Opening Reception Friday, March 3, 2017, 6 – 9 pm
Graphic design and illustration continue to expand beyond their traditional roles in publishing and advertising. Influenced by graffiti and new technologies in animation and gaming, illustrators create stories about world issues, popular culture, even trends in daily life. Artists take issues out of context and reexamine them in previously unconsidered perspectives, challenging viewers to assess their own part in the whole.
PUBLIC CONSCIENCE through Graphics and Illustration examines these trends among Northeast Ohio artists. Co-curated by artists Leslye Arian and Dave King, the group exhibition showcases the work of Laura and Gary Dumm, Derek Hess, Brian Jasinski, Nancy Schwartz-Katz, Milan Kecman, Jake Kelly, George Kocar, Joe Lanzilotta, Angela Oster, Josh Usmani, Justin Michael Will, Sean Higgins and Nicholas Rezabek of the Bubble Process.
Nancy’s contributions include the intricate papercut, Distance and Time (above), and her now-renowned holographic film and LED light mobile, The DNA of Language. Originally created in book format for the Brooklyn Arts Library, the text for Distance and Time, written after the loss of two friends, is a semblance of thought about the full, albeit all-too-short lives they had, and about how choices we make at different times in our lives shape who we are. The words incorporated into the iconography tell a story – anyone’s story – of how we go about our lives how different decisions we make impact our lives.
The DNA of Language was born of a talk about thinking out-of-the-box that Nancy gave while a mentor for the Cleveland Jewish Arts and Culture Lab, incorporating the study of Beginnings in Jewish text, and how Hebrew letters and words interact with each other constantly to create form. Co-curators King and Arian felt this piece was an important addition to the exhibition, as how we use our words makes all the difference on public issues and popular culture. For more information on the influences and creative process involved in this piece, please visit Nancy’s Fine Art page.
For more information on the exhibition, visit heightsarts.org