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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.
The Tompkins Square Branch of The New York Public Library has been serving residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side since 1904. Historically, it dates back to 1887, when it opened as the Fifth Street Branch of the Aguilar Free Library. The branch relocated three times before moving to its present site facing Tompkins Square Park. Designed by the famous architects McKim, Mead and White and constructed with funds donated to the City by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the three-story branch has 16-foot ceilings and a spacious children’s room on the second floor. Traditionally, Tompkins Square has served varied ethnic populations, including German, Italian, Jewish, Polish, and Ukrainian, and, since the 1960s, a thriving arts community (an art gallery in the basement features shows by local artists). A major renovation of the branch, as part of the Library’s Adopt-A-Branch program, was completed in 1996.
The New York Public Library
Tompkins Square branch, Gallery
331 East 10th St, New York, NY 10009
(212) 228-4747
M/W 12-7, T/Th 11-6, F/S 10-5, Closed Sundays
(Expect the Gallery to be closed half an hour before.)
L: 1st Ave, F: 2nd Ave, N, R: 8th St/NYU, 6: Astor Place

Image Credit
: ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙
Oil on canvas
24″ x 24″ x 1.5″
2014
Supplemental Images
Thy image is ever before the eyes of thy beloved.
(Does the person whom I love, love and regard me?)
From Napoleon’s Oraculum, 1839