VIRIDIANARTISTS
A CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY
548 West 28 Street, Suite 632, New York, NY, 10001 | (212) 414-4040 | www.viridianartists.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“CIRCUMSTANTIAL CONTINGENCIES”
A Viridian Affiliates Show
Tuesday, March 25 – Saturday, April 19, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 27, 6–8 PM
Closing Reception: Saturday, April 19, 4–6 PM
Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad | Sabine Carlson | Matthew Cohen
Irene Christensen | Vernita Nemec aka N’Cognita | Kathleen Shanahan
Chelsea, New York: Viridian Artists is pleased to present “CIRCUMSTANTIAL CONTINGENCIES”, an exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The show opens Tuesday, March 25 and continues through Saturday, April 17 with an opening reception Thursday, March 27, 6–8pm and a closing reception Saturday, April 17, 4–6pm.
When we hear or see the word “circumstantial,” it is usually in the context of circumstantial evidence. This suggests something that is not definitively proven but appears to be the reality. Art, too, can be considered circumstantial. It often arises from a creative moment that only the artist themselves can truly understand, while the viewer must interpret the artist's intent, making educated guesses based on the visible evidence. In each art exhibition, the “evidence” is the artwork itself. However, interpretations of this evidence can vary depending on the viewer’s perspective. This exhibition shares the process behind these artists’ creation of artistic evidence, inviting the viewer to interpret and enjoy it through their own “CIRCUMSTANTIAL CONTINGENCIES.”
Matt Cohen’s mixed media works contain areas of layering paint, wire mesh, etched and painted plexiglass, and sections of drawings secured with thin, dark wires. Cohen’s art concerns the juxtaposition of time and timelessness. There is the sense of history in the making of his work as he incorporates layers to expose earlier decisions. He feels a connection with some Baroque painting and is influenced by the dark recesses and overlaying of painted grids. About the works in this show, he states that “these moments of memory are equally present with thoughts that are continuous in our moments of exchanges, activities, or observations in our physical present; they are not truly of the past – they are one of many thoughts we have throughout our lives and are there in our minds on an equal plane.”
Irene Christensen creates from studios in different parts of the world, narrating on the environment and her perspective on female forms in nature in her paintings. Based in New York City, Oslo, and Costa Rica, the symbols and imagery of her paintings and installations serve as her translation of the primacy of nature and humanity’s dependence and inescapable bond to it. She describes her work in this exhibit as a mythology and personal iconography in which the viewer is invited into a discourse with strange and fantastic representations of the female portrait, depicted in constant celebration of life and beauty. Christensen's work has been represented in many museums and personal collections in Europe and the United States since 1983.
Montreal-based artist Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad sees the contradictions between what things look like or appear to be and what they actually are. Particularly in this time of fake reality and ‘alternative facts’ when almost anything can be falsified, she asks us to focus not on what we see but on the meaning that lies within. In the United States, she has shown at the ISEA International Symposium of Experimental Artists, the Brownsville Museum in Texas, the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedford, New Jersey, and Viridian Artists in Chelsea, NYC. Her work appeared on a billboard in central Los Angeles as part of the Billboard Creatives 2016 Exhibition. She participated in the Help Hope Nepal Mural project during Art Basel Miami 2015 and her portrait of Gradimir Pankov, former artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, won the Bronze Award in painting in the Art Forward International Competition in 2016, and was featured in a film tribute to Pankov’s achievements.
Born in Cologne, Germany, Sabine Carlson focuses on portrayals of humans, animals, and giving voice to the unspoken dialogue with their surrounding landscapes. She draws her inspiration from a constant questioning of the past, present and future of the subjects within the visual spaces in her paintings. On her works in this show, Carlson describes her small colorful paintings as “a series of chance encounters” where “water birds and humans appear to be engaged in strange conversations while struggling to maintain their footing upon land and sea.” Her work is included in public, corporate, and private collections in Germany, Italy, in the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Painter and printmaker Kathleen Shanahan studied at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka as a Visiting Scholar in the 1980s and draws her inspiration from the sculptural properties of natural objects, as well as the dynamic properties, such as flux, and life cycle. She combines her love for exploration in mixed media with cross-cultural references to create an integration of elements plucked from various disparate sources and personal experiences. Shanahan sees nature as the basis of all design and structure, and delves deeply into this in her own artistic processes. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, most notably in Japan and Chicago.
Vernita N’Cognita, aka Vernita Nemec, has been dealing with the environment through her art-making for the past 20 years, first with her Endless Junkmail Scroll and now with sculpture created from upcycled plastic food containers and other plastic detritus. She uses the aesthetics of Wabi-Sabi by focusing on the beauty of the discarded plastic’s physicality and uselessness and then creating art from it, saving it from enlarging the plastic gyres growing in the oceans, killing the coral and sea creatures who think it is food. These plastic objects from everyday life coalesce into compositions that speak to the chaotic interplay between our lives and the pervasiveness of plastic detritus that continues to grow with time. In this group of works, she has combined her sculptural “plasticism” with collages of the landscapes we are losing. Nemec has been active as an artist, a curator, environmentalist, and a feminist, organizing one of the first all-female art exhibits, “X-12,” in 1970. She was a part of Soho 20, a feminist cooperative gallery in the 70s and has presented more than 30 solo exhibits and performances in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12–6 PM
For further information please contact us at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
VIRIDIANARTISTS
A CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY
548 WEST 28TH STREET between 10th & 11th Ave., NEW YORK, NY, 10001
TEL (212) 414-4040
viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
http://www.viridianartists.com/
“CIRCUMSTANTIAL CONTINGENCIES”
Viridian Affiliates
Tuesday, March 25 – Saturday, April 17, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 27, 6-8 PM
Closing Reception: Saturday, April 17th, 4-6 PM
