BRANDON V. LEWIS
31 August – 22 October 2022
31 August 2022 (New Orleans, LA) JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY proudly presents the 26th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art. For the 2022 installment of the exhibition, the gallery will display artworks by nineteen artists from and/or working across the United States, as well as: Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, France, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Venezuela. The exhibition will be on view from 31 August to 22 October 22 with an opening reception on 3 September (5-9 PM) in conjunction with the Arts District New Orleans’s (ADNO) First Saturday Gallery Openings. An additional reception will be held on Saturday, 1 October (5-9pm) in conjunction with the city-wide event Art for Art’s sake.
The NO DEAD ARTISTS exhibition was founded by Jonathan Ferrara in 1995 to give a voice to emerging artists. The exhibition's name is derived from the old adage that artists never achieve success until they are dead. NO DEAD ARTISTS turns that notion on its head and often gives emerging artists their first break in the art world. In the 90's, the exhibition was open to New Orleans-based artists and subsequently grew to include artists of Louisiana, then becoming a national juried exhibition in 2010. And in 2014, the exhibition went international. Now in its 26th iteration, the exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists; leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation, art fair exhibition, and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections.
Each year the gallery invites a panel of renowned arts professionals and collectors to select the newest creative talents from around the world. The 2022 jurors are:
::: The 2022 NO DEAD ARTISTS Jury :::
YLVA ROUSE
Ylva Rouse currently serves as Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida, overseeing the exhibitions and collection of the institution. She came to MOCA Jax from New Orleans, where she served as the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, and later Interim Director, for Prospect New Orleans, the citywide international arts biennial founded by Dan Cameron in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Ylva maintains her ties with New Orleans serving as Chair of the Board for the Tulane artist residency A Studio in the Woods.
In Jacksonville, she is also a member of the city’s Cultural Council’s Art in Public Places Committee, that helps develop public art commissions for Greater Jacksonville. Prior to her tenure with Prospect, Ylva worked as curator in Madrid, Spain and served as Exhibitions Curator at the National Museum Reina Sofia there for many years. With the firm belief in art as a force for change, Ylva’s passion throughout her career has been to work with artists, spread the understanding and enjoyment of the modern and contemporary arts among the general public, and bring awareness to the importance of nurturing the creative spirit, as individuals and as community.
KEITH FOX + TOM KEYES
Keith is CEO of Phaidon Press and Artspace. Previously, he served as President of BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Professional. He is the founding Chairman for the New York City AIDS Memorial. He holds a BA in History from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia University.
Tom Keyes is a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Zweig-DiMenna, a New York City-based investment fund. Tom has been a member of the investment management team for over 20 years of his nearly 30-year career on Wall Street. Mr. Keyes is an avid collector of contemporary art and includes the visual arts and animal welfare among his philanthropic interests. Tom holds a BSFS in International Political Science from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Graduate Business School at Columbia University.
SUSAN BRENNAN
Susan Brennan is a graduate of Trinity Episcopal School, Isidore Newman School and Vanderbilt university. She is a local developer and founder of Second Line Stages. She is currently serving on the board of MBS Studios and helping with the construction of 5 new stages and expanded office space. She has also developed 333 Girod St condominiums, 400 Girod St. apartments, 425 Notre Dame Condos, and 618 Conti St apartments. She is currently developing Victoria Estates subdivision in St. Charles Parish with retail and 165 lots for sale.
Susan is a current board member and past President of Prospect New Orleans. She also serves on the Arts Council, the Metropolitan Crime Commission, the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association, the Cool Cooperative, the Arts Council of New Orleans and the accessions Committee for the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Susan is married to restaurateur Ralph Brennan and is the proud mother of Kathryn McLeod, Patrick Brennan and Kristen Leonard. She also cherishes her seven grandchildren.
Of the approximate 2,000 artworks submitted to this jury by over 400 artists worldwide, only nineteen artists were selected to have their work exhibited at JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY.
::: The 25th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS Finalists :::
MALOU DA CUNHA BANG - Copenhagen, Denmark
JOSIAH BOLTH - New Orleans, Louisiana
NNEKA CHIMA - Abuja, Nigeria
JANET DAKE - New Orleans, Louisiana
KATHY HALPER - Evanston, Illinois
DIRK KORTZ - Santa Fe, New Mexico
BRANDON V. LEWIS - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
CHRIS MINARD - New York, New York
ALMA POWELL - New Orleans, Louisiana
NICK RANDRIAMANOHISOA - Aix-en-Provence, France
CARLOS SALAZAR-LERMONT - St. Louis, Missouri
KRISTINE SCHNEIDER - The Woodlands, Texas
ABRAHAM SHERIEF - Minneapolis, Minnesota
KLAUS VERSCHEURE - Pottes, Belgium
GRACE WESTON - Portland, Oregon
DEMETRIUS WILSON - New York, New York
MARKEITH WOODS - Bentonville, Arkansas
PAUL F. YOUNT - Venus, Florida
LUBA ZYGAREWICZ - Mandeville, Louisiana
Comprised of painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and installation, NO DEAD ARTISTS continues to exhibit a great diversity in media with a cohesive cross-section of the pulse of contemporary art. Presenting fifty artworks by nineteen artists, this diverse symposium ranges in media, style, and purpose. Exhibition highlights include a film by Belgian artist Klaus Verscheure, as well as colorful and figurative paintings by Abraham Sherief, Janet Dake, Alma Powell, Chris Minard, Demetrius Wilson, Dirk Kortz, Brandon Lewis, Josiah Bolth, Kathy Halper, Kristine Schneider, Paul F. Yount, and Markeith Woods, each with their own distinct and arresting approaches to rendering the human body.
Also featured are staged photographs by Grace Weston, installation sculptures by Carlos Salazar-Lermont and Luba Zygarewicz, works on paper by Nneka Chima and Malou Da Cunha Bang.
For the grand prize of the exhibition, one of the selected jury winning artists will be awarded a solo exhibition at JFG in 2023. Previous recipient awardees include: Jenny Day (2017, Santa Fe), jointly Maggie Evans (Savannah) and Chris Barnard (New Haven) 2019, Trenity Thomas (2020, New Orleans), and Michael Tole (2021, Tempe, AZ). Not only have past finalists received solo shows at the gallery but some have also successfully gone on to exhibit at art fairs in New York, Miami, Basel (Switzerland), Leipzig (Germany), San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, and other traveling exhibitions and museums worldwide. These artists and the NO DEAD ARTISTS exhibition have garnered great interest from curators, museums, and press and have also been acquired by many prominent public and private collections. . . Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2022 winner at the close of the Exhibition.
For more information, press or sales inquiries please contact Gallery Director Matthew Weldon Showman at 504.343.6827 or matthew@jonathanferraragallery.com. Please join the conversation with JFG on Facebook (@JonathanFerraraGallery), Twitter (@JFerraraGallery), and Instagram (@JonathanFerraraGallery) via the hashtags: #NoDeadArtists, #NDA2022, #JonathanFerraraGallery, and #ArtsDistrictNewOrleans.