19th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS

JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY is pleased to announce the 19th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will be on view from 2 through 26 September 2015, with an opening reception on Saturday, 5 September, from 6-9 pm where several of the artists will be present.

The NO DEAD ARTISTS exhibition was founded by Ferrara in 1995 to give a voice to emerging artists. The exhibition's name is derived from the old adage that artists never achieve success until they are dead. NO DEAD ARTISTS turns that notion on its head and gives emerging artists their first break in the art world. In the 90's, the exhibition was open only to New Orleans-based artists and subsequently grew to include artists of Louisiana. In 2010, the exhibition expanded to become a national juried exhibition open to artists from the entire US, and finally in 2014 the exhibition went international.

The exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections. Each year the gallery invites a panel of renowned arts professionals and collectors to select the newest creative talents; the exhibition draws a crowd of thousands interested in discovering the work of this selected group of emerging artists. The exhibition serves as a rite of passage for many artists, some of whom are developing their initial relationship with a commercial gallery.

Now in its 19th iteration, the exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections. Each year gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara invites a panel of renowned arts professionals and collectors to select the newest creative talents. Past jurors have included Prospect.1 Founder and Curator Dan Cameron, Museum Director Billie Milam Weisman, Collector and Philanthropist Beth Rudin DeWoody, MacArthur Fellow John Scott, Whitney Trustee and Ballroom Marfa Co-founder Fairfax Dorn, NOMA Director Susan Taylor, artist Tony Fitzpatrick, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum Eric Shiner, Director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and Founder and Artistic Director of the VOLTA Fair Amanda Coulson, Dishman Art Museum Director Megan Koza Young, ArtBridge Curator Jordana Zeldin, Collector and MoMA Board Member Lawrence Benenson, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Director Bill Arning, Brooklyn Museum of Art Board of Directors Stephanie Ingrassia, and Collector, Hedge Fund Partner and Prospect New Orleans Biennial board member Nick Mayor.

For the 2015 edition, three renowned arts professionals served as the NO DEAD ARTISTS jury :::

Max Fishko --- Max is a third generation gallerist from New York City and the grandson of Bella Fishko, founder of Forum Gallery, which is now run by his parents. Max entered the art fair business at the age of 14 when he was an assistant to the sign maker for Art Miami. Since then, he has worked in various capacities for dozens of production companies. Max Fishko currently directs Art Market Productions’ seven fairs including Miami Project, Art on Paper (NYC and Miami), Seattle Art Fair, Art Market San Francisco, Texas Contemporary (Houston) and Market Art + Design (South Hamptons).

Valerie Cassell Oliver --- Valerie is the senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Prior to her tenure at CAMH she was director of the Visiting Artist Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. Cassel Oliver has lectured widely and published extensively. In 2000, she was one of six curators selected to organize the Biennial for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 2007, she received a Getty Curatorial Research Fellowship for initial research for the exhibition on Benjamin Patterson and was a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in 2009. In 2011, she was awarded the prestigious David C. Driskell Award for her scholarly excellence and contribution to the field of African American art and culture.

David Workman ---  David is an active member and supporter of numerous museums, artist collectives and arts organizations (inter)nationally including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (founding member) New Orleans Museum of Art, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art. He is a private collector and serves as a board member of Prospect Biennial and Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans.

Of the approximate 2,500 artworks submitted to this jury by over 500 artists worldwide, only twelve artists were selected to have their work exhibited at JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY.