Fountain House Gallery in New York is showing Go! Figure!, a group exhibition of figurative art that remains on view at its space at 702 Ninth Avenue until 28 October.
The show centres on a favourite human pastime, the making of images of ourselves. It brings together depictions of the human figure by nearly 60 artists, working in textile, painting, drawing, photography and sculpture. Artists named by the gallery include Jane Resnick, Alyson Vega and Kelila Zechowy.
The exhibition was conceived by Fountain House Gallery artist Michael Kronenberg, who curated it with Sean Alday, a curator, writer and chef based in Berlin, and Mikki Nylund, a curator from Stockholm. In his statement, Kronenberg says that drawing from life has been part of his practice for 46 years and that his aim is to add his own voice to the long tradition of figurative art that runs back to the Neolithic period. Alday writes that the works that moved him most were those in which a sense of listlessness is broken by the act of making something. Nylund notes that this was the first exhibition he had selected remotely, and describes curating it virtually as an illuminating experience.
The exhibition was announced by Fountain House, the New York organisation that works to ensure people living with serious mental illness have the support they need to pursue their goals and live connected lives. Besides the gallery, it has locations in Hell's Kitchen, Harlem, the Bronx and Hollywood.
Fountain House Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from noon to 6 pm and on Saturday from 1 to 7 pm.
