Upcoming Art Exhibitions Announced At The Gallery At The Sheen Center For Thought & Culture

The Gallery at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, NYC) launches 2018 with four new exhibits featuring unusual and inspiring work. "Under the leadership of Senior Curator Fr. Frank Sabatté, The Gallery at the Sheen Center has some fantastic exhibits coming up," says William Spencer Reilly, Executive Director of The Sheen Center.

"The current exhibit by Jared Boechler about scent and memory is a powerful collision of the senses. I'm thrilled for the return of the Fayez Brothers, Egyptian twins, one of whom is a priest. Together they have created spectacular iconography in the Coptic Christian tradition. Alfonse Boresywicz is constantly reinventing his art, taking existing works and remaking them into something new, a true artistic resurrection. And Ajamu Kojo returns to The Gallery to confront the legacy of the Little Rock Nine in a New Group show, which will run alongside the powerful new play Little Rock on our mainstage this summer."

ON A TIPPED CHAIRWorks by Jared Boechler Now through February 23 This exhibition marks the solo debut of Canadian-born artist Jared Boechler's body of fine art and olfactory work, and the first time ever that both Boechler's oil paintings and their companion scents are presented to the public as a collection. Using traditional methods in contemporary context, the exhibition explores the relationship between two dimensional art and scent and how the combination influences individual perception. Boechler's practice is heavily influenced by scent. Custom-designed scents are paired alongside a half-dozen of Boechler's most recent, original oil paintings. The work is the result of an experimental process that allowed the artist to be guided by scent exposure. The one-of-a-kind scents within the exhibit, composed of rare, premium oils and ingredients, represent direct experiences of the artist and contain smells from memories that have influenced the outcome of the individual works, ranging from notes of lemongrass to burnt rubber, and providing insight into the most personal aspects of Boechler's practice.

WINDOWS TO HEAVEN The Iconography of Ayman and Fr. Francis FayezMarch 1 - 30Opening Reception: Thursday, March 15 at 5:30PM The Fayez twins, Ayman and Francis, were born in Tahta, Egypt on March 19, 1969. Each has pursued a life governed by his strong Coptic Catholic faith, leading them on parallel paths. Fr. Francis Fayez, an ordained Coptic Catholic priest, was sent to the United States in 2013 by the Patriarch of Egypt to serve as pastor of Resurrection Coptic Catholic Church located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. In a new country, in a new church, and understanding very little English, Fr. Francis immediately and successfully began to share his vision and unique style of preaching and teaching. Like Fulton J. Sheen, whom he has long admired, Fr. Francis is a strong believer in the power and necessity of evangelization through media and the arts. His website, www.francisfayez.com incorporates audio, video, and photography to share the good news of the Gospel via the web. His twin brother, Ayman Fayez, also uses art to spread the gospel, writing vibrantly colored, Byzantine-era iconography on canvas and wood. He uses all-natural egg tempera paint to create the rich pigments that form the symbols and images that provide the window through which viewers can glimpse God. Iconographers (which translates from the Greek as "image writers") do not create their artwork, but serve as a medium of the Holy Word, a channel through which the art unfolds. Ayman Fayez carries on the ancient tradition of iconography, beginning his work from a place of prayer and meditation, and allowing the image to speak rather than the artist. His iconography is a form of liturgy, drawing viewers to prayer and opening a dialogue between the worshipper and the Lord.

BACKDOOR TO EASTER The Art of Alfonse Borysewicz April 5 - May 18 Opening Reception: Thursday, April 5 at 6PM This collection of paintings at the Sheen Center is a combination of both old works and new works, and sometimes old combined with new. For example, the Passion-Nunc Dimittis, first exhibited in 1984 then deconstructed in 1991, makes its first appearance in over thirty years with a new top panel. This triptych, as well as the other works in this exhibit, has, as Dr. Christopher R. Brewer writes, "gone through a kind of loss and (double) recovery ... faith beyond the loss of faith." Back Door to Easter is made from old exhibit invite cards and collaged into fresh new abstract patterns on door-like panels. A protective cover for a painting, Pomegranate, becomes a painting in itself. Like Waters and Hive, all these paintings continue to exhibit work "bathed in faith."

NINE: LRCH 1957 Curated by Ajamu Kojo May 24 - August 3 Opening Reception: Thursday, May 24 at 6PM The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine Black American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. Then they attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Gallery at the Sheen Center will present a group exhibition; a multimedia exploration and examination of the Little Rock Central High School integration of the Nine Black American students (Melba Pattillo Beals, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas). The exhibit will be curated by Ajamu Kojo Chioke Walker. This exhibit accompanies the presentation of the New York premiere of Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj's play Little Rock, which begins performances in the Loreto Theater on May 30.

"These exhibits fulfill the mission of the Sheen Center by opening the viewer to the true, the good and the beautiful," says Fr. Frank Sabatté, Senior Curator of The Gallery at the Sheen Center.

"Jared Boechler's remarkable melding of the visual and the aromatic draws the viewer into an encounter with the beauty of the human form. The Ayman brother's icons are windows to eternal truth which is also reflected in Alfonse Borysewicz work. 'Nine LRCH 1957,' curated by Ajamu Kojo reminds us that we are not merely spectators but participants in the Spirit's ongoing unveiling of the truth of the innate goodness of all human beings and our challenge to act accordingly."

The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (www.sheencenter.org) is a New York City arts center located in NoHo that presents a vibrant mix of theater, film, music, and talk events. An initiative of the Archdiocese of New York, The Sheen Center serves all New Yorkers by presenting performances and artists that reflect the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Named for the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best remembered as an inspirational author, radio host and two-time Emmy Award winning television personality, The Sheen Center reflects his modern-day approach to contemporary topics. The Sheen Center is a state-of-the-art theater complex that includes the 270-seat Loreto Theater, equipped with five-camera high-definition TV and live-stream capability and a multi-track recording studio; the 80-seat Black Box Theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery.