"The ABAD Project was born in 2009 at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York City, the brain child of Paris-based American artist Matthew Rose. ABAD has since grown into an international art movement that continues to sweep across the US and the world. It has traveled to Brazil, Belgium, the UK, Croatia, Italy, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Mexico, touching artists everywhere.
This will be the 23rd ABAD worldwide, the first on Long Island’s beautiful South Shore."
I participated in the first exhibit, but have not been in any of others. It was time for another round. So I did a pair of works for this exhibit and I tried to use as much symbolism as possible. For this project, the artist is instructed to provide 2 pages, one for the exhibit and one to be bound in a permanent book..."thereby furnishing an Omega to the Alpha of the Unbound Book of the original show".
On the fronts of my 2 pages, for the base paper I used a grave rubbing. Pen and ink and acrylic add a splash of color, while black mourning lace adds a bit of drama . There's a nude male on one page and a nude female on the other--symbolizing the equality of death. Both figures are literally in bondage, and also exhibiting the "ties that bind" with threads--where I have stitched the front page to the back page.
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| page 1 |
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| page2 |
The back pages consists of portions of a cemetery log book. One of these is particularly endearing and charming, mentioning a certain "John Burrly, buried in the old ground by side of his wife. $5.00 paid the association for that privilege."
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| back2 |
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| back 1 |
It's all still quite amazing to me, how the emotions about death of one man, in this case Matthew Rose, grew into a worldwide phenom, which is far from dead. Ray Johnson was the originator of the whole concept and although he is gone, his ideas and thoughts live on also. Perhaps this is the ultimate irony of it all, and I sometimes wonder if Ray knew this. It's all such a delicious mystery, the unfolding of life and death!
I send this package to the gallery today on the 13th. For you Ray.
More exhibit information can be found here on the ABAD 23 website.
More exhibit information can be found here on the ABAD 23 website.
2 comments:
One of the most beautiful of the many I have seen. And very thoughtfully conceived and on theme.
Your creativity never ceases to amaze me Julie! Nice job! Ahh, and inclusion of a "shout out" to Ray Johnson... nice. He's one of my heroes ;-)
Will you be going to the reception?
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