Shirley Gorelick: Portraiture, Community, and Legacy
Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000) was known for her large-scale, realist portraits that drew from Western painting traditions but also challenged them, through the depiction of people who were not typically the subjects of these traditions: bi-racial families, middle-aged couples, and a friend who was disabled. In assessing Gorelick’s legacy today, these portraits are pathways to learning about the artist and her circle of friends and family. Gorelick’s work also offers an opportunity to consider the larger role of portraiture as expression of friendship, care, and community as well as how these personal, relational depictions are remembered over time.
In collaboration with the Shirley Gorelick Foundation, Soft Network has organized two programs that consider the connections between portraiture, community, and legacy. A selection of Gorelick’s portraits will be on view during both programs.
The first program on October 28th will feature short presentations and conversation between artists practicing community portraiture — John Ahearn, Rigoberto Torres, and Betty Yu — along with historian Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, speaking on the community-based photography of Sheyla Baykal (1944-1997) and artist/curator Max Warsh speaking on Shirley Gorelick.
The second program on October 30th will focus on artist interviews as a method of remembering and defining community. Various approaches and resources will be presented by Penny Arcade and Steve Zehentner of the Lower East Side Biography Project; Lauren Shadford of Voices of Contemporary Art (VoCA); and Max Warsh.
October 28th, 6-8 PM: Portraiture and Community
John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres, artists, on their collaborative life-cast portraits
Max Warsh, artist, curator, and advisor to the Shirley Gorelick Foundation, on Shirley Gorelick (1924-2000)
Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, photographer and art historian, on Sheyla Baykal (1944-1997)
Betty Yu, multimedia artist, photographer, filmmaker, educator, and activist, on her practice
October 30th, 6-8 PM: Portraiture and Memory through Oral History
Penny Arcade, performance artist, actress, poet and theater-maker, and Steve Zehentner filmmaker, theater designer/director and archivist, on the Lower East Side Biography Project, a video oral history documentary project that they founded together
Lauren Shadford, Executive Director of Voices in Contemporary Art (VOCA), on the organization’s approach to artist interviews
Max Warsh, artist, curator, and advisor to the Shirley Gorelick Foundation, on conducting interviews of Gorelick’s friends and portrait subjects
Both events will take place at Soft Network 636 Broadway, Room 320, NYC 10012. Events will also be live-streamed for AFELL members.
These programs are organized by Soft Network in collaboration with the Shirley Gorelick Foundation.
