On March 1, HOWL Gallery/Tattoo in the River District will welcome OPT abstract artist Veron Ennis to the gallery for a solo exhibition. On display will be work from her popular, highly-acclaimed OPT Exhibition! at the Mercato in Naples, as well as the last seven works from her seminal Paper Milk series of work.
Veron has exhibited her works at some of Southwest Florida’s top galleries, including solo and group shows in Fort Myers, Sanibel, Naples, and Cape Coral. Her work has also been featured in Miami, as well as at New York’s Lyrical Luminosci-T and Amsterdam Whitney International Fine Art Gallery at a show curated by Ruthie Tucker. Her last solo exhibition in the River District occurred in 2011 at daas Gallery, in which work from her Chroma-Tone series was featured.
So far in 2013, Veron has participated in INCOGNITO at the Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art (curated by Richard L. Tooke) and OPT Exhibition! at the Mercato Pop-up Gallery in Naples. Ennis not only participated in the latter exhibition with Todd Andrew Babb, Arturo Samaniego, Greg Biolchini and Hollis Jeffcoat, she curated the show. Attended by a large, loud and enthusiastic crowd comprised predominantly by next generation of Southwest Florida art collectors and patrons, the exhibition delivered the life-affirming message that positive artworks can have a positive effect on viewers.
OPT is an enough-is-enough reaction to gimmicky art that incorporates disturbing imagery, sound or scents to shock viewers who are perceived to be smug, complacent and even hypocritical. The most egregious example of this perhaps was the 1999 Sensation show at the Brooklyn Museum. Featuring work by young British artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, Sensation received its most scathing review by then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani who, singling out Chris Ofili’s black Madonna smeared with elephant dung as so “sick” that it demanded the city to re-evaluate its historic support of the arts.
"It is time for the pendulum to swing in the direction of more ennobling art, art which expresses aesthetic value, values that were at the core of art throughout history," reflects fellow OPT artist Arturo Samaniego. Which was the impetus that gave rise to Open Positive Transference in Southwest Florida in the first place.
In August, Veron takes her OPT message large scale when she invades the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center for Veron Ennis : Transference, Solo Show (opening reception, August 2, 6-10 p.m.). But until then, you can take in works from both Ennis' seminal Paper Milk and her current Transference series at HOWL Gallery during the month of March. The exhibit will open on Friday, March 1, with a 6-10 p.m. reception that coincides with Art Walk. The exhibition will remain on view through March 28, 2013.
HOWL Gallery/Tattoo is Fort Myers' premier art and tattoo studio. For more information about the exhibit or HOWL Gallery, please visit www.howlgallery.com or telephone 239-332-0161.
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