2024 Annex Art Exhibits

Lori Horowitz, “Rooted in Humanity”

Thursday, April 4 – Sunday, April 28, 2024

Artist reception: Sunday, April 7 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM

Artist talk: Sunday, April 21, 1:00 pm

Lori Horowitz is a NY native. In addition to her studio art, Horowitz has worked as an arts educator, scenic designer for theatre and television, producer, exhibit designer, and fabricator, and as a curator and gallerist. Each has brought new perspectives and informed the development of her artwork and career while deeply connecting her back to the sculptures she makes, and to the viewers who experience them. Through experimentation and knowledge of diverse materials, Lori incorporates painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography and pushes inventive methods to reflect her message. Using eclectic techniques and materials, Horowitz unveils facades and penetrates issues revealing their underlying truths.

Since 2015, Lori has exhibited in over 80 national gallery and museum group shows, art fairs and had twelve solo exhibitions. As an independent curator, and former curator/director, and founder of a not-for-profit gallery, she curated 25 shows and continues curating independently. In 2019 and 2020, she participated in two residency programs in Bushwick NY, and Havana, Cuba. Currently, she serves on the board of directors for three not-for-profit arts organizations and is exhibitions chair for the NY Society of Women Artists and the Long Island Craft Guild. She is represented internationally and is featured with Zest Blatt media group, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Art Trends, Paris, Fine Art International, Project High Art International, and recently in Newsday, Metropolitan and 25A magazines, NY Hamptons and Palm Beach.

Her current series, Rooted in Humanity, addresses issues of the environment, human nature, and tensions within our current diverse and often divisive society. These works record moments of humanity unfolding in nature, unveiling facades and penetrating personal, social, and political issues. Mixed media sculptural artworks are inspired by long walks in the woodlands, capturing nature’s design and detail. Delving deep within photographic images, anthropomorphic figures reveal themselves emerging from the earth, deeply rooted in past struggles and growth. Ethereal figures shrouded in gauze and translucent spun copper mirror nature’s intertwined forms. Sculptures of wire mesh reveal personas, creating haunting shadows as important as the physical beings. By penetrating facades, we look deeply into transparent figures seeing the effects of loneliness, gender, and loss of community. These works depict human and plant forms both isolated and vulnerable. Larger sculptures combine past processes of photography, wire, soft sculpture, encaustic wax, torched copper, and paint, in mixed media reliefs and sculptures. Continued experimentation leads me to a new technique of sculpting photos and accenting them three-dimensionally. With each sculpture, new methods are discovered as well as forecasts of our current climate. Carnivorous plants and fungus illustrate the allure that draws us innocently to dangerous issues. These colorful warnings often attract us as unknowing victims and question, “What Lies Beneath”. Using skills of the past and historical references, Horowitz’s creations reflect struggles that echo throughout time. We are all one species and must stand together to find place and belonging in this time of societal conflict. These complex artworks pay homage to nature’s lessons, revealing the harmonious coexistence and tenuous discord between humanity and nature. The imagery for this show was inspired by photos of roots and other plants found at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

Rooted in Humanity will run from Thursday, April 4 – Sunday, April 28, 2024. An artist reception will take place Sunday, April 7 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM and a special artists talk and tour in honor of Earth Day on Sunday, April 21 at 1:00 pm.

Upcoming Exhibits

Dimensional Abstraction – A solo exhibit by Khurshid Saleem

Thursday, May 9, 2024 – Sunday, June 2, 2024

Artist reception: Sunday, May 19 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM

About the Artist

Khurshid Saleem is a visionary abstract artist who was born in Bangladesh and resides in Islip, Long Island, NY. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts at Dhaka University and completed a course in advanced color prints at the department of Art and Art Education in NY.

Khurshid Saleem’s art is bold and colorful with geometric and organic shapes. His multimedia works are an abstraction of nature.

The artist states that this series of artworks of abstract expressionism make an illusion of colors and dimensional forms to create a feeling of depth in following the spirit of nature.

“I mainly deal with nature. The nature that surrounds us is an infinite source of wonder and beauty. It is static and continually changing. I find inspiration in the tiniest detail, a drop of rainwater, a falling autumn leaf, a speck of white in a blue sky…my experience is a completely unexpected discovery of bright and bold colors. Nature is not always bright and bold, but I consciously depict my nature in those high-pitched colors to bring a new tune, sing a new song, and tell a new story.

View some of Khurshid’s work below. You can follow Khurshid Saleem on instagram, @khurshidalamsaleem and on Facebook, Khurshid Saleem.

Meet our Gallery Coordinator, Mireille Belajonas

“As an artist I have always found nature to be my greatest inspiration. Nature is life, in all aspects. Even when we don’t always know it on a conscious level, when we are outside amongst the trees and plants, we become calmer and our health and well-being get a boost. Similar effects on our mental and physical health happen when we look at an image that represents nature. Artists have found many ways to express their vision of nature, it can be photorealistic or abstract and everything in between. As your new curator I hope to bring many interesting artists to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum for everyone to enjoy. My special thanks go out to Victoria Beckert who has paved the path for me and I’m excited to Follow in her footsteps and go on this new journey with all of you.”

Mireille was born in Belgium and graduated as a goldsmith in Antwerp. Since 2000 she has lived in the USA and had her artwork shown in various libraries on Long Island as well as at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum, The Reboli Center, ICA, and Moca. She is on the board of Women Sharing Art, a non-profit organization with a mission to bring together women artists and provide opportunities for professional development, collaboration, and community engagement. Together with her husband she owns and operates “Mirabela Studio of Music and Arts” in Port Jefferson where she has her artwork and collection of artisan greeting cards available for purchase.

For more information about upcoming exhibitions you can reach out to Mireille via email at mireillebelajonas@gmail.com or by phone (631)-603-9847.