“Venn” by CJ Nye

Exhibition runs: November 3rd through November 28th

Opening Reception: November 8th, 2-4pm

Poetry Slam hosted by Jeff Wright, editor of Live Mag!: November 22nd, 2-4pm

The intention of Venn is to show through a selection of work, a core tenet of arts-appreciation: the artist’s “hand.”

I proposed the exhibition having found myself often describing and defending the idea of the artist’s hand, over the current trend to show an artist’s “brand.” Like many artists, I explore a lot of creative terrain, not all of which can be executed simultaneously: staining vs. glazing, riotous color vs. monochromatic austerity, etc.. Likewise, I draw from an often disparate roster of forms that hold meaning for me, such as the imposed order of the urban grid (I was born and raised in Manhattan) or biomorphic mountains that suggest to me permanence and endurance (as a child I spent summers near the Shawangunks). Further, I use a wide variety of materials, each of which lends its own characteristics to the finished product. With such factors combined, two consecutively executed works may appear to have nothing in common at all; it is only with a body of work, with overlapping similarities, that a viewer can come to understand the underlying consistency. To simplify this phenomenon for my non-artist friends, I often use the analogy of a Venn diagram. It is my hope that an exhibition hinging on this premise will provide a rich experience for audiences of all levels of familiarity with art-practice.

Special thanks:

I would like to thank the Tompkins Square branch of The New York Public Library for providing a public space for exhibition that reaches that most gratifying audience—people who habitually seek to broaden their knowledge and experience.

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