Show ran from 5/4/2008 to 5/31/2008

“60 Years,”  various media

Granite Amit, Rajie Cook, John Halaka, Jenny Polak, Jan Tichy, and Mary Tuma exhibit together singular perspectives on sixty years of the Israel-Palestine conflict.   “60 Years” reflects on the Nakba, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and its devastating impact on the Palestinian people.  It also examines the continuing occupation’s effects on Israeli identity:  increasing insecurity, and the moral and social erosion of Israeli society. This exhibition is a call for deeper awareness and involvement by the American public, and an affirmation, supporting all the Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews, and other organizations and individuals who promote a just, dignified and humane co-existence.

This exhibition and the accompanying programs hosted at ARC Gallery are sponsored by the Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East.

• May 9, 7-8 PM: music by Lamajamal Group.
• May 10, 3 PM: Panel discussion, “The Challenges of Making Political Art,” with participating artists, moderated by Professor Margaret Olin (School of the Art Institute).
• May 17, 3 PM: Short films reflecting on 1948 events, moderated by Lisa Kasowsky.
• May 31, 3 PM: Panel discussion, “Envisioning a Future of Coexistence,” with Ali Abunimah (cofounder of Electronic Intifada), Professor Yali Amit (University of Chicago), moderator: Jennifer Bing-Canar (AFSC).

Show ran from 5/4/2008 to 5/31/2008

“Peculiar Perspectives,”  oil on canvas

OPENING RECEPTION:  Friday, May 9, 6-9 pm

An initial stillness inhabits the figures in these new paintings by Nancy Fritz.  An ordinary moment is caught, held, and then slowly transformed: by a table that shifts upwards, defying gravity; by a bedspread that gently balloons outward at the viewer; by perspectives, patterns, and shadows with a formality all their own.  Figures in these paintings appear to be “still lifes” – passive, and at times, overwhelmed by the animated spatiality in which they dwell. Fritz rubs pigment and oil onto the surface with her fingers, further enhancing the intimacy of these images. In the end, the viewer is left with an unsettling sense that she has entered a mysterious space, its narrative hers to imagine.