ART :: OPENINGS presents FRENZY INTO FOLLY : Virtual Gallery I :: Hildebrandt, Nelson, Penizzotto, Brennan, Bellucci
In celebration of Awesome Creators OPENINGS Collective upcoming group show, Frenzy into Folly, Exit Strata will be featuring the work of the 38 participating artists weekly in anticipation of and through the run [September 14 – October 26, 2012, Opening Reception Thursday – September 20th, 7-9pm] — so that our community near and far can have an opportunity to be exposed to this work even if you aren’t able to attend.
We are grateful to curators Michael Berube and Keena Gonzalez, who have curated these mini online group shows, as well as to participating artist Joey Kilrain, who did such a fantastic job with video production and design, and are excited to share their work with you, as well, over the course of these weeks.
Without further ado! Megan Hildebrandt, Daniel Nelson, Denise Penizzotto, Mark Brennan, and Patricia Bellucci.
Megan Hildebrandt (Austin, TX)
http://meganhildebrandt.
Daniel Nelson (Brooklyn, NY)
The intention of this work is to represent the Virgin Mary in the events of the Annunciation, conception and, specifically here, the moment of the birth of Jesus as it is understood in the Islamic tradition and depicted in the Qur’an. This piece is built to resemble a traditional Islamic prayer-niche known as a mihrab and it has been designed in the proportions of the sculpture of the Virgin Mary by Bela Lyon Pratt in the present Altar of the Annunciation. The script from the Qur’an can be translated as:
And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date palm. She said:
“O! I wish that I had died before this, and was in oblivion, forgotten!”
-(Surah [of] Maryam, 19.23)
It is worth contemplating that if there are approximately 2.2 billion Christians and 1.6 billion Muslims in the world today, then there are more or less 4 billion human beings who live with an unalterable reverence for one woman, whose life story bears witness to the sacred mystery of creation, of which every human being, as a supposedly cognizant formation of matter, is a recipient: having once been in a state of nothingness, each of us has been rendered into Being. As God states in the Qur’an regarding the conception of Jesus (19.35), “When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is.”
Denise Penizzotto (New York, NY)
http://www.denisepenizzotto.
Mark Brennan (Brooklyn, NY / Wellfleet, MA)
http://www.emilydickinsonart.
Patricia Bellucci (New York, NY)
The exhibition runs from Sept. 14 – Oct. 26 , with the opening reception on Thursday, Sept. 20th from 7-9pm inside the church.
The show, curated by Keena Gonzalez and Michael Berube, features work by Andrew Berardi,Anthony Santella, Araceli Cruz, Carrie Elston Tunick, Daniel Nelson, Denise Penizzotto, Dennis Santella, Garry Velletri, Iliyan Ivanov, James Vanderberg, Joey Kilrain, Johanna Bartelt, John Pavlou, Julia Whitney Barnes, Keena Gonzalez, Kenneth Walker, Lori Merhige, Marjan Moghaddam, Mark Brennan, Matthew Farrell, Meg Graham, Megan Hildebrandt, Michael Berube, Oksana Prokopenko, Patricia Bellucci, Rachel Kohn, Rebecca Simon, Robert Aitchison, Roger Geier, Sandra Mack-Valencia, Sarah Hollars, Sarah Knouse, Sherry Aliberti, Steve Palermo, Suzanne Broughel, Tim Rusterholz, Virgil Alderson, and Wen-Chi Chen.
Artists can be contacted via frenzy@openingsny.com or at artists@openingsny.com or at their websites where applicable.
Opening Reception: September 20th 2012, 7-9pm
Exhibition Dates: September 14- October 26
Mon – Fri 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sat – Sun 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location : Church of St. Paul the Apostle
Corner of West 60th & Columbus Ave. (212) 265-3495
New York, New York 10019