Fine Art Made Local
Facilitating meaningful and equitable relationships between artist and collector
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Fine contemporary art created locally in New York City
Current Exhibition
Vital Impetus
February 23 – March 31
5 Rivington Street,
New York, NY 10002
Azure Arts is pleased to announce Vital Impetus, an exciting group exhibition of photographic and mixed media works by all NYC-based artists: Alice Garik, Gina Kropf, and jdx. Vital Impetus will open on February 23rd at 5 Rivington Street, New York, NY.
The exhibition derives its title and curatorial theme from a concept élan vital (vital impetus), a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson. Rather than simply adhering to a set of mechanistic laws, Bergson contended that life has an inherent drive or impulse towards creativity, growth, and innovation. While his philosophy emphasizes the role of individual experience, i.e. consciousness, and creativity in this process, it also sees the ‘self’ as fundamentally connected to others. The ‘self’, for Bergson, stands in dynamic relation to others. It is not static and unchanging, but rather is evolving constantly through its interactions with others.
Moving within and between photographic genres, Vital Impetus explores this relationship between the creative self and its dynamic relationship to others. The works featured in this exhibition indicate some of the near infinite ways to communicate who one is and how we seek to connect–or not connect–with others.
Nature Has a Way
Williamsburg, NY
December, 2022
A four-person exhibition including the works of Jaynie Crimmins, Jeanne Heifetz, Nina Picon and Andra Samelson. Ranging from painting and drawing to woven silk textiles to both paper and ceramic sculpture, all artists featured in Nature Has a Way are acutely aware of the environment in which they inhabit.
The work of the artists in this exhibition all engage with the current ability to listen and answer nature’s calling. In exploring the role of artistic expression when arriving at these questions, the scientific means by which we have come to understand much of the natural world are both utilized and expanded on.
Esperanza Cortes: Purity of Blood
Artsy Exclusive – View here
November – December, 2022
Purity of Blood or “Limpieza de Sangre” refers to a concept of racial ideology with origins in Early Modern Spain. In this historical context, the concern for “purity” was predicated on the biased belief that the unfaithfulness of the “deicide Jews,” (god-killing Jews) had not only endured in those who converted to Catholicism but also had been transmitted by blood to their Christian descendants. Consequently, Old Christians “of pure blood” were demarcated from the New Christians and their Jewish antecedents, who were deemed morally inadequate. This judgment of purity was primarily applied to the politically and economically influential group of Iberian conversos (Catholics of Jewish origins) but was extended also to moriscos (Catholics of Muslim lineage). “Limpieza de Sangre” also came to form part of the ideological basis of the caste system in colonized Colombia and New Spain.
About the Founder
Elizabeth Chatham is an NYC-based independent art curator. In 2018, Chatham founded Codex Project, a Chelsea-based fine art pop-up and in 2021 founded Azure Arts. Chatham holds an MFA from New York University in Visual Arts Administration, and has work experience at institutions such as Sotheby’s and Gagosian Gallery.
Honoring her late mother, who fully supported all of the Founder’s endeavors in the arts, Chatham named Azure Arts after her mother’s favorite color, Azure.
Contact Hours
Sunday - Friday: 10am – 6pm