Juror | Valeria Missalina Bembry is an independent curator, a former curatorial fellow at SPACE Gallery, Portland, and a humanitarian activist on a global level. She’s worked internationally at the nexus of art and international development and cooperation, previously in Kurdistan and currently back home in Maine.
Juror’s Statement
Concurrence features 20 artists whose works are exhibited in a curatorial experiment in the form of contained fortuitous meetings. Through the simultaneous events of the global health crisis and social justice uprisings, the need for connection has never been greater. And yet, the pleasures of chance encounters, of curious conversations with strangers, were set to pause over the last year. Instead, we had monologues while looking in mirrors and ruminated on our reflections.
With the arrival of spring and relaxation of safety guidelines, we are cautiously emerging from quarantine, optimistic about the prospect of reaching beyond the imposed boundaries of the past, and reconnecting with spontaneity.
The artists in this exhibition were invited to respond directly to these synchronistic pairings. Click on the images below to read these confabulations. If viewing on mobile, the left image will appear above and the right, below.
Artists Included
John Bowdren, John Chang, Barbara Cone, Michelle Hauser, Anna Hitchcock, Lisa Houck, Juliet Karelsen, John Knight, Fredrick Kuhn, Jeff Loxterkamp, Haley Nannig, Chris Osgood, Beverly Rippel, Oliver Solomitz, Kathryn Shagas, Sandra Stanton, Sarah Szwajkos, Joanne Tarlin, Loretta Turner, and Kitty Winslow.
[ON]now is a series of online exhibitions presenting the work of Maine artists through a digital venue. Juried by guest jurors, [ON]now goes beyond the physical gallery walls to expand possibilities of showing and viewing contemporary art.
Barbara Cone | Oliver Solomitz
left:
Fusion of Work and Dream No. 1, 2020
wood, hardware, steel wire, crushed cardboard boxes, gesso, graphite
64 x 25 x 24 inches
right:
Untitled 03, 2021
cardboard, paint, wood, glue
11.5 x 13 x 3 inches
left:
Language 02, 2019
newspaper, acrylic, resin on wood panel
18 x 18 x 2 inches
right:
Swell, 2021
oil and acrylic on eco-printed cotton
24 x 27 inches
Beverly Rippel | Kathryn Shagas
