Aferro allow patrons of NICO Kitchen + Bar to enjoy (and even take home) compelling works arising from the ceaseless vitality of Newark’s independent visual arts scene. Raw Umber is a group exhibit titled after a family of colors derived from naturally occurring pigments in the earth, ranging from rich, dark brown tones, yellows, and fiery oranges and reds. Join us for the opening reception of this new partnership, as part of the Newark Arts Festival. The exhibition will run through March 2020. About the art and artists: Marsha Goldberg is a current artist-in-residence at Gallery Aferro whose work is exquisitely sensitive to the atmospheric shifts of light, shadow, and air that define our experience of the world. Master Papermaker Anne Q. McKeown’s longtime residency at Gallery Aferro connects to her prestigious commissioned work in Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Cuba, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. McKeown’s artworks included in Raw Umber are on Ugandan bark cloth hand pounded from fibers, visualizing a visceral tie to the earth. Kevin Durkin’s works reveal a constant longing for a remembered landscape of home while Gladys Barker Grauer’s (1923-2019, known as the “Mother of Newark Arts”) hypnotic self-portrait includes a subtle spiderweb motif. Ibrahim Ahmed iii (Aferro A.I.R.2013), now residing in Cairo, created a dramatically scaled portrait before leaving Newark, contrasting with a deceptively simple early 1960’s watercolor by L. Gluck of St. Thomas. Important works by Reginald K. Gee, Stephen Flemister, Floyd Newsom Jr., and E. J. Montgomery from the collection of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art reveals Newark’s cultural connections to multiple generations of important artists of color up to this very moment.
Elevator Music 6: Janétza Miranda
Curated by Juno Zago
February 22nd, 2020 – July 10th, 2020 Opening Reception – February 22nd, 7-10pm Gallery Aferro, 2nd Floor Installation
Elevator Music 6: Janétza Miranda, curated by Juno Zago, invites visitors to step inside an early-1900s refurbished Otis Elevator and experience the sophisticated sounds of the songwriting chanteuse of the Ironbound.
Hailing from Newark, New Jersey, Miranda’s work is inspired by her Puerto Rican roots, projecting a vibrant range of colors melding sounds of jazz, blues, boleros, plena y bomba, and Flamenco. Miranda loves to fuse together the music that excites her with her favorite songs of yesterday and today.
You can often find her performing on her classical Spanish guitar, weaving together melodies that you would never think could coexist. She has appeared on NBC’s The Voice, performed in the Americando Expo in Milan, Italy, and continues to tour around the world.
Elevator Music is a continuous rotation of experimental sound art curated for the permanent installation on the 2nd floor of Gallery Aferro. The installation is comprised of a very early Otis Elevator (single digit) from the early 1900s excavated from the basement of Gallery Aferro’s facilities at 73 Market Street. The elevator was cleaned up, refurbished, and equipped with a motion sensor activated media player. Guests enter the elevator and the audio-works are activated, analogous to the ways we may enter a functioning elevator ready to deliver us to our desired (or undesired) destination. Elevator Music is a space where audio works can become accessible within a visual arts gallery experience. Over the years, the installation has taken on many forms, from musical mixtapes to experimental “studio sounds.” The original Elevator Music, Aferro Publication #17 juried by artist Adam Trowbridge, was intended for permanent loop in the Gallery’s freight elevator before the entombed passenger elevator was even discovered. Currently in it’s fifth iteration, Elevator Music has been curated by Spencer Frohwirth, Dahlia Elsayed, Jacob Lawrence Mandel, and Juno Zago. Entering Elevator Music brings the viewer to a new, personal space to listen and reflect on alternative forms of creative expression.