Fountain House Gallery, located at 702 Ninth Avenue and representing artists living with mental illness, announces the upcoming group show Our People. The exhibition will open with a Reception on March 7, 2019, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and will remain on view through April 17, 2019.

Our People is curated by Ruth Adams, Executive Director of Art Omi, a not-for-profit arts center located in Ghent, NY. Said Adams, “For this show, the artists of Fountain House Gallery were asked to explore what ‘community’ means to them in a time of deep division. The artwork reflects a spectrum from positivity and hope to disunity and chaos.”

Commenting on individual works in Our People, Adams continued, “Included are representations of specific communities such as the women’s march in “Girls Stronger Together“ by Alyson Vega and an underground metal music community in “NYC Music Scene II“ by Ariella Kadosh, alongside others that appear wholly personal. Some pieces strike me as universal. I like the idea of community as personal and intimate as well as a big picture of the time. Issa Ibrahim’s “Super Supper” derives from an image that is ingrained in our psyche from art history and Christianity. In this piece, superheroes are caught and entangled with each other in a drama, and their humanity and struggle bring us into the context of these fantasy/religious archetypes. Building community is an act of transformation as we gather individuals to create a whole, as seen in the sea of faces or buildings in “New York City Democracy“ by Mercedes Kelly or in “People in Buildings“ by Roger Jones. Even in the more abstracted images we experience emotional states that are common shared reactions to the times. We’re seeing ourselves and each other.”

This program is funded, in part, by generous support from Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Hearst Foundation, Inc., the David Rockefeller Fund, Renate, and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.