Among the cacophony of sounds in New York this fall, the word Transumanza is making its vibrational entrance in a painting exhibition at the Con Artist Collective and Gallery on Ludlow Street. The show will have its opening on September 20, 2017, from 7-11pm at the gallery and will be on view from September 18-22nd . With the displacement of residents as a result of recent wave of hurricanes to our south, the theme of show would not be more coincidental.
Transumanza the Italian word for transhumance, literally meaning, “crossing the land.” Whether it’s the 20th Century world wars shifting large numbers of populations in Europe; the movement of farmers from Oklahoma and Arkansas to California to escape economic depression and bad weather; and the Haitian boat people of the 1970s-1980s escaping political instability, endemic poverty and natural disasters.
Transhumance forever changed the individuals and the places they left behind and the places in which they landed. Each artist in the show has their own experience of crossing the land, both metaphorically and literally, and their crossings have at some level influenced their work. All 4 artists are painters, and collectively their works reference a literal crossing; paintbrush and pencil are pushed and pulled across the canvas, paper or panel allowing the viewer to witness the artist’s journey.
