The Past is Present: Art in Times of Crisis

June 1 - September 28, 2024

Artists channel their emotional worlds and lived realities into their artistic practice. Often, however, they not only translate the personal into relatable visual expressions, but they also document shared experiences and communal stories.

This exhibition features two bodies of work by two artists, Gonkar Gyatso (Lhasa, b. 1961) and Stewart Seidman (U.S., b. 1939), who have recorded and responded to the transformative, traumatic, and ongoing events of the last four years: the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter uprisings, the war in Ukraine, and the war in Gaza. These two distinct series present an archive of individual testimony, while offering viewers instruments of memory and invitations to consider the impact of the past on the present—what’s been lost and gained, how to look behind with deeper understanding and look ahead with greater hope.

Image Credits (Top to Bottom): 

Gonkar Gyatso (Lhasa, b. 1961), The Great Equalizer  (2023), Fiberglass, 35 x 27 x 17 in., Courtesy of the Artist.

Gonkar Gyatso (Lhasa, b. 1961), Daily Doodle: 4/4/2021  (2021), stickers, pastel, pencil, and India ink on paper, 12 x 15 cm., Private Collection, Tibet.

Stewart Seidman (U.S., b. 1939), We Will Return (2022), acrylic on recycled FedEx envelopes, 44 x 56 in. (framed), Courtesy of the Artist.