NEW YORK, NY.- The Borders are wide, various, concrete and philosophical, offering an illusion of safety and definitive organization of reality buttressed by or colliding with the shifts in perception, power alignments, cultural imperatives and agendas at play at any given moment both on the international and the personal, subjective stage.



DARKNESS, Mikel Frank, mixed media, 2024

Borders as a theme not defined, but implied. The obvious way to look at Borders is as it relates to geographic demarcation and via socio-political implications,however, the artists in this exhibition take it one step further examining Borders that confound and limit us personally; Borders to be psychologically challenged, broken through and/or accepted.


AGUINALDO BORDERS MANNEQUINS

CrossingBorders: WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS poses the question, “Where can we find a safe haven?”


THE ROUND UP (Haitians and the Texas Rangers), Herbert Siguenza, laser print, 2023

With immigration looming large as a hot button item politically, polarizing as well as unifying, this exhibition will demonstrate the many ways artists create works that deal with this question. From the lack of compassion to international and jurisdictional walls being built, the exhibiting artists dive deeply into depictions of ethnocentric responses and unreasonable blockages to the ever present desperation of immigrants trying to find a home/country they can feel safe in when they do not feel safe in their own.


Thiefing 2024 by ARTHUR ROGERS north carolina

In photographs, paintings, monumental sculptures, installations and performance CrossingBorders offers insight into concerns ranging from gender transformation, the Atlantic slave trade, the DNA of consolidation as well as the immigrant at the border, on the shore welcomed or washed out.


HERBERT SIGUENZA, BORDERS MASCARA

The Westbeth exhibition is curated by artist Carl Heyward and GAP founding member Akiko Suzuki.


TRIBAL WAR series, Carl Heyward, 10 x 10 inches on cradled wooden panel, 2020

*CrossingBorders travels to Nine Eighteen Nine Studio Gallery in Charlotte, NC with artist Mikel Frank and VAPA co-founder and director of the gallery Joanne Rogers joining the curatorial team November 16, 2024 -January 4th, 2025.*


TRIBAL WAR series, Carl Heyward, 10 x 10 inches on cradled wooden panel, 2020


"What Borders are you willing to cross?"


COTTON PICKIN' CAKE WALK series, Mia Chambers, mixed media, 2024

An exhibition of works by members of Global Art Project, an international multimedia collaborative collective with over 90 members operating in 19 different countries.


IMMIGRATION MONSTER, Diego Rios, 16 x 20 on canvas