Installation view from Welcome to my World, Artists Space, 2014. Courtesy Artists Space. Photo: Daniel Pérez.

Welcome to My World

An exhibition of artworks and a book by students from
PS140 Nathan Straus and MS324 Patria Mirabal

If the art world had its own Academy awards, Welcome to My World, an exhibition of artworks by students from PS140 Nathan Straus and MS324 Patria Mirabal at Artists Space Books & Talks, might well be the sleeper hit from 2014! A prominent DIY 2×4 architectural structure effectively delineates project areas as it expansively opens onto the vibrant intensity of artistic production that is both acutely revelatory as personal expression and cohesively binding as community. Whether drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video or poetry, these bold and inventive works reveal the commitment by artists to assure a spirited and open-minded awareness of the world in the next generation of artists and art lovers. At the same time, they emphatically show the hunger among teens for the kind of active engagement by which learning produces meaning through a direct correspondence to the lives of its participants.

Installation view from Welcome to my World, Artists Space, 2014. Courtesy Artists Space. Photo: Daniel Pérez.

The exhibition, along with its companion book, provides a concentrated overview of the program Expanded Art Ideas (EAI). Founded in 1996 by artist Chrysanne Stathacos and Ellen Salpeter, director of Thread Waxing Space, it became a program of Artists Space in 2001, under Stathacos’ guidance. Mentorship is evident in the works exhibited through the inspiring concepts and methods of teaching artists Joy Episalla, Nancy Friedemann, Susan Hamburger, Mary Simpson, Sara Jane Stoner, and Kate Temple; yet, visible too are the lessons learned from reading (poetry serves as a strong motivating force) as well as recent exhibitions at Artists Space, from painted books inspired by the work of Zilia Sánchez to a series of documentary videos made with Marco Vera from Pueblo Nuovo’s Mexicali Rose. This exhibit shows the dialectical advantage of Artists Space’s two locations: the yin of active awareness in the next generation presented by Welcome to My World at 55 Walker, to the yang of accountability for reality today in Laura Poitras’ Trilogy at 38 Greene.

On view through February 8^th and  15^th respectively with a forum on the Importance of Art Education on February 5th.