“Cityvision” Continues at Fountain House Gallery Through October 25 with Extended Hours This Weekend for “Open House New York”
by LOIS STAVSKY on OCTOBER 17, 2023
An intriguingly alluring reflection on NYC’s urban landscape, Cityvision features a delightfully diverse array of works in varied media by over three dozen artists. Curated by interior space planner and designer Joanna Delson, the exhibition continues through next Wednesday, October 25 at Fountain House Gallery.
Featured above is Bridge and Tunnel Train Man, fashioned on fabric with acrylic marker in a handmade wood frame by the wonderfully talented fiber artist Alyson Vega.
Image courtesy of Fountain House Gallery. Pictured above: Dystopian City by Alisa Sanchez, 2023, Digital art print, 10 × 8 in | 25.4 × 20.3 cm.Image courtesy of Fountain House Gallery. Pictured above: Dystopian City by Alisa Sanchez, 2023, Digital art print, 10 × 8 in | 25.4 × 20.3 cm.
Fountain House Gallery Presents: “Cityvision”
On view: September 14 – October 25, 2023
Reception: September 14, 6-8pm/ Curated by Joanna Delson
Fountain House Gallery – the premier venue in New York City representing artists living with mental illness – announces the group exhibition Cityvision. The show will open with a Reception at Fountain House Gallery, located at 702 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, on September 14, 2023, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and will remain on view through October 25, 2023.
Cityvision is curated by Joanna Delson. A born and bred New Yorker, Delson is an interior space planner and designer with her own business, Space Management Design. She is also a community activist focused on urban issues. She loves cities and has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Pittsburgh and has traveled to many others. Delson said, “New ‘planned cities’ have been springing up all over the world during the last 25 years. Old and existing cities must constantly adapt to population growth and decline, climate change, pollution, transportation issues, a lack of or even at times an abundance of resources. The pandemic brought about changes in the way people live and interact in cities. The exhibition Cityvision showcases works that tell a story about what a city is, should be, or can be, whether the city is real, imagined, or anywhere in between. The artworks present aspects of a city, from its buildings and its people to its garbage, its animals, its green spaces or lack thereof.”
Commenting on specific works exemplifying the show’s theme, Delson continued, “NYC by Mario Fontenla is a minimalist digital piece that could be representative of many cities in the world. This futuristic cityscape features skyscrapers springing up from the ground, driverless cars as the centerpiece, and ‘people’ on the streets who look like over-muscularized robots. Orange buildings suggest that the city is hot inside. But cool, green areas are in sight on the outskirts. Alyson Vega’s Bridge and Tunnel Trainman, with its cluster of tilted buildings and busy roads, captures the congestion of an already crowded city overflowing with the traffic of commuters drawn to the bright lights. The Trainman, layered on top of this fabric piece, looks over the city where transportation is central to urban life. City Vision from Terrace, made by Elizabeth Borisov in acrylic on canvas, is emblematic of the tension between small sections of the city that feel calm and country-like, in contrast to the busy glass and concrete skyline. For many, it’s a dream to have a place of calm nature and still be right in the heart of a city. The visual perspective Borisov gives to the piece makes that clear.”
Cityvision presents more than 30 works in mediums including ink, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, digital art, and fabric.
Fountain House Gallery and Studio is funded, in part, by generous support from the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
About Fountain House Gallery and Studio: Fountain House Gallery and Studio supports the careers and creative visions of artists living with mental illness. Founded by Fountain House in 2000, the Manhattan-based Gallery sells original artworks and collaborates with a wide network of artists, curators and cultural institutions. The Studio, located in Long Island City, is a collaborative workspace that furthers the professional practice of our artists. Embracing artists who are emerging or established, trained or self-taught, Fountain House Gallery and Studio cultivates artistic growth, makes a vital contribution to the New York arts community, and challenges the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Associated Artists
Alyson Vega
Angela Rogers
Anthony Newton
Ariella Kadosh
Barry Senft
Boo Lynn Walsh
Bryan Michael Greene
Christine Albane
Corey Streeter
DubbleX
George Penon Cassallo
Guiomar Giraldo-Baron
Issa Ibrahim
Kelly Han
Kerry Kennedy
L.B. Berman
Laura Anne Walker
Maria Bronkema
Marina Marchand
Miguel Colón
Mx. Je’Jae C. Daniels
Ray Lopez
Rene Santiago
Roger Jones
Saverio Penza
Shelia Horne
Susan Spangenberg
Tara Sue Salusso
Tzu Moy
vermilion
Zeus Hope
Marina Marchand, Crimson City, 2023. Watercolour, gouache, acrylic and ink on aquaboard, 9 × 12 in. / 22.9 × 30.5 cm
The pandemic brought about changes in the way people live and interact in cities. The exhibition Cityvision showcases works that tell a story about what a city is, should be, or can be, whether the city is real, imagined, or anywhere in between. The artworks present aspects of a city from its buildings and its people, to its garbage, its animals, its green spaces or lack thereof.
Mario Fontenla, NYC, 2022. Digital art print, 8 × 11 in. / 20.3 × 27.9 cm
NYC by Mario Fontenla is a minimalist digital piece that could be representative of many cities in the world. This futuristic cityscape features skyscrapers springing up from the ground, driverless cars as the centrepiece, and ‘people’ on the streets who look like over-muscularized robots. Orange buildings suggest that the city is hot inside. But cool, green areas are in sight on the outskirts.
Alyson Vega, Bridge and Tunnel Train Man, 2016. Fabric machine sewn with acrylic marker in handmade wood frame, 19 × 20 in. / 48.3 × 50.8 cm
Alyson Vega's Bridge and Tunnel Trainman, with its cluster of tilted buildings and busy roads, captures the congestion of an already crowded city overflowing with the traffic of commuters drawn to the bright lights. The Trainman, layered on top of this fabric piece, looks over the city where transportation is central to urban life.
Elizabeth Borisov, City Vision from Terrace, 2023. Acrylic on canvas, 11 × 14 in. / 27.9 × 35.6 cm
City Vision from Terrace, made by Elizabeth Borisov in acrylic on canvas, is emblematic of the tension between small sections of the city that feel calm and country-like, in contrast to the busy glass and concrete skyline. For many, it's a dream to have a place of calm nature and still be right in the heart of a city. The visual perspective Borisov gives to the piece makes that clear.
Fountain House Gallery – the premier venue in New York City representing artists living with mental illness – announces the group exhibition Cityvision. The show will be on view from September 14 through October 25, 2023 at Fountain House Gallery, located at 702 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.
Cityvision is curated by Joanna Delson. A born and bred New Yorker, Delson is an interior space planner and designer with her own business, Space Management Design. She is also a community activist focused on urban issues. She loves cities and has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Pittsburgh and has traveled to many others. Delson said, “New ‘planned cities’ have been springing up all over the world during the last 25 years.
Old and existing cities must constantly adapt to population growth and decline, climate change, pollution, transportation issues, a lack of or even at times an abundance of resources. The pandemic brought about changes in the way people live and interact in cities. The exhibition Cityvision showcases works that tell a story about what a city is, should be, or can be, whether the city is real, imagined, or anywhere in between. The artworks present aspects of a city from its buildings and its people, to its garbage, its animals, its green spaces or lack thereof.”
Cityvision presents more than 30 works in mediums including ink, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, digital art, and fabric.
Galeria del Barrio | Hope Community Inc.
Hope Community Inc is proud to present its latest arts and culture initiative - East Harlem's very own dedicated art gallery, Galeria del Barrio. Located on East 104th Street next door to the iconic Spirit of East Harlem Mural, Galeria occupies a newly renovated storefront space. Galeria provides exhibition space to local artist and art organizations in exchange for their curation and programming skills. Galeria aims to create opportunity for local and emerging artists, and to establish a cultural destination in El Barrio that bolsters neighborhood tourism, the visibility of local cultural institutions and public art works, and the economic sustainability of local small businesses.
Galeria began in November, 2017 as a "storefront artist residency" space for renowned local artist Manny Vega. During his three-month residency, Mr. Vega offered community art workshops in mosaic-making, which were enjoyed by East Harlem residents of all types and ages. Mr. Vega activated the space with an atmosphere of creativity, community and learning.
In March, 2018, Galeria underwent major renovations, led by local space designer and civic leader Joanna Delson. The space was radically transformed into a beautiful gallery space. The new Galeria launched on April 20, 2018 with the opening of its first exhibition, Sonata Oscura by Ms. Esperanza Cortes, presented in partnership with Hi-Arts. Shortly after accepting residency at Galeria, Ms. Cortes was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
ROOM TO GROW Joanna Delson and David Venderbush turned a narrow brownstone into a modern home with multipurpose spaces. Credit Albert Vecerka/Esto, for The New York Times
There is a fairly predictable real estate trajectory for the growing family in New York, from single-life studio to one bedroom, from one bedroom to two. A dining alcove becomes the nursery, you annex the apartment next door, and then the outer boroughs and finally the suburbs beckon.
Joanna Delson and David Venderbush, who are both 44, thought they would follow this trail, albeit later in their lives than many, when they moved with two children and one on the way from a large Los Angeles apartment into a 933-square-foot two-bedroom in Morningside Heights.
But that was seven years ago. On a list for a larger co-op in their complex, they bided their time by enclosing their terrace and making it into a dining room, office and guest room, moving the children to bunk beds and stowing possessions in floor-to-ceiling Ikea storage units.
Ms. Delson, a former high school teacher, made such clever use of the apartment that friends, and then friends of friends, began asking for small-space advice, and Mr. Venderbush suggested she start a business. In 2003, she began operating Space Management, finding clients by word of mouth.
Four years later, this past August, the family finally decamped to a new space, a narrow 2,400-square-foot townhouse in East Harlem, renovated by Ms. Delson’s sister, Perla, a partner at Delson or Sherman Architects in Brooklyn, and full of space-expanding solutions that both women helped develop.
Get Organized? Find More Space? Joanna Delson Can Help
Posted on April 17, 2009 by Woman Around Town in Woman Around Town
Springtime brings the impetus for a fresh start—cleaning out closets, arranging furniture, finding a new space or reconfiguring an old one. Most people, however, have troublegetting organized to get organized. That’s where Joanna Delson can help. Her seven year-old company, Space Management, works miracles. And now, as a contributor to Woman Around Town, Delson will be offering her expert advice in regular articles on the website.
Delson practices what she preaches. When she moved with her husband, David Venderbush, an attorney, and their two sons from a 3,000 sq. ft. apartment in Los Angeles, to a 933 sq. ft. apartment in Morningside Heights, she utilized every inch of the space to her advantage. “Space is overrated,” she says. “It depends on what you do with it.” Read more...
The doors to the deck from the master bedroom were conceived by Joanna Delson, a family friend and interior designer.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times