Winter/Spring Exhibitions Now Open at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
On Saturday, February 6, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey opened its new winter/spring exhibitions to the public. To provide the safest viewing experience possible, visitors must make reservations through artcenternj.org for limited, one-hour time slots.
All four exhibitions—(de)coding;
Spandita Malik: Threads of Identity; Scaffold: Equity of Treatment—A Project by
Elan Cadiz; and Rasika Reddy: 108 Hummingbirds—will be on view through April 25.
“These four
shows—including two artist projects done during quarantine—demonstrate how art
can be a perfect antidote to these trying times,” said Mary Birmingham, the Art
Center’s curator. “With work that is
thought-provoking as well as uplifting, they bring much-needed color to our
lives.”
(de)coding features artists who employ ephemera such as antique quilts
and braided rugs, printed fabrics, casino playing cards, matchbooks,
newspapers, and other printed matter. The artists act as decoders of these
materials, reprocessing the cultural, social, or political meanings embedded in
them and encoding their new work with some of these transformed ideas. The show
will be featured in the Art Center’s Main Gallery and participating artists
include: Gina Adams, DARNStudio, Elizabeth Duffy, Ghost of a Dream, Shanti
Grumbine, Kwesi Kwarteng, Debra Ramsay, Leslie Roberts, and Viviane
Rombaldi-Seppey.
Spandita Malik: Threads
of Identity, on display in the Art
Center’s Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Gallery, features work from Indian-born,
New York-based artist Spandita Malik. For this show, Malik traveled to several
small villages in India where she photographed women who use fabric and
embroidery to achieve financial freedom while confined to their homes. After
printing the photographs on fabric, Malik asked each woman to embroider and
embellish her portrait, creating an international collaboration of shared art
and experience.
Scaffold: Equity of
Treatment—A Project by Elan Cadiz is on view in the Art Center’s Marité and Joe Robinson Strolling
Gallery I. This series of portraits by New York-based artist Elan Cadiz
highlights the importance of self-reflection and preservation and the need for
equitable treatment. The subjects are fellow artists, friends, acquaintances,
colleagues, and mentors she contacted while quarantining during the Covid-19
pandemic. Cadiz added scaffolding around the figures to symbolize the
individual care and support we all need in order to create a new and better world.
Rasika Reddy: 108
Hummingbirds is on display in the
museum’s Stair-gazing space. While quarantining at her home in Summit, NJ,
Reddy began painting a different species of hummingbird each day. She has
filled the Art Center’s main stairwell with 108 of the birds rendered in
watercolor, creating a “flock” of hope and joy for difficult times.
Visit artcenternj.org
for more information on these exhibitions and to reserve a timeslot.
About the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
For over 85 years, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey has been exclusively
dedicated to viewing, making, and learning about contemporary art. Recognized
as a leading non-profit arts organization, the Art Center’s renowned Studio
School, acclaimed exhibitions, and educational outreach initiatives serve
thousands of youth, families, seniors, and people with special needs every year.
The
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is located at 68 Elm Street in Summit, NJ.
Gallery hours: Monday–Thursday, 10 AM–8 PM; Friday, 10 AM–5 PM; and Saturday &
Sunday, 11 AM–4 PM. Admission must be reserved in advance. Please call
908.273.9121 to confirm holiday hours. Visit artcenternj.org for more
information.
Support
Major
support for the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is provided in part by the
Peter R. & Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation; the Wilf Family Foundations; and
Art Center members and donors.