Selfies & Self-Portraits: 21st C Artists See Themselves

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List

"Selfies & Self-Portraits: 21st C Artists See Themselves"

September 5 - September 30, 2017.
Thursday, September 7, 6-8PM. Opening Reception and a book signing of Ann Zinman Leventhal's new novel, “Among the Survivors".
Thursday September 28, 6-8PM. A night of portraiture. All are invited to draw or be drawn!

Chelsea NY: Viridian Artists is pleased to present "Selfies & Self-Portraits: 21st C Artists See Themselves", which extends from September 5 through September 30, 2017. The opening reception will be on Thursday, September 7, 6-8PM with a book signing by Ann Z. Leventhal.
Artists have been creating self-portraits since the beginning of time, but now with cell phone cameras, the selfie has become the ubiquitous portrayal of self. The selfie has become today's self-portrait, but does it go beyond being just a likeness of the self which the artist has created or is it self-indulgence?
What is a self-portrait? What meanings does it encompass? How honest is reality or an artists' interpretation, even with a media so direct as the iPhone? Couldn't it just be the moment and an arbitrary decision to snap the shutter or be based on the composition of shapes in the image? Is it photography in the same way as our trusty old 35mm cameras performed? Is it more truthful than a brush and paint with a mirror nearby? What is art? What is reality?
Viridian has invited guest artists, as well as its usual entourage, to create and show images they feel represent themselves. Artists were invited to send us a "selfie", aka 21st C self-portrait and to create their selfie in the form of an art object in any media they desired, all the while, thinking about who they are/ what inspires and what motivates them. Or just to do an old-fashioned self-portrait!
Some are outrageous, some political, some as classical as Durer, Rembrandt, but with a twist. Today's self-portraiture, because of a thousand reasons, has become more diverse and more conceptual. How we see artists from the past may have to do more with their self-portrayals than documents in their archives. But how we see artists today via their self-image is a whole new conundrum.
On the last Thursday evening of the exhibit, September 28th, there will be an evening of portrait drawing. All interested are invited to bring their drawing pads & materials to create self- portraits or portraits of each other. Guests are invited to pose for portraits which can be traded or paid for at the rate of $1 a minute. Come between 6-8PM and participate or just observe. A good time is guaranteed for all! The exhibition continues until Saturday, September 30th.

Renee Borkow Ellen Burnett May DeViney Alan Gaynor Wally Gilbert Srividya Kannan Ramachandran
Kat King Namiyo Kubo Phillip McConnell Matthias Merdan John Nieman Mary Tooley Parker Susan Sills Virginia Evans Smit Angela Smith Deborah Sudran Kiffi Diamond Arlene Finger Ron Moore Sarah Riley Kathleen Shanahan Jenny Belin Vernita N’Cognita William Patrick Armstrong Emmett Barnacle Jenny Brown Naomi Christianson d'Ann de Simone Dave Dorsey Julie Gautier-Downes Melanie Gritzka-del Villar
Olga Garcia Guerra Charity Henderson Ed Herman Flora Hogman Jieun Beth Kim Megan Klim
Bernice Sokol Kramer Angela M. LaMonte Arturo Lindsay Vidho Lorville Jade Lowder Sara Madandar Song Lee Shawn Marshall Chang Sik Moon Petronia Paley Jesse Parajeckas
Carol Quint Mariko Spigner Sharon Wybrants

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact the gallery at 212 414 4040 or viridianartistinc@gmail.com