Artists

Artist Statement:

This work started as a response to an Order banning travel into the US by foreign nationals from predominantly Muslim countries. As I continued to work on the painting, other current events were woven into the imagery. Rather than explaining the images and symbolism used to express my feelings, including the lack of color in the flesh, I prefer to leave it to the viewer to discover elements of the work and reflect on what it means to them. I hope my work invites discourse on a range of current events including freedom of religion, race relations, immigration, gender equality, reproductive rights and the empowerment of women.

Artist Statement:

Lately, I often wonder where my art should exist. The more I think about why I do art and whom I do it for, I feel my art should exist in the space where people rest after a hard-working day with different challenges we face in our lives. We can reset our souls and embrace the next day. My creative process is ritual-like and often takes place late in the evening. As I repair my inner balance, I’m praying to heal the world broken in so many places. This piece I’m exhibiting for the Art on the Ave exhibition, “Sanctuary,” is an abstract landscape of cherry blossoms, 
one of my childhood memories from Japan. Thousands of flower petals flying over my head were overwhelming, 
but I felt safe and happy in the space. I used many different kinds of vintage Kimono fabric scraps. This time I used mostly Japanese fabrics, but for other pieces from the same series I use fabrics from all over the world on a single surface. I’m fascinated with fabric patterns from all over the world. Clothes were initially created to protect our bodies, but patterns are to enrich our lives. I also see the appreciation of nature universally. My signature method of fabric collage utilizes traditional mosaic techniques, while playing with the idea of squares as reminiscent of digital pixels, the present instrument for recording visual memories.

Artist Statement:

Vanessa Powers’ oil paintings communicate our individual and collective trauma living in a time of great social, political, economic, and ecological upheaval.

Using surreal imagery and bold symbolism, Powers uses her subconscious as a guide to tap into the roots of our fears and grief, morphing them into images of adaptation and resilience, setting the stage for our ability to heal. 

Her disembodied and shrouded figures are placed in dark enigmatic landscapes and intertwine with the surrounding nature. A reoccurring theme in Powers’ paintings is the traditional Western philosophy of the obscenity of nature, its imagined separation from us, and our futile attempt to hold dominion over it.

A thread weaving throughout her body of her work is an emphasis on mental health and the tenacity within oneself to maintain it and rise above the struggle. In her painting “Host”, a levitating sheet draped figure levitates above a chaotic landscape. The floral pattern of the draped sheet cascades off of the linen into the foreground of the piece, transforming into brightly colored three dimensional blooms, anchoring the subject in nature. Through this self realized placement in nature, we can begin to move forward through our economic, ecological, and social ills.   

Artist Statement:

We are all part of the natural world. A simple wild rose is as complex as any other creature. It is part of the great diversity of creation. No species is above any other although they may seem insignificant to us. Aren’t we human beings similarly insignificant against the backdrop of the vast universe? Why then do we have the right to assume we are superior to certain other human beings? We are all precious and singular. Flowers are not necessarily delicate and fragile. They can be strong and assertive, and radiate hope and healing during this difficult time.

Artist Statement:

I am a painter/explorer of the human experience. I search for the psychological, the spiritual, and the sensual essence of my subjects. I believe that as an artist I have a responsibility to address what is going on in the world around me. I strive to crystalize the emotions and experiences into potent images that speak to our souls. In my practice, every painting is a journey that begins with an impulse that I explore, making adjustments in content, composition and color as I delve deeper into the process and my emotional response to it until I come at last to place where I find a balance between all of these elements while still maintaining a tension that keeps the image alive. For me, my art needs to be beautiful and purposeful. I believe my work dovetails wonderfully into the mission of Art on the Ave and the theme of The Art of Healing. This is because my paintings give voice and space to the very humanity that we all feel is being trampled on these days. My art helps distill the complex emotions we are experiencing and through the power of these images connects us all together. Hopefully looking at my paintings will in some small way let others know that we are not alone.

Artist Statement:

By navigating through personal experience and memory, the importance of intimacy within my community and self establishes my narrative and modes of accessibility. My work uses everyday interaction such as playing cards or riding bikes to connect with individuals. These moments are juxtaposed between hidden symbolism of music, fashion, and black history. By shifting the narratives to one of embrace and empowerment without a reliance on trauma. Whether its exposure of color seen in contemporary popular fashion, or aesthetics of graffiti and street art, they become layers of texture and imagery for the environment and for how the people depicted carry out their lives and share experience. Noting on these ideas, they become intertwined with resistance and the black presence through everyday life in my work. Living in this era of uncertainty regarding a pandemic that disproportionately affected black communities, and the ongoing protests against the acts of violence and systematic oppression, more than ever it is important to fight for black presence, an embodiment of love, community, healing and resistance through our actions and our art.

Artist Statement:

On March 10, 2020, COVID-19 knocked me out. What scared me most during my illness–and 25 days of solitary quarantine–was my occluded breathing. For days it felt as if I were inhaling through a heavy, wet, woolen blanket. I recovered, grateful for my housemates’ care, and yearning to remedy the helplessness I felt while trapped inside my bedroom. Amidst the pandemic, and our country’s long-overdue reckoning with racism, I am engaged in an ongoing project with over 900 New Yorkers, all of whom have chosen to wear masks to protect one another, and who agreed to be photographed masked.

Masked NYC: Witness to Our Time is my effort to share the resilience, diversity, and dignity I have witnessed in my fellow New Yorkers in this exceptional moment in history. May we continue to strive for justice, health, and empathy toward one another moving forward, and daily seek to see, respect, and celebrate one another’s radiance.

Any profits realized from this project will be donated to the Know Your Rights Camp COVID-19 Relief Fund, founded by Colin Kaepernick to help address the pandemic’s disproportionate effect on our communities of color.

Reproductions available, please contact the artist for more details.

Artist Statement:

This piece, titled “El pueblo unido,” is dedicated to my ancestors and the Mexican laborers who keep our country ticking even through the spread of a deadly virus and wildfires. As I sit in my comfortable Upper West Side apartment and savor a bowl of fruit, it is not lost on me that this fruit was likely picked by calloused Mexican hands. I am a privileged multiracial young woman who attended a reputable university and now have the ability to work from home to keep myself and my family safe. If my Mexican grandfather, who immigrated here at age 16 to work in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, were still alive and working today I know he would not have enjoyed that same luxury.

Artist Statement

Brooklyn-based transcendental painter Hayley Youngs creates lavish geometric paintings, alluding to a realm beyond the physical world, both philosophically and spiritually. Employing a visual language of esoteric shapes and curvilinear motifs, she navigates a mystical pictorial space, governed by symmetry, color, and intuitive precision. With a mission to “find the calm within the chaos” amidst a wildly turbulent sociopolitical climate, Youngs’ ongoing series of Rorschach-esque works metaphorize humanity’s journey into the unknown and the societal transformation taking shape in our modern historical moment. Drawing stylistic influence from Art Deco, Psychedelia, and Visionary art traditions, these kaleidoscopic abstractions are a timely reflection of the universal desire for balance and positivity, serving as a safe haven for comfort, collective meditation, introspection, and re-orientation.

Artist Statement:

Inspired by Latin American and European surrealists, I employ similar strategies and playful juxtaposition of images to depict portraits and landscapes with post- apocalyptic visions and utopian narratives questioning our present and future world. This series of portraits and landscapes are intricately filled with images of dense jungles and paradise-like scenarios combined with images that reference the vast influence of western consumer society, as well as, the magic and sacredness of the natural world. I chose to depict portraits of people without a specific race or culture (some genderless) to illustrate our universal humanity and the challenges we face.

Artist Statement:

What makes the New York City neighborhoods unique and gives them their character are the individually owned stores with their interesting storefronts. These fast dwindling storefronts provide the backdrop for the interesting photo “Mollage's” that I create that tell stories of people interacting with these buildings. The images of these storefronts, through my unique vision, creates a story of a fast disappearing city that was being replaced by visually neutered banks, drug stores, and the like.  The works of art include text that helps to tell the story of these businesses and artifacts from those stores like menus and other items.  

Artist Statement:

As a native Upper Westsider, I've spent a lifetime witnessing and participating in the New York experience; the wreckage brought by the virus remains a once in a lifetime trial.  We all suffer from the loss of what we had and sometimes took for granted, while other powerful positive forces have risen up from the remnants. For this show, I selected photographs from the recent and distant past that reflect the genuine, positive energy in New York and its people. It is my hope that these images will become part of the artistic groundwork needed to see us through this peril. By acknowledging the fortitude of the past, we can spark the stamina needed for our future.

Artist Statement:

The unconventional representations of Black America culture in my work align with Art on the Ave’s mission to present new perspectives from marginalized citizens. The central theme in my work is the use of juxtaposition as a visual and conceptual tool to explore the African American millennial experience through figuration. I combine contradictory elements to illustrate the collision of our internal psychology with our external reality. Growing up in both the deep south and the urban northeast, I have found contradiction to be a commonality among the many socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and cultural identities present in the Black community. Subjects are portrayed with emphasis on contemporary fashion and pose of figure, reflecting this generation’s distinct aesthetic. This unique depiction of African American millennials combined with allegorical cultural, political, and economic context forces the viewer to scrutinize their own subconscious perceptions in order to decipher the work.

Artist Statement:

The speed and scale of human movement occurring around the planet in 2020 is nearly incomprehensible. A devastating viral contagion now travels between continents and neighborhoods; global protests; marches; migrations; 65 million displaced refugees; civil and cyber warfare... My work addresses ancient and recurring movement patterns now unfolding with the force of billions on the planet. I use drawn, painted and projected marks, as well as live performances and public installations to highlight the instability, violence and power of human motion – individual and collective - and the ebb and flow of its destructive, cataclysmic, and chaotic force. My submission for the Art of Healing reflects gestures of openness, empathy and collective action as well as the grave devastation we face and the urgency in finding collective communal action to heal.

Artist Statement:

As a feminist artist, my first commitment is to painting other women, the human face, and figure. Whether working with figurative descriptions or with the abstract use of materials, I approach all my subjects directly and with abandon. Focused on women, the collages are not only unified in size to catch the eye from a distance, but the viewer is drawn closer in order to explore and discover the maps, photographs and textual details within the collage elements. Additionally, in my quest to discover and reveal what is most essential, the observational drawing aspect of these images is created with my non-dominant left hand.

Artist Statement:

When I painted ‘3K’, both the subject matter and I had just gone through a very similar ordeal. ‘K’ in this painting is my friend Kelvin Badu, and like me, we both at this moment had just lost our fathers. Me, just a few months before him. Like most of us in this country, Kelvin and I are immigrants and decided to forge a new life in the United States. The hardest part is leaving those you love behind with the possibility of never seeing them again. Unlike me, Kelvin was very close to his father, but the news of losing your parent still affects both of us similarly. We used to sit over drinks and share stories of our homeland, our family, and especially our parents. I used to envy him because he had spent more time with them, as he came here recently. I was a young boy when I left my family and did not have that many stories to share. But when the news arrived of our fathers passing, we both went through the same emotions. Long introspective periods of soul searching, questions, and self-doubts. At times we wondered if we had made the right decision to leave everything and everyone behind. Then there are times where we find ourselves searching every corner of our mind just trying to hold on to every bit of memory of our fathers. The good, the bad, and even the ridiculous. We find ourselves smiling and crying recalling just glimpses of the past that pop into your head. When I asked him if I could paint his emotions that I've witnessed on my face, he agreed. Painting his journey of grieving helped me understand what I was going through and helped me cope with my recent loss. And for him, sitting for me and telling me the stories of his father, helped his journey towards healing. Painting this piece, together as artist and subject, both Kelvin and I found a path to soothe our pain and look forward to the future again.

Artist Statement:

In the middle of the pandemic and with all the pain and injustice filling our lives I experienced a bust of creativity, an urge to paint, to create, to express myself looking for healing and connection. Pain and discomfort can be expressed in a powerful yet beautiful way as hope and joy can. Over the years, I have developed my own painting technique that goes along with the way I see life. Building layers and then scraping them, allows you to see what is behind. Gradually, all colors emerge and alter the composition. Some of them might be brighter, others darker, even dull, but within the whole picture they complement and highlight each other. As said earlier, this is how I see life from an individual and a collective perspective. The layers in the picture represent my experiences, memories, pain and healing, the years I have lived. From a collective perspective, no matter our differences, we are all part of the same painting and only by embracing and respecting each other we can create a beautiful and powerful piece in which we are all equally important.

Artist Statement:

The painting “Harlem Apollo” is an ambiguous  landscape, offering a dual-viewpoint of either the final “curtain call” for legitimate theater at the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic, or the more hopeful narrative of “The Show Must Go On” at the Apollo’s “Amateur Night” when the Pandemic finally bows out.  “Harlem Apollo” is also a tribute to the essential workers who put their lives on the line during the pandemic. Working in hospitals as nurses,  EMTs transporting Covid 19 patients in ambulances, drivers delivering food to the needy and even Apollo sign installers. These brave front-line workers were predominantly people of color, and “Harlem Apollo” is an acknowledgement of their selfless sacrifice for others.

“I Love Harlem” is a landscape painting set at the onset of a snow storm in New York City. The hazy atmosphere of an approaching blizzard provides a point-of-view, indicative of COVID-19’s first wave of silent destruction and death in the early winter months of 2020. Overwhelmed with COVID-19’s path of sickness and destruction, Harlem turned to its historically African-American Churches to provide a beacon of faith, hope and communication. The pastor’s rallying call to wear masks and act with caution when in close proximity to others. Significantly reduced the rate of Infection in Harlem providing a recovery road map for other NYC communities to follow. During this time of renewed concern about a second Winters-wave of the ongoing pandemic, Harlem stands tall as a spiritual Mecca. Providing a practical faith-based message that keeps the community as safe and hopeful as is possible in these trying times.

Reproductions of each piece are available, please contact artist for more details.

Artist Statement:

Katie Godowski is a New York based Photographer that has had a passion for photography for the last 16 years. She went from a clunky Kodak camera that her parents gave her at the age of 12 to a beautiful Canon 80d. Throughout the years, Katie has photographed all different events but over the last 7 months, her main focus has been on the quiet streets of the Pandemic to shouting “No Peace, No justice” as she photographs of the protests from Brooklyn to Union Square. She wants to capture what’s happening in the moment. You can find her always looking for the next opportunity to photograph and is always excited to capture something new. Katie is often photographing for nonprofits, different community organizations, restaurants and the beautiful humans that surround her. 

Artist Statement:

The year 2020 is unquestionably one of the most troubling of our lifetime. Yet opportunities emerge from catalysts for change.

While it will be critical to reflect, we must also remain present and engaged. Especially in NYC, life plays out on our avenues and in our alleys – from the dramatic, to the small moments over in a flash yet often etched into our memories. Never has this been more apparent, as the Black Lives Matter movement adds further texture to the fabric of our city.

As stories of pain and hope are told on our streets, photography visually amplifies these storytellers. Focusing on street portraits, I seek to elevate the importance of individuals. Through the power of faces, I hope to evoke a visceral sense of relatability, empathy, and connection.

Owen is a striking young man I met at one of designer Jason C Peters’ BLM events. With his head in the clouds, Owen represents a future of possibilities. He inspires me, and I hope others as well, to do and be better - so he, his generation, and those to follow, can realize their greatest dreams, without barriers or biases.

As a human being, as a photographer, I am compelled to support and contribute to this movement. My aspiration is that my imagery helps spark critical conversations and helps those I photograph know their lives and stories matter. Alongside the powerful work of others, we can weave a new, healing narrative - one that helps shape a more equitable future.

Artist Statement:

One day in 2011, I married the love of my life. I told him that I wanted to paint a painting for my new living room wall. I had never painted before, so I ran out, bought paint, brushes and an easel. The work poured out of me. I was consumed with painting and found I couldn’t stop once I started. I am fascinated by faces, the fashions of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and people, both every day people and people who have changed the world. My work reflects what I learned as a dancer. I have a huge fascination with Martha Graham and Modern dance. My backgrounds are usually busy with bold colors and shapes and my images are usually drawn with a black bold line. I am fascinated by Diana Vreeland who said “The eye has to travel.” It’s so true when creating any art. I like to take the viewer on a journey, getting their eye to look at the work in a certain way. My work is bold and bright and has a lot of nods to Graffiti and street artists of the 1980s. I want art to be affordable and I want everyone to have a GDM. I know what it is like to struggle and feel that the world doesn’t hear you.

Artist Statement:

As an artist, I am well aware of art’s power. I use my work to inspire people from all walks of life. Especially young people who live in urban environments. I want them to appreciate where they come from and to embrace the beauty around them but also aspire to greater things. I use vibrant colors, textures and WORDS to inspire the viewer of my work. I use words like DREAM, INSPIRE, SHINE, LOVE, LIVE, CREATE, BEAUTY, PEACE, WISDOM throughout my work to affect emotions in the viewer. Art has absolutely changed my life. Art has taken me to parts of the country I never thought I would see. Parts of the world I never thought I would see. Art has the power to break down barriers. I recently traveled to Turkey for an art residency called NEXT LEVEL USA. Never in a million years, did I think I would have the opportunity to travel and share my work with people from across the globe. I lead workshops with local artists and the experience has been transformative. The highlight of my journey was when one of my fellow artists, Hazel, 38 years old, said that this was the first time she felt borderless and free. That is the essence of art to me.

Artist Statement:

History does nothing but repeat itself. In the beginning of the 21st century, we witness the suppression of human rights in the best interest of the State (again), the rise of Autocracy around the world (again), and the accumulation of wealth by the few (the feudal system). Historically, artists have used their work as political weapons to push back against unjust systems and expose hypocrisy. Joel Tretin is no different. Photoshop has replaced cutting, pasting, and gluing paper. Joel uses humor and irony as his weapon of choice.

Artist Statement:

Trees have long figured as an important image in my work. They represent growth and change as well as transformation. They draw from the natural world and are transmuted into substances that are fundamental to the built world - our homes, factories, ships, our books and every aspect of our designed world. When these uses have been exhausted, we are called upon to return these products to the earth so that trees can be regenerated. During the pandemic in New York, many of us have been drawn to the parks and to the trees that represent a reprieve from a human-dominated world that has gone awry. We see the trees as both refuge and hope for personal and urban renewal. The trees are, of course, neither uniform nor unchanging. They constitute their own community. They communicate with each other at the same time as they communicate with us. “Orange Trees” reflects the essential community of trees that has sustained us through the pandemic and will help us recover in its aftermath. 

Artist Statement:

In the darkest days of the pandemic, New Yorkers of every race, religion, ethnicity, age, and walk of life put themselves at risk by joining with "Black Lives Matter" marchers to protest the wrongful killing of George Floyd and the deaths of many other young unarmed African Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers across the country whose use of deadly force was brutal--and more importantly—unnecessary! Though much more will have to be done before these injustices are history, the massive peaceful protests in New York City and many other cities throughout the country have ignited movements for changes in policing procedures, for offending officers to be criminal charged, for the reopening of closed investigations, and other positive actions.

The demonstrations not only convey the collective outrage of New Yorkers over the double standard of policing and the continued disregard for the lives of young Black Americans by those who are sworn to uphold the law, they are also a strong expression of empathy and support for the families of the victims of systemic racism.     

This painting symbolizes the spontaneous coming together of the thousands of diverse fellow New Yorkers who – despite the threat to their health and risk of arrest--courageously marched in solidarity with the "Black Lives Matter" protesters and who continue to do so today. The diversity of the marchers is conveyed by the painting’s profusion of colors and shapes. And the fusion of those colors and shapes that tightly fills the entire canvas, become a powerful, unified whole -- in short, a force for a long overdue change in policing policy and practices.

Artist Statement:

The images in this series feature people who are growing old in New York, a group often ignored or marginalized in society. Aging in the city is a mixed blessing. There are always people around, things to do, and transportation. Yet to survive requires stamina. Sometimes one must bundle up on a cold day and face the elements. Sometimes a cane or walker provides needed stability. Steps are slower and strides are shorter, but trudge as they might, New York’s senior citizens manage and thrive.

In literature, a backstory provides clues to character. The photos in this series are of people of a certain age who caught my eye in the passing crowd on the streets of the Upper West Side. I’ve selected a few to submit here.

I capture people from the back and isolate them from their surroundings to highlight their humanity. Everyone has a back story and the images are meant to engage a viewer to think about the subject’s story. We see that each has a unique stance, a style, a way of walking, and a way of dressing. These Backstories challenge our imaginations to infer – or invent – a story about the person, one that represents at least a single moment in time. With these photos, I hope to encourage younger people to notice senior citizens and recognize their humanity. 

During this time of Covid-19, the virus has targeted senior citizens more than most because of pre-conditions and lowered immune responses. Yet they persevere. They venture out to shop during the senior shopping times that most stores offer. They sit on benches in Riverside Park and take in the fresh air. They are diligent in mask wearing and social distancing but life must go on. The time they have left is too precious to waste.  

Please view these images to marvel at their strength rather than see their weakness. The photos are intended to celebrate the values of their courage and decency as well as our empathy and perspective. We will all be there someday.

Artist Statement:

Steve Derrick is using his time during COVID-19 to paint portraits of the frontline workers who lay their lives on the lines everyday during the pandemic.

Artist Statement:

As an artist, I find beauty in everyday things. My goal is to paint things that are most often overlooked because they may seem simple or mundane and elevating them and turn them into art.

A lofty goal... but mine none the less.

I create... therefore I am.

Artist Statement:

I illustrate, animate and create abstract paintings that translate sounds to visuals. Most of my work intersects with identity, community and subconsciousness. Currently, I’m working on a graphic novel about my coming out story to donate money to an LGBTQ nonprofit fighting queer youth homelessness. I’m also collaborating with Legacies of War, creating a large installation project to help fund removing bombs in Laos left behind in the Secret and Vietnam Wars. I’m committed to using my artistic voice to serve marginalized communities. I made this piece in quarantine while reflecting on all the ways the word “break” can be used. We can use “break” as synonymous to a relief from something tiresome or the destruction of something good. I am interested in that constant exchange and cycling of energy. That seems to be a good summary for 2020.

Artist Statement:

The circles represent the Seed of Life. The Seed of Life is a universal symbol of creation. Seeds are magical vessels of nature holding the blueprints for life. Just like calls for justice and equality, they can lie silently until the conditions are right for them to bloom to life. The seed has the potential to create a new reality that is filled with love, inclusiveness and peace.

Artist Statement:

This new original 2020 version of CONFRONTATION is inspired by an earlier work (1966 woodcut) created during the height of the Civil Rights era that was reminiscent of some of the turbulence surging throughout  America today. The massive unrest that we are currently experiencing in my view, is the 'Body Politic' continually undergoing a healing process not unlike the human body rejuvenating its cellular structure to combat disease and infection. The 'disease' in this instance is racism and injustice, which is nothing new. What is new however, is a  generation that has come of age nurtured by decades of purposeful art, cultural activism and educational revisions that would illuminate longstanding systematic inequalities. Progressive minded educational leaders cumulatively inspired a 'corrective action' attitude among students and faculty alike. Historically grounded and socially themed artistic expression often played a central role in this 'healing' of the human spirit. CONFRONTATION employing only a black and white palette graphically implies - natural versus artificiality - nature versus urban. It is a symbolic face-off between traditional and modern ethos. In my thinking process of creating this piece a vintage African proverb came to mind: " All That's Old Need Not Be Discarded and All That's New Is Not Always Admirable" ...Throughout humankind's evolution and history, it is the courageous confrontation to injustice and oppression that ultimately leads to societal healing and true progress.