FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 19, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 47
‘Alone/Together: A Visual Meditation on
Our Times’ exhibit opens in Long Island City
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Ohm … call it meditation through art.
Just take a few deep, cleansing breaths
then take in the artistic explosion that is
“Alone/Together: A Visual Meditation on
Our Times.”
Queens’ art scene is back and exploding
with creative talent, and ART BreakOUT,
a platform for underrepresented and selftaught
artists, was eager to present “Alone/
Together” — its second exhibition in an
ongoing series — hosted by Th e Local NY,
in Long Island City. Th e exhibit is on view
now through Aug. 29.
So, unwind and enjoy an eclectic array of
conversation-sparking, multimedia off erings
by 20-plus artists, crossing continents,
cultures and generations.
“In a year characterized by uncertainty
and despair, many of us found ourselves
alone, yearning to be together. Several of
the works on exhibit are a direct response
to the COVID-19 scourge, while others —
fashioned earlier — address such universal
issues as alienation, displacement, trauma,
healing, co-existence and rebirth,” co-curator
Lois Stavsky said.
Diverse masterpieces include lyrical
abstract paintings by Queens-based
Bengali artist Kaiser Kamal; mesmerizing
photographs by Jackson Heights-based
Jessica Bruah; politically charged artwork
fusing imagery and text by multidisciplinary,
Corona-based artist Issa Ibrahim;
elegantly rendered cut-outs by Ridgewoodbased
artist Mor; narrative folk art by
Forest Hills-based multimedia artist
Danielle Charette; and enchanting, brightly
hued drawings by LIC-A creative Elvin
Flores.
Featured, too, are striking pieces by
other passionate participants, hailing from
Queens and elsewhere, including co-curator
and Jackson Heights resident Bonnie
Astor, Rachel Alban, Barbara Bailey,
Isabella Blanco, Ryan Castrillo, Bishwajit
Chowdhury, Michael Cuomo, Ruddro
Md Ayudh Jahangir, Alma Fredousy Leya,
Shoshanna Malett, Malhecho, Dani Reyes
Mozeson, Sara Ching Mozeson, Riya
Namai Kalita Mukul, Tara Murray, Michael
Poncé, Fefa Românova, James Fischer
Smith, Susan Spangenberg and Shameem
Subrana.
Aft er suff ering a series of traumatic
events, Issa Ibrahim found himself institutionalized
at Creedmoor Psychiatric
Center in 1990. Th e High School of Art and
Design graduate, who studied at the School
of Visual Arts and the Art Students League,
told QNS, “It was there that I found the
healing oasis, Th e Living Museum, an art
rehabilitation program where I reclaimed
my life and found meaning as an artist,
musician, writer, fi lmmaker, activist and
25-year artist-in-residence.”
Ibrahim, who recently co-curated the
exhibition “Outside/Outsider,” at Local
Project Art Space in Long Island City, sells
his artwork on the prestigious online platforms
Saatchi, Artsy and Artlift ing. He and
his partner, artist Susan Spangenberg, also
have an Etsy shop, Issues Gallery, featuring
more aff ordable, original works and prints.
Aft er a contentious court battle, Ibrahim
won his release from Creedmoor in 2009.
His experience in the system led him to write
“Th e Hospital Always Wins: A Memoir.”
Th e book has the distinction of being
the fi rst published work of an African
American written behind the walls of an
asylum, and was met with highly favorable
reviews leading to interviews on NPR and
other radio outlets, international press and
features, including in Oprah Winfrey’s O
Magazine, according to the artist.
“Th e curators’ fi ne tastes, mixed with
an astute urban sensibility, makes for interesting
shows with insightful dialogs,” he
noted. “I hope to continue to challenge preconceived
and prejudicial ideas in society,
combat stigma, expose the realities of our
broken mental health system and explore
how openness can aid in respecting psychiatric
suff erers and survivors who are our
fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, friends,
neighbors and ourselves.”
In her memorable creation, titled
“Zoomies,” art activist Bonnie Astor uses
mixed media, such as acrylic with computer
parts.
She just fi nished a public art installation,
“Life is a Galaxy,” in Long Island City, and
her spheres can be seen in the fl ower beds
of the Altice Building on Jackson Street in
Long Island City.
Astor’s artwork was chosen by nonprofi t
organizations for women’s empowerment,
education and access to health care projects.
She’s an art specialist for AHRC New
York City, an organization that off ers individuals
with intellectual and developmental
disabilities a wide range of programs,
services and supports that are tailored to
meet their specifi c needs.
Mor’s art conveys yet another perspective
on life: “I focused on the idea of thresholds,
shorelines, apertures and windows. Th e
work to me was about creating — visually
and mentally — windows and spaces
where none existed.”
You can ponder that message when viewing
“Window No. 1 (28”x36” — hand-cut
paper, spray paint, wheat paste on wood,
2021) at the “Alone/Together” exhibit.
“I thought about writer Rebecca Solnit’s
phrase, ‘Th e spaciousness of uncertainty,’
and how, in not knowing, there is a space
for possibility, which certainty cannot provide,”
Mor said. “How, despite the anxiety
and fear, which comes in uncertainty,
that horizon comes with the possibility of
a new dawn.”
Ryan Castrillo utilizes acrylic paint, ink
and paper, as well as digital art, using the
program Procreate.
He told QNS that his work, “Untitled,”
which deals with themes of being alone
and isolated, was inspired by Japanese topographic
maps, and that the yellow variant
“wowed the curators.”
Depicting “a lone skeleton in urban
attire, alone on Manhattan’s cold streets,”
another piece, titled “Alone in the City,”
was partly inspired by urban graffi ti.
“A lot of my work is all about expression
and experimentation,” Castrillo noted. “It’s
less of a fully realized destination but a
journey of strokes, lines and splashes, with
some sort of cathartic release.”
Th ough she’s a human rights and immigration
lawyer by profession, Shoshanna
Malett has an artistic side.
“I have been taking photographs my
entire life. My images include nature and
people, especially faces, where I try to capture
the beauty and uniqueness of each
person,” Malett said.
Malett submitted photograph she took
during the COVID-19 pandemic that
depict diff erent aspects of “what we went
through.”
“Th e one on display is a photograph of a
prom dress fi tting for a prom that was canceled
by the Department of Education,”
Malett said. “High school seniors had it
tough. I’m thrilled to be part of this exhibition
and for people to see the beauty and
resiliency of New York high schoolers.”
Malett said she loves being a Queensbased
artist.
“Th ere is nowhere better for an immigration
lawyer and photographer to be
than in Queens,” Malett said. “Th ere is
always an image to be captured showing
our diversity as humans and the richness
of culture.”
Th e Local NY is located at 1302 44th
Ave. in Long Island City. It is easily
accessible via the E, M, G and 7 trains at
Court Square.
buzz
Photo courtesy of Kaiser Kamal
On view at The Local NY in Long Island City is the “Alone/Together: A Visual Meditation on Our Times”
exhibit, through Aug. 29.
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