Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Exhibition

A few weeks ago, answering a call for entries from the American Print Scholars, I submitted a few pieces for consideration. Some are finished, while a few were in prototype.

I was accepted! I had missed their congratulatory email because it went to spam; however, their persistence (kindly calling me) got three works in the Rockaway Artist Alliance annual print show, Stories in Print.

The large gallery is housed in an army barracks in the Fort Tilden complex in Fort Tilden, New York, nestled in between the upscale, shore-front neighborhood Neponsit and the "Irish Riviera", Breezy Point. Hurricane Sandy took a huge toll on the area; in parts it's still recovering. However, Fort Tilden is a wide open space, with playing fields, wild vegetation and other attractions I have yet to explore.

The building, Studio 7, houses a full etching studio, a yard for contemplation, an enormous gallery, and a few rooms complete with parlors and kitchen. An adjacent building has an additional artist's studio, where I saw a painter's work.

The RAA accepted three pieces: the lenticular, Fire! Fire! and another I'd completed shortly before, called BLDM. Fire! Fire! will always remain a digital print, however BLDM, now a digitally printed diptych is slated to be a silk screen in the future.

BLDM, two-part print, digital prototype, 22 x 60 in. (56 x 153 cm).

That very week, during the fourth day of testimony in a disciplinary action against a police officer who held a Staten Island man, in a choke hold, leading to his death, it was revealed that a commander responded "Not a big deal" when a police officer on the scene informed him that the man, Eric Garner, wasn't breathing and was DOA.

During the incident, seven police officers were trying to arrest Mr. Garner for--ready?--selling loose cigarettes. One wrestled Mr. Garner to the ground and held him in a chokehold, during which he pleaded with officers 11 times with the phrase "I can't breathe".

The method is prohibited by the NYPD and the officer was never indicted by a Staten Island grand jury. A federal inquiry went nowhere and until the Civil Complaint Review Board brought charges against the officer, and the case was at risk of expiring the 5-year statute of limitations on July 17, the five-year anniversary of Mr. Garner's death. The result was the hearing, and Mr. Garner's final words have become a potent slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The response by the lieutenant--is proof positive that Black lives don't matter; not to the cops, anyway. It's not a big deal.

More on the show in the next post. 

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