The Barry Art Museum presents a selection of artworks that speak to the Covid-19 era. We have all experienced the past year in our own way: isolation, uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness, confinement, illness, mourning. The role of the artist, at its best, can be to dig deep, to research, and to translate our human condition into metaphor and transcendence. Janessa Clark, Peter Eudenbach, Luke Jerram, Anne Neely, and Julia and Robin Rogers are all practiced at doing just this. Focusing on such diverse themes as microbiology, environmentalism, human connection, and macro/microcosmos, their work in our exhibition probes and reflects our shared experiences to make the deeply personal feel universal (and vice versa). Whether these works were made before or after the arrival of the novel coronavirus, they serve to remind us of the essential nature of the arts to recognize, uplift, and inspire our everyday life. Many of these artists have ties to Old Dominion University, and we are proud to present their pieces here as both a marker and a salve for our time under quarantine.
Featured Works:
Robin Rogers
(American, born 1976)
Julia Rogers
(American, born 1977)
Victoria’s Hideaway
Sculpted molten glass, 2013
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Anne Neely
(American, born 1946)
Bloom
Oil on linen, 2014
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Peter Eudenbach
(American, born 1965)
Untitled (Sputnik)
Mixed media, steel sphere, and dental mirrors, 1999
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Luke Jerram
(British, born 1974)
Coronavirus COVID-19
Borosilicate glass, 2020
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Janessa Clark
(American/Swedish, b. 1979)
Alchemy, 2020
Digital video (6 minutes)
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Janessa Clark
(American/Swedish, b. 1979)
Communion, 2020
Digital video (54 minutes)
