“Shaded Oppression”

D’nae Harrison, Philadelphia, PA

D’nae Harrison is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist, who is currently focused on creating a public art initiative dedicated to improving the quality of life in distressed and impoverished neighborhoods.

Art Description: Shaded Oppression is a 4ft x 4ft mixed media painting created in response to the 2016 election results. The social commentary piece utilizes oil paint, fabric, and wood to depict a scene of several individuals masked by their government flag.

“Vision Test / Viewfinder”

Jennie E. Park, Santa Clarita, CA

Jennie E. Park is an artist and writer interested in interdisciplinarity, integrated approaches to healing, and structural social change. (In)vulnerability and (in)visibility recur as practices, tools, or obstacles she explores in relation to her work.

Art Description: An optician asks, “Lens 1 or 2?” to ascertain visual acuity while flipping through a series of lenses, and viewfinders at scenic stops enable visitors to zoom into or scrutinize vast vistas. This kinetic sculpture references these practices or technologies of ascertaining, manipulating and interrogating vision by presenting alternate interpretations of the same images, via four phrases.

“MMMRRRZZZMMM”

Solomon Robert Nui Enos, Honolulu, Hawaii

Solomon Robert Nui Enos is a Native Hawaiian artist, educator, and visionary who has been making art for more than 30 years. His work touches on ancestry and identity, the nature of consciousness, the human conundrum, and the future of Hawai‘i. 

Art Description: This is a photo of a mural that was created as part of the Pow!Wow! Festival in Honolulu. The title is a Neo-Dadaist expression of the sound of unfolding generations. It is the linked hands and the collectivist visual narrative that best summarizes this strange and potentially hopeful time, even amidst the terrible suffering.

“Hope”

Lesley Thiel, Mooresville, NC

Lesley Thiel is a self taught figurative artist known for her highly detailed photorealistic paintings. Her paintings speak of the strength of the upcoming generation of young women and girls who may well be our saviors. She questions the accepted narrative of the female voice in society and the myths attached to this.

Art Description: A young girl stands alone and isolated in an environment that has been destroyed by fire and which still smolders. On her head she wears a wreath of dead brush: a parody of the wreath of flowers that represents new life and renewal in classical art. Life has been destroyed, but out of it a rich earth is created that will give new life.

“Front Line”

Chuck Styles, Philadelphia, PA

Chuck Styles is a multi disciplinary artist based out of the Philadelphia area and born in a small suburb outside of West Philadelphia. Styles was no stranger to poverty and struggle growing up. In many ways, his artwork reflects both the reality of his childhood struggle and his desire for a better financial future.

Art Description: Inspired by the Battle of Iwo Jima, this artwork depicts our essential workers from top to bottom who risk their lives every day to help keep society functioning. Thank you to all the Delivery People, Individuals that work in Super Markets, Public Transit Workers, Law Enforcement, Doctors & Nursing Staff. You all are holding the world together. On the front lines.

“NOVEL LOVE”

Cameron Miller-DeSart, Los Angeles, CA

Cameron Miller-DeSart is a Los Angeles–based filmmaker (Kidnapped, Lazy Sunday) with a background in acting and a passion for the technical craft of visual storytelling.

Art Description: A narrative short film inspired by the John Hughes love stories, NOVEL LOVE mixes in one additional plot point. A devastating global pandemic. We meet our characters shortly after they’ve met one another and yet, a crackling energy pulses between them. As the film progresses, we get to see a growing love form, despite impossible circumstances forcing them apart.

“In The Crowd”

Francesca Bifulco, Los Angeles, CA

Francesca Bifulco is a native Southern Italian multi-media artist from Paestum, living and working in Los Angeles since 2013. Her practice fluctuates between large-scale backdrop canvases and sculptural wooden compositions.

Art Description: Watch Video

“Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

Brian Mark, Brooklyn, New York

NY based composer, pianist and visual artist Brian Mark has been hailed as an “attractive and intelligible” artist (Boston Musical Intelligencer), whose work is “compelling” (London Jazz News), and “preserves the vibrancy and relevance of contemporary art music” (New York Examiner).

Art Description: This is a solo work for a trombone and digital delay processing pedal that was written for Madison, WI based trombonist Cole Bartels and was created as a direct result of COVID-19. The title is a verse taken from Emma Lazarus’s iconic 1883 poem “The New Colossus,” which was a tribute to the symbolism of Lady Liberty.

“E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One)”

John Jahni Moore, Huntsville, AL

John “Jahni” Moore is a southern born American visual artist. His early years were spent immersed in books, church, and nature. He works primarily in paint and charcoal but often makes use of assemblage as homage to his southern, indigenous, and African roots. 

Art Description: In this two- dimensional piece, the intense vibrancy of the central colors are brought into a type of suspended animation hanging in the balance of a blue coolness. The piece is backed by mandala-styled configured forearms and hands showing strength in diversity.

“Air Jars (Spring 2020 Product Line)”

Juliana Haliti, Albany, NY

Juliana Haliti is a painter and sculptor who explores her fear and anger towards the profligate human effect on the environment through complex collages and representations of the harmful circumstances surrounding it.

Art Description: Air Jars (Spring 2020 New Product Line), (1 Gallon) Glass, metal, and paper. “Air Jars” juxtaposes the basic hedonistic human instinct to buy pretty, new, and high end products against the dangerous, human caused and human killing infected air that exists in these places where these pandemic viruses originated.