Pandemonium: Art of the Pandemic (Painting is Forever) curated by Nicollette Ramírez BEEZ AND HONEY
ART X ARTISTS OVR GALLERY
NOVEMBER 29th 2021- JANUARY 20th 2022
“Strength and Art are easily outdone By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toil And hands innumerable scarce perform.” John Milton, Paradise Lost.
NEW YORK, NY | November, 2021 – ART X PUZZLES: Puzzles with Purpose and ART X ARTISTS is pleased to announce the exhibition titled “Pandemonium” by art curator Nicollette Ramirez with contemporary artists Uri Dotan, Lindsey Nobel, Dim Zayan, Danny Licul, Alessandro del Pero and Akuzuru. NFTS and traditional artworks come together for the first time in ART X ARTISTS OVR Gallery.
Click Here for “Pandemonium” ART X ARTISTS Exhibition
Curatorial Statement: Pandemonium was the capital of Hell in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1669). The golden city of Pandemonium was built very quickly in a corner of the darkest pit in Hell by the fallen angels whose leader was Mammon. Mammon always had his eyes downcast focused only on the golden pavement when he was in Heaven and through him men on Earth were prodded to rape and pillage Mother Earth, extracting her riches for their vain glory. Technology, commerce, luxurious life and tyranny are Pandemonium’s themes, and they seem to fit aptly into our current zeitgeist.
During the ongoing pandemic the art world underwent massive changes, not the least of which is the NFT movement or the digitization of Art on the blockchain. On a micro level artists in their studios have also adapted their work to this new medium. Some of their work blends seamlessly with the concept of a non-fungible token, while other artists resist or rather carry on as they have been doing before the NFT Revolution; Painting is Forever. Whatever medium they choose to use, the message is the same: Great Art Will Triumph. And in great art the human mind finds solace from the challenges of our world.
Highlights Include Contemporary Artists:
Uri Dotan is a pioneer of digital art whose work has begged for an opportunity like this. From the 1980s in Tel Aviv and then NYC at SVA, Dotan employed various digital techniques to explore the subjects of isolation, urbanism, political conflict, love and the human condition. Each NFT is delivered with a private key.
Lindsey Nobel uses science, technology, and the synapses or connections between all things and people via the infosphere in her paintings, drawings, sculpture and mixed media. Nobel’s language is primarily abstract which she uses to describe various subjects as diverse as quantum physics and siphonephores. The neurons that make up brain connections are often cited as imagery in her work.
Dim Zayan is the creator and artist behind the first Bitcoin comic book (les bandes dessinées) Bulltardia. The three pieces in this exhibition come from his Plebs Geographic NFT series. The PLEB GEOGRAPHIC a.k.a PLEBS is a collection of personality types and an observation over the Bitcoin journey, how it changed us as human beings and what we felt along the way. Through a series of portraits, the collection paints stories of joy, pain, endurance, passion, high hopes, successes and disappointment but first and foremost stories of freedom. I hope you'll see in these fun snippets a window to the heart and soul of the Bitcoin community. Each portrait is painted over pages from vintage National Geographic magazines from the 40s and 50s. Forgotten stories of ancient civilizations and post-war industrialization are hijacked and repurposed to showcase our contemporary Bitcoin history. The first series sold out during the Bitcoin Miami Conference. Each piece comes framed and includes a digital version issued on Bitcoin (via Counterparty).
Danny Licul has created a cosmology around the characters in his paintings. From the hand puppet series, to the schoolhouse, playground and family subject matter, Licul encapsulates the contemporary world in post-apocalyptic acidic hues. “My paintings, like childhood, are colorful, playful, chaotic, exploratory spaces that are prone to changes while trying to make sense of how I and we relate to the wider world.”
Alessandro del Pero’s paintings during the pandemic highlight the concept of isolation even within a technologically connected society, which adversely affects mental health. Coming out of isolation and into community is what helps grow and evolve.
A k u z u r u is an Avant Garde artist with an Environmental TransDisciplinary praxis straddling multiple approaches. Her thought- provoking works invoke the unseen, where the material and the immaterial are as connectedly interspersed as the immanent and transcendent. Using vast spaces in the natural world and the spatial appropriations of interiors of buildings, her otherworldly forms in installations or 'Spatial Works' and expansive Performative Ak-Tivations inoculate deeply indelible emotive experiences. She is established as a multifaceted lexicon of performative works whether live or on film, with the natural world and metaphysics being central to her process. Her immersive complex presentations are expansive, involving a multitude of persons as well as deeply engaging solo expressions. Her Total Art experiences are conceptually and physically intense, often interactive, multi-genre constructions, emphasizing performance art's radical axis as a dynamic and powerful art form. Her renowned multi-genre works, many performances and large sculptural-installations are consistently presented at prestigious institutions and powerful natural environments worldwide. A pioneer in the radical presence-ing of performance art in Trinidad and the Caribbean, her evolution as an artist during 30 years, established her TransDisciplinary visions- a metaphysically dynamic intersection of the human and natural world - encapsulating the science of space, light, sound, silence, and movement.“Nesting itself, has been a recurring presence in my works over the years.” The large drawing titled: Syncopation is a cosmic rhythmic tribute to the rebirth of feminine power as a necessity in today's troubled world. About 6ft by 6ft, multi- dimensional. Drawing on canvas and wallpaper - with emulsion paint, lacquer, ink, glue, charcoal and collage. At this crossroads in history where systems are morphing and we leave one world behind and embrace another, our brain health can be supported by each other and the creative life around us. On the other side of Pandemonium Light triumphs over Dark.
ABOUT ART CURATOR NICOLLETTE RAMIREZ: Nicollette Ramirez is the creator and host of The Beez and Honey Podcast. She is a writer, producer, events organizer, private art dealer and mother to a growing boy named Theodore Love Ramirez Matthiessen. www.Beezandhoney.com
ABOUT ART X ARTISTS: ART X ARTISTS launched September 2021, as a partner platform to ART X PUZZLES presenting integrated OVR experiences and technology click-to-purchase experiences of Collector Editions, NFTS and artworks from around the globe. www.artxpuzzles.com | @artxpuzzles
ABOUT ART X PUZZLES: PUZZLES WITH PURPOSE: Puzzles with Purpose was conceived in May 2020 as a multifaceted sales initiative to support a range of contemporary artists as they faced the economic fallout from the world’s battle against COVID-19. Expanding horizons, Puzzles with Purpose sought artists from across the globe to shine a light on their studio practice and to create a unique Collector Edition Jigsaw Puzzles. A percentage of all net- proceeds from each Collector Edition allocated to participating artists for their studio practice and creative endeavors with a percentage of proceeds from each sale benefiting their respective Artist Charity Choices.
ABOUT UNTITLED ART FAIR: In 2021, over 140 international galleries and non-profits will participate in United Art Miami Beach with an expanded curatorial platform imagined by Omar López-Chahoud and guest curators Natasha Becker, Miguel A. López, Estrellita Brodsky and José Falconi. The full exhibitor list can be accessed on Untitled Art’s website, which has been redesigned alongside an entire new brand identity by the graphic design practice Studio Lin on the occasion of the fair’s 10th edition. www.untitledartfair.com @untitledatfair ‘Nest’ will include 23 participants from over ten countries, including seven from Latin America and two from Europe. Six states will be represented from the United States, most coming from outside of major art world hubs.
Press Contact: Cari Noga | cari@carinyc.com