Member Spotlight: Cornelia Jensen, fine artist, featured in art.les.nyc studios: a retrospective‏

International Women Artists’ Salon is pleased to announce Salon member Cornelia Jensen is a feature artist in art.les.nyc studios : a retrospective exhibition.

Close-up of Microstructures
Styrofoam packing material,

plastic grass, LED and flourescent lights
(5' x 12' x 5') 
2009

 
Come Join Culture fix and art.les.nyc studios for art.les.nyc studios : a retrospective on Wednesday October 27th, 2010 from 7pm to 10pm

WHAT: art.les.nyc studios: a retrospective
WHEN: Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
WHERE: Culture Fix
9 Clinton Street (between Houston and Stanton Streets)
(646) 863-7171
www.culturefixny.com
www.artlesnyc.com

CONTACTS:
Aaron Thompson: artlesnyc@gmail.com
Lia Woertendyke : lia@culturefixny.com

Five Years of Keeping the Artistic Flame Alive: art.les.nyc studios: a retrospective


Since opening in 2005, art.les.nyc studios has been a progressive artistic force on the Lower East Side underground scene. From contemporary art installations to after-school student projects, promoting events combining performance, art, fashion, and design. art.les.nyc has striven to be a shining beacon representing the eternal independent artistic spirit of this neighborhood.

Now, after a five-year span featuring over 30 extravagant, large-sale multimedia  shows, we are bidding farewell to our homestead at 202 Rivington Street due to the gentrification and uncontrollable homogenization of our beloved neighborhood of the Lower East Side. In partnership with Culture Fix on Clinton Street, we have decided to produce a retrospective and documentary showing of the most captivating work presented by resident artists and contributors through the first five years of art.les.nyc studios'  existence.  


The show focus on the main icons of art.les.nyc, including the Xanadu Moons Tree (created by founding artist Aaron Thompson for the HOWL Festival 2005), The World Famous Jamaican Lounge Tiki Bar (built in 2006), Twist her (created in 2006) and the festive  brilliance of Candy Cane Lane (created in 2006). The retrospective will also present works by featured artists: Dianne Bowen and Heins Kim (Wire Tap, September 2008), Andrea Greco (Mothra from The Oragami that Ate NYC, August 2009),  Dimtry Gubin and Sen One (collaborative painting from Mind-f-Art , August 2008), Pond Scum and John Czop (collaborative painting from Hallowseen I, October 2007) and Cornelia Jensen (Microstructures, June 2009). Plus a selection of art.les.nyc short films including performances by Jessica Delfino, Jigsaw Soul, Michelle Leona, GLOB, Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players, Actualities, Dethrace and many more Lower Manhattan performers.

Alongside its contribution to the Lower East Side underground arts scene, art.les.nyc studios has also offered art educational services to many New York after-school programs by producing and hosting many different kids' art projects. Through the studios' community partnerships with Beacon Highroad Center (Grand Street Settlement), LEAP Rave after school program in the Bronx, and East Village Home School group, art.les.nyc studios gave the children the freedom to express themselves to their fullest extent by offering them large sized canvases (9 feet by 12 feet) in an urban outdoor setting nestled in the heart of the Lower East Side.

This retrospective will discuss and explain how the ever-changing continual pace of the Lower East Side affects the community, its art and its culture. The goal: to create a living time capsule of what once was. A lasting footprint that has been transformed by history and time. The Future will be illuminated.


About Us:
Established in 2005, art.les.nyc studios is a project sponsored by Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of art.les.nyc studios may be made payable to Fractured Atlas, and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Fractured Atlas is a 501(c)(3) public charity. art.les.nyc  studios serve as an urban artist space, dedicated to education and the promotion of contemporary urban art. Our mission is to build an educational bridge between New York contemporary artists and the children of the Lower East Side. Our 2009 projects have been made possible by funding from the Puffin Foundation.




About Us:


Established in 2005, art.les.nyc studios is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non profit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of art.les.nyc studios may be made payable to Fractured Atlas, and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Fractured Atlas is 501(c)(3) public charity. art.les.nyc  studios serve as an urban artist space  dedicated to education and the promotion of contemporary urban art. Our mission is to build an educational bridge between New York contemporary artists and the children of the Lower East Side.  Funding for  our 2009 projects have been made possible by the Puffin Foundation.


CORNELIA JENSEN – “MICROSTRUCTURES”
www.corneliajensen.com


I have come to understand our ‘Culture’ as an expression of unconscious needs manifested in the objects we create.

Microstructures is an installation that depicts a cityscape made from discarded packing material, plastic grass and light. The form and scale of the materials draws a connection between the macrocosm that is the grand environment of the city and the microcosms in our personal daily environment.

My work ranges from figure-ground painting to stylized found-object assemblage often in a reliquary format. These ‘shrines’ compare the relationship of the ‘thing-in-itself’ to its surrounding world with the relationship between human beings and their environment. I integrate natural and recycled objects such as tin cans, circuit boards, ladybugs and milkweed. These juxtapositions extrapolate the objects’ formal qualities, severing the connection to their bygone purpose. This allows a new hierarchy of meaning to be determined between the objects, and leaves us to draw a connection between man-made environment and the human unconscious.

Inspired by light artist James Turrell, I decided to incorporate light as a medium into my sculptural pieces. These light-infused works can function as individual objects or can be conformed into larger installations. The element of illumination in combination with mundane materials transforms our conception of what is a normal avenue to the sublime.


Cornelia Jensen completed her MFA in 2009 from California College of the Arts. She received a BA in Philosophy from Haverford College in 1987 and attended the Syracuse Studio Art Program in Florence, Italy in 1986. She graduated with honors in Art from The Masters School in 1983 and received the Merriam Hewitt Art Award. Jensen’s work has been featured in ten solo exhibitions and over forty group exhibitions mostly in New York and San Francisco, as well as in Europe and Asia. She has curated and installed over twenty different exhibitions in galleries and museums including The Cooper-Hewitt Museum. In San Francisco Jensen participated in an artist residency while helping create the Lola Gallery. She also co-created the art and film venue called The Werepad, where she produced multi-media events, and independent films. Jensen grew up outside of New York City and currently lives in Brooklyn.

***

For those who didn't make it to the vernissage of the 
"202 Rivington
Five Year Retrospective"...
Here's a Halloween party option at
the same venue!

 
Come join us at CULTUREfix

in collaboration with
 art.les.nyc studios 
on
 

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

from 7 p.m. till 
The Witching Hour
 for

!!!Halloween CarnEvil!!!

Welcome to the hellL.E.S. !!



Renowned for their Hellish Haunted Halloween spectaculars,

art.les.nyc studios

has joined  forces with CULTUREfix for Season 2010 
to create

!!!Halloween CarnEvil!!!.



Hellcome to a carnival of spookily wicked delights. 

This event opens at 7 p.m.,

with madcap performances 

from 9 p.m. till 11 p.m. 

The CarnEvil!!! of Freaks
include Jessica Delfino, Balls and Bloat, Michelle Leona and

The Dysfunctional Family Jazz Band. 



We will also host
a crazy costume contest that starts at 10 p.m.

with a most unusual group of
judges who will hand out a variety of Lower East Side prizes. 

So put your

"worst" face on and scare

up a Grand Prize!



Where: CULTUREFix



9 Clinton Street 

between Stanton and Houston

Streets, LES, NYC 10002

When: October 30th, 2010 8 p.m. 'till the Witching Hour

Admission is free



We will also be serving
The Sweet Delicious Nectar of the Lower East Side

Grog-n-Scrod Sangria




Come celebrate the Pagan High Holiday with your hosts the

Pirates of the L.E.S. and CULTUREfix, for the final art.les.nyc event

of this blockbuster 2010 season.