Alter(native) Facts: Look Closer

A really real group show

Curated by Denise Jones Adler

Pleiades Gallery, 530 W 25th St. Ste 406, NY, NY 10001

Alternative Facts: The Manifesto

Alter(native) Facts exhibit. In foreground – The Oba’s Headdresses.

Alter(native) Facts: Look Closer

A really real group show

Curated by Denise Jones Adler

Pleiades Gallery, 530 W 25th St. Ste 406, NY, NY 10001

 

Alternative Facts: The Manifesto

OUR WORLD IS ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD. We are inundated with news and visuals via social media, on our TVs, radios, computers and smartphones. We are on constant alert and in CONSTANT CONTACT. Each of us has developed filters to try and CONTROL THE BARRAGE OF INFORMATION, but it is difficult to manage when all forms of diverging interests spend trillions to keep us tuned in. MARKETING IS OMNIPRESENT with the sole goal to MANIPULATE and convince us of the necessity of a product, honesty of a person, or voracity of an idea. As a child of the sixties I see all of this visual and mental stimulus putting us into a kind of “INFORMATION SHOCK.” WE CAN’T PROCESS everything happening around us, so we try to tune it out, and it’s not always easy. LIMITING INTAKE and managing understanding, hashing out the relevant from the firewall of BS can take a lot of energy. Meditation and mindfulness in a world SUPERCHARGED WITH DISTRACTIONS is a growing challenge. But it is MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION with an equal dose of EMPATHY that can help us deal with this changing world and LOOK CLOSER!

Alternative facts or different perspectives on the truth can and are certainly used to cloud the information we are receiving. I would argue that alternatives to what is commonly believed are also what moves civilization forward. Looking at this from the perspective of an artist I see the varying realities make the conversation difficult. But we all have particular views. Artists, poets, philosophers, scientists, cab drivers have unique incites into the things they care about.  Each of us brings our own history, ethnicity, race, religion, and upbringing that filters our individual perspectives. Asking questions about events helps us be objective. Being curious about others deepens our understanding of ourselves and our peers. Respecting various versions of “the truth” can only strengthens communication in our communities. Accepting differences will help all of us become better, more productive members of society.

The art in this show is not political, it is personal. Each piece is singular. But it speaks of the artist’s viewpoint and in turn, will communicate different things to different people. IT RESONATES OR IT DOESN’T to new eyes and CHANGES AT SECOND GLANCE. So, is art a lie as Picasso puts it? In an ironic twist, all but a few of the artists rejected that notion! One of the artists found a better analogy in the writings of James Baldwin – “THE PURPOSE OF ART IS TO LAY BARE THE QUESTIONS HIDDEN BY THE ANSWERS.” Certainly a more artful way of saying it. For in the answers are always more questions. THAT IS THE HUMAN CONDITION: We know little yet learn more every second. It’s in the asking that our knowledge grows and through doubts we expand the evidence, bringing us closer to the answers.

So the lie is not universally accepted as a metaphor for the process, neither is any ultimate truth. Art is what it is. Perhaps the artist makes his art to surprise oneself. If that art surprises someone else,  “THAT IS WHAT IT IS.”

Or maybe it’s beyond explanation? Artists are affected by what happens around them. Maybe their art is done to cope, or escape or understand that? Their expressions are their own, put out in the world to be ingested by anyone who’s willing. Filtered through another’s perspective and changing but not negating the artist’s intention. The original still exists and is understood or misunderstood ad infinitum. The idea, though,  that was it’s main purpose does not cease to be, it’s innate.

The art I make is cathartic. It’s fulfilling. It is an alternative expression of myself; everything I’ve learned, experienced or dreamed played a part in its creation. It’s personal and only.  When someone responds to it, they are bringing their own experiences, dreams, intelligence to it but I am in there too. And that’s where alternative facts can lead us. Always LOOK CLOSER! ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS. ALWAYS DOUBT WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE POSITIVE. TRUST YOURSELF BUT REMEMBER THAT INTRANSIGENCE IS A FLAW. LISTEN MORE THAN YOU SPEAK. PAY ATTENTION WHENEVER POSSIBLE. LOVE YOURSELF, FORGIVE YOURSELF, MAKE MISTAKES AND ENJOY IT! ACCEPT ALTERnative REALities BUT NEVER STOP QUESTIONING AUTHORity!

Sent from my iPhone