Materials For The Arts Hosts Earth Month Virtual Gallery April 16 In Celebration

On Thursday, April 16, 2020, Materials for the Arts (MFTA) will host a virtual gallery opening for the show Contemporary Reuse 2020. Contemporary Reuse is an annual exhibition showcasing the work of artists who make creative reuse a central part of their practice. The virtual tour will be hosted on Webex, where MFTA will stream a guided tour of the exhibition, followed by a live, interactive Q&A discussion with artists whose work is included in the exhibition.

Curated by MFTA Director of Education John Cloud Kaiser, the exhibition features works by Cecile Chong, Lars Fisk, Howard Lerner, Tijay Mohammed, Carolina Peñafiel, and Jason Rohlf.

"In these times when sustainability is so central to our survival and now where we are staying in our homes to protect the health of our communities, the reusable materials around us become all the more important, as they become the materials for the art that we create," said John Cloud Kaiser, MFTA Director of Education.

In the exhibition, Cecile Chong turns bathroom razors, milk jugs, and everyday objects into what look like excavations of fine Chinese porcelain. Jason Rohlf flattens old paint rags to form a stunning grid of paintings. Tijay Mohammed's large scale installations turn hundreds of kente, batik, and African wax fabric pieces into massive wavelike installations. Carolina Peñafiel uses fabric to transform jackets into bold and powerful statement pieces. Howard Lerner takes magazine scraps and funhouse advertisements to form large-scale collage paintings that harken bygone times. Lars Fisk presents a bronze cast sculpture of piled-up garbage bags.

MFTA invites guests to enjoy the virtual guided tour of the exhibition and take part in the Q&A discussion on Thursday, April 16 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, which will include four of the six exhibiting artists: Cecile Chong, Tijay Mohammed, Carolina Peñafiel, and Jason Rohlf. This exhibition was made possible through the support of The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.

Register for the event on MFTA's website. Hosted through Webex.

This event is free and open to the public.

"I hope to show the hidden potential in everything around us, even in the things that we throw away," said artist Cecile Chong. "Everything around us has a story, how it was made, who made it, where it was made, and for what purpose. Sometimes I feel that I want to extend, continue, or perhaps transform that story and add to the narrative."

"I see my work as a wearable message board, intended to trigger memories and feelings," said artist Carolina Peñafiel. "These boards are pre-existing, collected, found denim jackets, that I intervene with fabric and embroidery. All of the words embroiled on these unique pieces are a collection of words representing the current state of the world we live in."

"My installation consists of African wax print, kente, batik, and tie dye fabric scraps collected from seamstresses across Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and New York," said artist Tijay Mohammed. "The sense of total immersion created by the fabrics, mirroring traditional brick arrangements, highlights the aesthetic beauty of fabrics and symbolically emphasizes African heritage and shared immigration histories."

"My sculpture addresses the issue of waste and the dilemma of overconsumption. This work, titled 'Trashbags' is likened to our own bodies, a bit plump and comfortably reclined in contentment," said artist Lars Fisk. "What we discard is never truly disposed of, and unless it is repurposed, will remain indefinitely as nothing but waste."

"My hope is the works in the 'Shop Rag Project' take on the feel of a pre-contact culture-one visited by ancient astronauts and trying to convey an intuitive sense of the universe," said artist Jason Rohlf.

"I use vintage album covers that are remnants of a time past when music was not downloaded but played on record players," said artist Howard Lerner. "The 'Joshua/Angel' piece uses the more modern album covers for 331/3 stereo records. It is busier than 'Keita's Accordion Man' which uses the collage material very sparsely."