Amplify Action on Display Through July 27th

 

Photo by Whitney Boyd

Amplify Action: Sustainability through the Arts will be on display at Bedford Stuyvestant Restoration Corporation's Skylight Gallery through July 27th, 2012. We invite all neighbors, artists, and friends to visit the exhibition, explore the themes of community sustainability, and continue dialogue in the community.

Amplify Action is a juried exhibition of works, created by artists both local and abroad, that promotes a civic dialogue about sustainable communities. The exhibition includes paintings, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and installations that focus on various approaches towards sustainable practices in Bedford Stuyvesant and Central Brooklyn. The diversity of works featured in the exhibition,  by 27 incredible artists, examine a range of topics including ecology, economy, equity, environmental consciousness, resource conservation and efficiency, agriculture, architecture, infrastructure, environmental justice, and health. 

The exhibition demonstrate how arts, culture and media can be powerful catalysts for social change and aims to engage the Bed-Stuy community in a dialogue about sustainable living, making healthy consumer choices, and taking environmental action.

Amplify Action: Sustainability through the Arts is presented by Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in partnership with the Pratt Center for Community Development and Pratt's Initiative for Arts, Community, and Social Change, and is made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation's Cultural Innovation Fund.

New Works added to Amplify Action!

A number of new pieces have been added to the Amplify Action exhibition since its opening last month. These pieces, by artists Wolfgang Ryan and Aya Rodriguez-Izumi, are on display in the lobby space and will be on view for the remainder of the exhibition's duration. Preview the pieces below and visit Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Skylight Gallery for the full experience and impact. 

Wolfgang  Ryan's pieces draw upon a unique mixture of "high" and "low", blending objects suggestive of working class culture with forms and titles that are representative of the elite. His pieces draw attention to the often unrecognized beauty of household objects and imbues "waste" with new meaning and utility. Wolfgang Ryan's 'Intoxicated Chief' and 'Mirror Pond? Fuck that! Pabst Blue Ribbon!' have been added to the Amplify Action exhibition.

Wolfgang Ryan | Intoxicated Chief | 2006 | drawer, bucket, concrete, cans, hockey stick, lamp parts | 70" x 14" x 15"

    

Wolfgang Ryan | Mirror Pond? Fuck That! Pabst Blue Ribbon! | 2006 | mop bucket, pond rocks, paint, crutch, poster, fishing lures, lamp parts | 64" x 16" x 60"

Aya Rodriguez-Izumi 's work explores displacement as it relates to sustainability and, in particular, social cohesion and continuity. Using artistic techniques that are typically understood as feminine, such as embroidery and jewel embelishments, she enhances everyday items to highlight presence of the craftsperson in the work and to draw awareness to the importance of individual practice in achieving overall sustainability. Her work is contemplative and often heart-wrenching, evoking a sense of social displacement that is born out of mass consumption and market-driven culture. 

A number of the artist's 'Thank You Bags' have been added to the Amplify Action exhibition, making visible the way in which we, as a society, treat thanks and gratitude as having little value, disposable in the same way as plastic bags.
 

 Aya Rodriguez-Izumi | Thank You | 2011 | Swarovski crystals, plastic bag, Kodak paper, plexiglass | 15" x 15"

 Aya Rodriguez-Izumi | Thank You | 2011 | Swarovski crystals, plastic bag, Kodak paper, plexiglass | 15" x 15"

New Photo Set Available on our Facebook Page!

 Andrew Scott's 'Black Man Grove Resilience', detail | Photo by R. Waterman

We've posted some additional photos of selected Amplify Action works to our Facebook page. Click here to view them and to explore our other photo sets.