Performance Artist Alyson Pou

The installation Wherein Fury Takes Flight… “the time of our silence is over” by Alyson Pou consists of a cluster of seven long dark dresses, their full and billowing skirts madly spinning and colliding as they hover frozen in their attempt to escape through the ceiling. A warren of life-size white rabbits materialize through the walls and gather to gaze transfixed upon the scene through human-like eyes.

Through a collage of dreams, recounted stories, objects, movement… Alyson Pou peels and reveals the layers of clothing that form our identity. Her [installations] speak directly to the intellect and the intuition. Weaving together the personal and the social, Pou’s work evokes emotionally charged archetypes. With a background in visual art, modern dance and writing her work wonderfully combines movement, text, and objects.

Curated by Elizabeth Ferrer

En Foco has developed the first permanent collection in the U.S. dedicated to U.S. based photographers of the Latin American, African, Asian and Native American diaspora. This collection creates a parallel history of photography by bringing together artists and images largely absent from the mainstream photography field and unseen by the public.

The show is comprised of 56 striking prints by 49 artists of 21 differing ethnicities/nationalities. The work dates from the 1970s to the present day, and offers a snapshot of this missing history of photographers who used the camera to document their neighborhoods in the ‘70s and ‘80s, press for the inclusion of multicultural voices in artistic, political and media spheres in the ‘90s and increasingly comment on both local and universal themes using the virtual realm in the present day. This exhibition and accompanying catalogue completes an often-unacknowledged part of modern photographic history.

Artists: Adál • Jaishri Abichandani • Max Aguilera Hellweg • Sama Alshaibi • Don Gregorio Antón • Chuy Benitez • Louis Carlos Bernal • Dawoud Bey • Charles Biasiny-Rivera • Terry Boddie • Samantha Box • Roger Cabán • Valdir Cruz • Gerald Cyrus • Phil Dante • Ana de Orbegoso • Luis Delgado • Dean Dempsey • Lola Flash • Ricky Flores • Myra Greene • Muriel Hasbun • Germán Herrera • Kenro Izu • Nitza Luna • George Malave • Frank X. Méndez • Héctor Méndez Caratini • Stephen Marc • Rania Matar • Annu Palakunnathu Matthew • Larry McNeil • Groana Melendez • Tony Mendoza • Néstor Millán • Delilah Montoya • Pipo Nguyen-duy • Dulce Pinzón • Bonnie Portelance • Sophie Rivera • Juan Sánchez • Kunié Sugiura • Jane Tam • Hank Willis Thomas • Hong-An Truong • Kathy Vargas • Víctor Vázquez • Wendel White

This exhibition is funded in part with support from The National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, the Bronx Council on the Arts, Archival Methods, Canson Infinity, Light Work, En Foco friends and supporters.

Photo [top right]: © Wendel A. White

 

Thomas Broadbent selects principal concepts and ideas from his private artists’ log and heightens his focus to get to the core of their complex meaning. His detailed watercolors and drawings question the utility of each compositional component and are presented in such a manner to disengage and re-present their perceived use.

Broadbent’s new works on paper incorporate trompe l’oeil representations of seemingly unrelated objects and scenes, which allude to existentialist ideas and create sophisticated associative meaning within each piece. His sensitivity to color, tactility, and structure propel these thoughts into reality, while maintaining a key tie to illusion and metaphor.

Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art presents The Aljira Fine Art Auction 2012, its 22nd installment, on Thursday, May 17th, 5:30–9:00pm. Aljira’s annual, festive fine art auction features original works of art by leading established and emerging artists of our time and attracts a diverse audience from throughout New Jersey and New York in support of Aljira’s programs.

This year, Aljira will present its Timehri Awards for Leadership and Advocacy in the Arts to fellow non-profit Newark Downtown District and executive director Anthony McMillan; philanthropists and long-time supporters of Aljira, Michael and Marilyn Dore; multi-disciplinary artist Derrick Adams; sculptor, painter and printmaker John Ahearn and multi-media artist and former Aljira Emerge graduate Chitra Ganesh.

Honorary Co-Chairs are Frank Bowling and Rachel Scott, Ellyn and Saul Dennison, The Honorable Frank R. Lautenberg and John Schreiber. Auction Co-Chairs are Aljira Trustees Patricia A. Bell and Lisa Block. We are pleased to again welcome Harmer Johnson, author, appraiser and spirited auctioneer whose talents will guarantee a successful event.

Get more information and see the art that will be on the auction block at aljirafineartauction.org.

Tickets are $75 per person in advance, $100 at the door, and can be purchased at aljira.ecrater.com.

ALSO ON VIEW: Tom Broadbent: A Still Life
May 3, 2012 – August 18, 2012

Thomas Broadbent selects principal concepts and ideas from his private artists’ log and heightens his focus to get to the core of their complex meaning. His detailed watercolors and drawings question the utility of each compositional component and are presented in such a manner to disengage and re-present their perceived use.

Broadbent’s new works on paper incorporate trompe l’oeil representations of seemingly unrelated objects and scenes, which allude to existentialistic ideas and create sophisticated associative meaning within each piece. His sensitivity to color, tactility, and structure propel these thoughts into reality, while maintaining a key tie to illusion and metaphor.

Curator: Edwin Ramoran

Me Love You Long Time is a group exhibition of contemporary art and video since the 1990s by artists from North America and particularly those working in and descendent from Southeast Asia who use various media and complicated visual strategies to upend or explore gender expression, sexuality, sex work, and new subjectivities.

Artists include: Diyan Achjadi, Reza Afisina, Tai Chi Alfonso, Nicole Awai, Hima B., Yason Banal, Anjali Bhargava, Isauro Cairo, Lynne Chan, PierSath Chath, Vanna Chin, Susan Choi, Cecile Chong, Young Chung, Jon Cuyson, Cirilo Domine, Oasa DuVerney, Richard Fung, Permi Gill, Vicente Golveo, Akintola Hanif, Skowmon Hastanan, Swati Khurana, Andrew H. Kim, Naruki Kukita, Viet Le, Sokchanlina Lim, Mail Order Brides/M.O.B., Yeni Mao, Zavé G. Martohardjono,Tala Mateo, Gabby Quynh-Anh Miller, Ivan Monforte, Gloria Shuri Nava, Hoang Tan Nguyen, Phuong Linh Nguyen, Sokuntevy Oeur, Mariko Passion, Tomiko Pilson, Johanna Poethig, Pulang Alakdan, Clifford Landon Pun, Ling Quisumbing, Vanessa T. Ramalho, Rico J. Reyes, Larilyn Sanchez, Maitree Siriboon, SLAAAP! (Sexually Liberated Asian Artist Activist People!), Joel B. Tan, Teresa Nasty, The New Sound Karaoke with Black Waterfall & Bobby Service, Nodeth Vang, Nathan Lam Vuong, and Maria Yoon.

This exhibition is supported by a generous grant from the Lambent Foundation and a curatorial research fellowship from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.