Artist Reception: Bibiana Huang Matheis – “Do Not Enter Waterways”
Window On Hudson is honored to host an Artist Reception for Bibiana Huang Matheis and “Do Not Enter Waterways” on Saturday, October 9th from 6-8pm, in conjunction with the 2econd Saturday Hudson Gallery Crawl. In response to the message of Huang Mathesis’s installation Window On Hudson is announcing it will no longer be using single-use plastic cups during its receptions.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to see the indoor works by Huang Matheis on Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10, from 9am to 5pm as part of Open Studios Hudson.
“Do Not Enter Waterways” shines a bright light on an ongoing environmental crisis, will be on view in the storefront windows and indoors from October 6 – November 1, 2021.
“Do Not Enter Waterways” offers commentary on the excessive amount of discarded plastic that is choking the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers. Plastic breaks into smaller and smaller particles as it decomposes, a process that can take up to 500 years. These tiny specks of plastic make their way into fish, shellfish, table salt, drinking water and more – resulting in the average human consuming over 40 pounds of plastic in their lifetime. (That’s like eating one credit card a week.)
Huang Matheis gives voice to the planet and its inhabitants, the plants, animals, earth, air, and water, which if suddenly granted the power of speech would certainly plead with us to stop choking them. To save them and as a result save ourselves. This cry for change comes in the form of beauty. Bibiana transforms thrown away plastic objects like take-out containers, egg cartons, liquid hand-soap bottles, etc. (all items that humanity lived without until the mid-1960’s) into delicate, elegant works of art. As a form of meditation she paints freeform shapes while her mind focuses on the planet’s water. In some designs she imposes a heart, symbolic of love, the love of nature, love of what we have, love of what we have lost, and the love of preserving what remains. Huang Matheis knows her art can not reverse this catastrophic environmental damage. This installation is simply her “meek protest against the insanity of this unnecessary pollutant.”
Bibiana Huang Matheis is an artist, fine arts photographer and curator. She studied at the Maryland School of Art and Design and at the Corcoran School of Art. She has been active in the arts since the late 1970s. Her work has appeared in major exhibits and publications in the US and Europe, including New York City, Chicago, Beijing and Berlin. Her work is hanging on permanent display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.
Bibiana Huang Matheis is the curator for the Hammond Museum in North Salem, NY. There she has curated a dozen virtual art exhibitions with artists from around the world and she is widely recognized as a strong advocate for the arts in the region. In 2020/21 her work was selected for the prestigious exhibition Symbiosis and Coexistence: 11th “From Lausanne to Beijing”. Beijing, China, International Fiber Art Biennale.
Window On Hudson takes your health seriously. All visitors are asked to wear a mask indoors, regardless of their vaccination status, and enjoy their refreshments outside. The front door will remain open at all times.
About Window On Hudson
Window On Hudson offers storefront window exhibition space for artists of all mediums who are in Hudson and the Hudson Valley. Window On Hudson is committed to providing a platform for established and developing artists to display their work, of all mediums, while also offering professional development opportunities for emerging artists. Window On Hudson exhibits a new artist on a monthly basis. Artists interested in submitting their work may do so by emailing submissions@windowonhudson.org or visiting the website.