The Everson Community Biennial at ArtRage

Heir Wars © Paul Pearce

The Everson Biennial, titled THE OTHER NEW YORK:2012, was exhibited in community art galleries across Syracuse. ArtRage was honored to participate by exhibiting the work of four artists chosen in collaboration with the Everson Museum.

“Every artist seems to me to have the job of bearing witness to the world we live in.” – Jane Rule, Canadian author
“The artist’s job is to be a witness to his time in history.” – Robert Rauschenberg

Veterans © Bob Gates

© Neil Chowdhury

Self Portrait: Mock Shock © Ben Altman

Ben Altman, Neil Chowdhury, Bob Gates and Paul Pearce, the four photographers whose works comprised the exhibit we called The Fearless Eye, presented work that, while distinctive, shares a key characteristic. All are documentary photographers who are a bit wary of being seen as truth tellers. Fully understanding that the “objective photograph” is a myth, their photographic work – both in the process of its creation and the images presented – casts into doubt our traditional notions of documentation, objectivity and veracity. Nonetheless, each photographer visualized a certain truth, which may be one we do not know – or one that we prefer to avoid knowing. Participating in the artist’s unflinching gaze, we became complicit witnesses to situations – torture, poverty, social class, and the effects of war – often conveniently rendered invisible.

TONY: 2012 was organized by the Everson Museum of Art in collaboration with ArtRage—The Norton Putter Gallery, Community Folk Art Center, Erie Canal Museum, Light Work, Onondaga Historical Association, PuntodeContacto/Point of Contact, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, SUArt Galleries, Urban Video Project, The Warehouse Gallery, City of Syracuse and XL Projects. Major funding is provided by The Central New York Community Foundation through the John F. Marsellus Fund. Additional funding provided by Carrier Corporation.

This exhibition was also supported in part with funds from the Strategic Opportunity Stipends Program through New York Foundation for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, administered in Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins counties by The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.