For Immediate Release:
Zenith Gallery Presents
Three Graces – Featuring Artists New to Zenith: Mitzi Bernard, Marija Djakovic, and Barbara Baron Rubin
Exhibit Dates: August 4 – September 2, 2023
Meet the Artist Receptions:Thursday, August 10, 4-8 PM RSVP & Saturday, August 12, 2-6 PM RSVP
At 1429 Iris Street NW, Washington DC, 20012
VIEW EXHIBIT
L-R: The Watcher by Marija Djakovic; Bez Gambit by Barbara Baron Rubin, and Hope by Mitzi Bernard
Mitzi Bernard
I work with tiny pieces of paper that tell stories. Much of my art speaks to the strength and power of women, their incredible beauty and society’s value judgements. Most recently I’ve expanded my work to include other kinds of stories through commissioned pieces like Retriever Grateful. My art would definitely be considered “outsider” art. It’s not what one would normally think of when talking fine art, yet that’s exactly the point of my art and that’s to find beauty in places we may have “judged” differently, whether it be my different kind of art, or our judgements of others, particularly women.
Each piece is uniquely its own with its own story containing hundreds of tiny little paper cutouts with each glued on individually. My work comes from my life and experiences. I particularly like to tell stories that show how strong we women are, even when society doesn’t see us that way. Each work takes me over 200 hours to complete with Playboy Stanley taking over two years! From afar each work looks like a painting. It’s only when you get up close and see the detail that you’re shocked to discover that it’s not paint at all but pictures of people, events and images that tell stories. I will try to show as close-up as possible so you can see the detail. Also, hidden within each work are smaller messages and surprise pictures of well-known people.
Marija Djakovic
The initial driving force in the works of Marija Djakovic is always feeling. The artist speaks directly, relying on signs. But beyond the signs speak strokes, meaningful accumulations of color and composition. The result is always vision, and not visible. The artist is not interested in the ambiance, the shape of the motif, or the position; she chooses the motif as a starting point, as a battlefield on which she can speak intimately. We can experience this series as a kind of diary. Sometimes gesturally, sometimes calmly, we read mood notes in sequence.
In her works, we always find the motif of a woman, a domestic or mystical animal, and the ambiance’s indications. The motifs are recorded in an exalted or relaxed but often astonishing movement. They act oneirically as if they are with themselves somewhere in the subconscious realm. These women can be muses, goddesses, witches, or girls. They have no interlocutor but have strange company, and we find them in unusual spaces. Their attributions range from mythological to bizarre; among them, we find cats, birds of paradise, cows, and chickens. The subjects are always naked, without shame, sometimes asleep, sometimes in meditation, and sometimes in the position of a woman eager for love.
Barbara Baron Rubin
From my obsession with drawing from age six to present, I have explored numerous mediums including graphic art for publication, calligraphy, manuscript illumination, gilding on both paper & wood, painting, watercolor, silkscreen, and woodblock in Paris, Brussels the Washington DC area.
Every art medium I have experienced has been built upon and subsequently influenced my art. My current work with silkscreen combines my love for the richness and luminosity of 23k gold laid upon lush, vibrant dark colors executed in random patterns created from the vagaries of free-hand silk screen technique.
Now celebrating 45 years in the nation’s capital, Zenith is recognized for its unique mix of contemporary art in a wide variety of media, style, and subject. The gallery provides high-quality acquisition, art consulting, commissioning, appraisal, and framing services, through its gallery/salon/ sculpture garden off 16th Street at 1429 Iris St NW, WDC 20012.
