Juror’s Statement

Gaze. Scattered Reds. Trees and Spotted Lantern Flies. Wild Rivers. Mythmaker. Icarus Grey. Misfortune. Original Intent. What is America? E-Smoke and Beer. Past Present Future.

This sampling of tantalizing titles found in Works on Paper 2023 are clues to what today’s artists are exploring and visualizing. Selected from hundreds of submissions (strong proof that cultural creativity continues to thrive), this exhibition serves as a microcosm of varying perspectives about people, places, things, language and other realms imagined. What was each artist’s intent, and how well was that intent communicated? The exhibition includes works showing individual responses to aspects of nature, daily life, memory, or our unsettling times. From concept to image, these artists use their distinctive skills to create intriguing constructed worlds on paper via various media, colors, shapes, textures, networks, compositions and styles (representational to abstract). From a universe of possibilities and choices, across the centuries, artists produce art for viewers to contemplate. With this juried art exhibition—a unique temporary gathering connecting artists and viewers—we have eighty opportunities to determine what artwork grabs our gaze and curiosity more than once, thereby recharging us with fresh morsels of truth and insight.

Marilyn Symmes Independent Curator New York City