Exhibitions

Visceral Bodies

Curated by Juno Zago

June 24th – August 12th, 2023
Opening Reception – June 24th, 6-9pm
Gallery Aferro Main Gallery

Participating Artists:

Peter Dougherty • Judy Giera •  Monifa Kincaid • Ian King • Kerry Kolenut • Nelle • Aurora Powell • Robert Richardson • Christine Sauerteig-Pilaar • Fausto Sevila • Jackie Skrzynski

If a body is a vessel for the mind and the day-to-day human experience, what is a visceral body? A visceral body is a being that has or is currently living through a visceral experience. The experience of having a radicalized and legislated body, a transgender body, a body that has experienced cancer and come out the other side, a body that is experiencing organ failure, a body that yearns to transmit compassion with every muscle. This exhibition takes a closer look at bodies who want to be defined by their innermost physical attributes and bodies that want nothing more than to transcend the physical form, as well as bodies who oppose systems and bodies who have been transformed by systems – even in spite of them. 

One can argue exhibitions about the human body “have been done to death.” That the human body, the human condition, and even the figure as subjects of artistic exploration are largely overdone by artists. Yet despite all this, the fact that the human body is still the literal backdrop of the lived human experience remains immensely compelling. 

The artists whose works are featured in Visceral Bodies aren’t using the human body as the backdrop of their artistic visions with depictions of exactness. They are quite literally exploding the physical form, asking and even answering questions about their lived experiences, and inviting you to come closer and examine what they have discovered along the way. 

“Visceral Bodies” asks that viewers consider the body, its presentation, and its limitations. It also asks viewers to consider its innards, its building blocks, its resilience, its anger, and its joy. Images appear to take on the shape of guts or gnarled flesh and sinew. Bits of skin and hair (the parts of us we shed daily) make a concession for new examination, and body parts we consider essential are re-considered anew. Shining a light on what is inside each of us – often invisible, but still intrinsically known and felt.

Image credit: Kiirstin Rutabaga

Calendar

Ken Weathersby

Curated by Juno Zago

June 24th – August 12th, 2023
Opening Reception – June 24th, 6-9pm
Gallery Aferro Memorial Gallery

Multimedia painter and veteran arts educator Ken Weathersby offers a fresh feast for the eyes with his original artistic creations in Calendar. The paintings act as a thread through time – distorting, displacing and dissecting how to rescue the real from the surreal. Depictions of torqued heads, rejected ideas, and geometrically conscious skeletons bring a playful atmosphere to this provocative tableau for all to enjoy.

A recipient of numerous awards and residencies, Weathersby has exhibited his work nationally and internationally as a part of a solo or duo show at the Pierogi Gallery (New York), Pazo Fine Arts (Washington DC), Some Walls (Oakland, CA), and the John Cotton Dana Gallery at Rutgers University (Newark), among others. His work has also been a part of group shows at the National Academy of Art Museum (New York), ODETTA Gallery (Brooklyn), Aljira Art Center (Newark), Seven (Miami), Toomey Tourell (San Francisco), and I.S. Projects (Leiden, Netherlands), to name a few.

Image credit: skl3 by Ken Weathersby

Elevator Music 10: Neon Doves No Divas

Curated by Juno Zago

When asked about their Elevator Music installation, Neon Doves No Divas had the following to say:

We make art blah blah blah.

We’re uninterested in formulas and playing by the rules

We’re not cool kids trying to make cool stuff that they think is cool, because it’s exhausting and unsustainable to continue to perform the self.

Image credit: Neon Doves No Divas

Poem Booth: Make Me Wanna Holler

Curated by Candace Nicholson

Participating Poets:

anduriña
Devynity
Raymond Bally
Chris Bisram
Benedicto Figueroa
Katelyn Halpern
Slangston Hughes
Kathy Kremins
Alexander Kusztyk
Eros Livieratos
Meg Lubey
Buttered Roll
Danny Shot

Poem Booth: Make Me Wanna Holler is the next creative incarnation of Gallery Aferro’s ongoing Poem Booth Project, an interactive installation that encourages language lovers to step inside a vintage 1960s-era wooden telephone booth to enjoy an immersive experience that only comes at the intersection of art and technology.

Showcasing 13 unique voices from local, national and international poetry scenes, Make Me Wanna Holler, brings together sculptors of the written word as they dissect, scrub and polish the concept of laughing through the pain. With humor, wit and anecdotal sarcasm, these talented bards will connect with you in ways that only sound and performance art can. 

Each poet shares their sometimes subtle, oftentimes striking words on healing, hiding or harnessing tragedy with the salve of comedy in this audio exhibition of written expression. Curated by writer and storyteller Candace Nicholson, the intention of Make Me Wanna Holler is to invite the listener to decide when the melancholy ends and the laughter begins.

Images, left then right: Phone off the hook by Juno Zago | Man full of emotion by Nsey Benajah