VISION QUEST comes down on Sunday, Feb 21st, so be sure to stop by today until 8pm or tomorrow between 12 and 6pm. I'll be at the space myself for much of the weekend, so hope to see you there.
VISION QUEST – A Group Show of Neo-Shamanic Art
January 16th– February 21st, 2010
Click here to see images of the show
OBSERVATORY and Phantasmaphile’s Pam Grossman are proud to kick off 2010 with VISION QUEST, a group show of neo-shamanic art, on view from January 16th through February 21st.
A healer, a medicine (wo)man, a guide: the shaman is a figure who interfaces with nature magic and the invisible world at large, for the betterment of the tribe. Fluent in the language of symbols, and a perennial student of plant wisdom, the shaman is also a translator – bringing back messages from a place veiled thick with leaves, bones, smoke, ghosts.
This journey to the other side – to the innerside – is not just a flowery promenade of song and trance; of friendly animal spirits and ancestral reunions. For while this land is rife with vibrant, variegated beauty, it can also be a danger zone. Images of decapitation and dismemberment abound - though ultimately act as portents for personal transformation and rebirth. This shadowy terrain is trod only by those brave enough to encounter whatever may be found along the way, as each sojourn is mysterious, thoroughly unpredictable, and entirely individual. However, the results of the trip often prove invaluable, as the traveler returns armed with knowledge that will in turn illuminate and repair the community, and fortify his or her own soul.
While the role of the shaman has traditionally been fulfilled by experienced elders in indigenous groups spanning culture and time, VISION QUEST posits that our artists fit the bill as well. Today, with more of us living in an urban jungle rather than a real one, it has become all the more important to figure out ways to internalize the lessons of nature: its growth, its brilliant bloom, its death. And in an age of digitization and distraction, of wire vines and humming screens, it’s no wonder we long for deeper, more sensory experiences of self - with all of its darkness and divinity.
As such, each piece in VISION QUEST explores the archetype of the shamanic voyage, using the tools of paint, pencil, or paper in lieu of fire, flower, feather. Taken together this work represents a full spectrum of what it means to go underground and out of body; to go there and come back again, perhaps just a little bit wiser or, at the very least, more wide awake.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Jesse Bransford
William Crump
Scott Gursky
Juliet Jacobson
Ashley Lande
Adela Leibowitz
Jason Leinwand
Christopher Mir
Joe Newton
Herbert Pfostl
Christopher Reiger
Christine Shields
Erika Somogyi
Jessie Rose Vala
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Pam Grossman is the creator and editor of Phantasmaphile,
the premiere online destination for art aficionados with a passion for
the surreal and the fantastical. An internationally beloved art and
culture web log, it features daily spotlights on artists and events, as
well as interviews with such visual luminaries as Thomas Woodruff, Nils
Karsten, and Richard A. Kirk. Phantasmaphile was written up two years
in a row on the Manhattan User’s Guide Top 400 New York Sites list, and
Grossman’s previous show, “Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantastists” was featured by myriad taste-making outlets including Juxtapoz, Arthur, Upper Playground, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter
page. VISION QUEST is her latest curatorial effort, and she is proud
to have it hanging at OBSERVATORY, the art and events space she
co-founded.
DIRECTIONS TO OBSERVATORY: ***PLEASE USE NEVINS ST./PROTEUS GOWANUS ENTRANCE***
Observatory
is located at 543 Union Street at Nevins St., in the Gowanus
neighborhood of Brooklyn. The entrance is currently through Proteus
Gowanus gallery, in the alley off Nevins St (see below for full
details).
R or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn:
Walk
two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street.
543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on
Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Proteus Gowanus
is the second door on the left.
F or G train to Carroll Street:
Walk
one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards
the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the
alley to Proteus Gowanus, the second door on the left.
observatoryroom.org
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