James Jaxxa Earth, 2004 8" diameter Styrofoam, sequins, photographs, beads, plastic film and straight pins

Rush Arts is doing it big! First off there's a great new exhibition called Latitude that's going on right now in the gallery. Rush Arts is also presenting a great show of work at Scope Art Fair called Small is The New Big.

SCOPE International Art Fair/New York
March 4-8, 2009

We are pleased to announce that Rush Arts Gallery has been invited to participate in the 2009 SCOPE International Art Fair as one of 50 invitees who uphold its unique tradition of solo and thematic group shows presented alongside museum-quality programming, collector tours, screenings, and special events. This is a great opportunity and exposure for Rush and the artists we support.

Small is the New Big, is the concept for our selection process which brings together a diverse collection of sculptural objects, drawings and photographs that operate as modest gestures and meditations on grander concerns, often highlighting the increasingly complex relationship between scale and value.

For more information on SCOPE clink the link below:
http://www.scope-art.com/Index.php/new_york/

Also On View Thru March 28, 2009
RUSH ARTS GALLERY/CHELSEA

image: Brendan Fernandes: Africa Shop, 2007. Variable dimensions
Latitude

Rush Arts Gallery & Resource Center
Opening reception: Friday, January 30, 6 - 8 PM
On view February 3 - March 28, 2009

In the many modes that latitude can describe place on both a personal and global scale, Sung Jin Choi, Brendan Fernandes, Mona Kamal, Sungmi Lee, Vered Sivan and Jessica Vaughn investigate the complexities of mixed cultural identity and the increasingly unstable political and emotional notions of homeland. Each approaches visual narrative and representation uniquely yet shares a communal emphasis on material and process. The line is often articulated as a symbol that references memory, points of departure and the linking of time and space. Much like the longitudinal and latitudinal lines of the globe, the highly-detailed, repetitive quality in these works highlights the prescribed parameters of the gallery space and challenges this rigidity to further complicate the boundary of experiences. Ideological constructs and pre-existing binaries are deconstructed as these six artists come together in this installation-based exhibition to redefine notions of identity, authenticity and heritage outside of a hegemonic vernacular.

Curator: Nico Wheadon, Associate Curator

Image: Pierre Obando, Nowhere (detail), 2008, oil & acrylic on paper, 18"x24"
Pierre Obando
Nowhere

Rush Arts Gallery & Resource Center
Opening reception: Friday, January 30, 6 - 8 PM
On view February 3 - March 28, 2009

The works of Pierre Obando operate with a minimal and graphic aesthetic that suggests blankness, and a lack of identity. The paintings challenge our tendency to place them in customary categories like abstraction or representation, and also emotional categories like sincere or ironic. His work in painting and photography is inspired and grounded in observations of the everyday where abstraction and formal play is a by-product of our cultures desire for efficiency and order.

Born in Belize, Pierre Obando grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Miami, FL and Jackson, MS. Pierre completed his MFA at Hunter College, New York City, in May 2001. In 1997 he completed his undergraduate studies at New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida. His work has been exhibited at Queens International 2004; Queens Museum of Art; Angela Hanley Gallery; Rockland Center for the Arts; and MACO Mexico Art Fair in Mexico City. The artist lives and works in Queens, NY.

Curator: Derrick Adams, Curatorial Director

526 West 26th Street #311 New York, New York 10001, 212.691.9552 / 212.691.9304 www.rushartsgallery.org