PLANTATION, FLORIDA.- In Vernita Nemec’s Endless Junkmail Scroll, the viewer is confronted with a tapestry of textures and symbolic meanings: the artist’s answer to all that junk mail we receive that tries to convince us to borrow money, open more charge accounts or accept services we don’t need. The 100 foot artwork is also a creative reflection on the information overload and complexity of life in 21st century America. Segments of the scroll will be on view at the Schacknow Museum of Fine Art in Plantation Florida through March. In conjunction with the exhibition, Nemec will present a performance/talk Friday February 16th at 7PM. The Schacknow Museum is located at 7080 N.W. 4th Street in Plantation.

The artist’s process is ongoing in the creation of this “cutting edge” collage (with more tearing & burning than cutting). As sections of the scroll are sold (by linear inch), the scroll is closed, re-collaged and re-connected, keeping the work in constant transition. Nemec transforms the scroll for each exhibition. The scroll's torn fragments and burned edges gives the impression of an aged document, saved for posterity. The value we attach to ephemera is explored both aesthetic and philosophically in this scroll of security envelopes and paper detritus left in our mailboxes daily.

Critic Ed McCormack calls Nemec’s scroll “a defining, career-crowning achievement… Encapsulating the philosophy of aesthetic ecology that prompted her to found the Art from Detritus movement (art made from recycled materials), …it is a major statement which seems slated to extend this artist’s influence beyond the underground where it has too long languished as one of the better kept secrets of the avant-garde."

The artist created her first installation artworks in the mid-70’s, transferring fragments of notes, ideas and the detritus of her artmaking from the walls of her studio to the walls of the gallery like a giant sketch. She has continued creating these installations both as site-specific works and as a backdrop for performance artworks in Mexico, Europe and the U.S. A sense of autobiography has permeated Nemec’s art since her first feminist performance in which she swept the corner at Spring & Wooster Streets in Soho where she still lives and works.

Vernita Nemec aka Vernita N’Cognita has been active in the art world as a visual/performance artist and curator since the late 1960’s when she co-curated X-12, the first feminist art show of the period, and worked with such political art organizations as Artworkers Coalition (AWC), Women Artists in Revolution (WAR), Artists Meeting for Cultural Change. In the 90’s, Nemec served as Director of Artists Talk On Art, interviewing many art world luminaries, & as independent curator at the Henry Street Settlement for the Arts. For the past decade, Nemec has been organizing and independently curating exhibitions of art made from recycled materials called “Art from Detritus”& until recently was the Director of Viridian Artists, a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea, NYC.

A recipient of grants from the Jerome Foundation, Artists Space, Franklin Furnace and the Field, Nemec has presented her visual and performance art in the U.S., Mexico, Hungary, Germany and Japan, most recently presenting a guerilla performance at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

The Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts was founded by New York artist and retired businessman Max Schacknow. It opened in June 2000. Museum facilities include an Art Library, Member's Lounge, Media Room, Gift Shop and three Classrooms. The museum hosts numerous classes, social events, lectures and guided tours- and also offers rental space for many local organizations. Visit their website at www.smofa.com. Please phone 954 583 5551 for more information about museum hours & 212 925 4419 or 609 731 2140 regarding the art.