Events

The newest exhibition in Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibitions space of Torpedo Factory Art Center, explores death and the way it shapes life. Memento Mori, Latin for “remember that you will die,” confronts this single most inevitable fact of all human existence.

“The intention is to create a dialogue about death in a way that every viewer can relate,” said Curator of Exhibitions Leslie Mounaime. “The goal being to facilitate personal connections between the artists in the show and the audience experiencing it.”

Laura Roulet, a D.C.-based independent curator and writer, juried the exhibition. She selected 28 works by artists from across the world, ten of whom are local to the region.

“These artists express fear and sadness, as well as comfort and spiritual faith. Many of these artworks are deeply personal, referring to the artist’s own brush with death or loss of a loved one,” said Roulet. “Whether through figurative, abstract or conceptual language, I believe this exhibition includes artworks that will speak to all.”

The participating artists are:

Deidre Argyle,  Springfield, MO
Brandin Barón,  San Francisco, CA
Irene Clouthier,  Oakton, VA 
Ceci Cole McInturff, Alexandria, VA 
Scott Eagle, Greenville, NC
Madaline Gardner,  Greencastle, PA
Patrick Giblin, Springfield, VA 
Tom Greaves, Washington, DC 
Kerry Hentges, Fairfax, VA 
Kym Hepworth, Springfield, GA
M.A. Kleen, Lorton, VA 
Angela Kleis, Fairfax, VA 
Scott Ludwig, Boone, NC
Robyn Moore, Wellington, KY
Julie Ann Nagle, Jersey City, NJ
Julianne Nash, Brooklyn, NY
Sebastian Perinotti, New York, NY
Aziz Raad, Montgomery Village, MD
Jon-Joseph Russo, Washington, DC 
Claire Schmalzried, Dallas, TX
Robert Schultz, Salem, VA 
Henrik Sundqvist, Arlington, VA
Adam Swart, Montclair, NJ
Caterina Tedeschini, Rome, Italy
David Terrar, Gaithersburg, MD
Kristine Thompson, Baton Rouge, LA
MJ Tyson, Hoboken, NJ
Patrick Vincent, Nashville, TN

Madaline Gardner’s Diamond Wave II serves as the center piece for this exhibition, this large diamond shaped work has a monochromatic palette and hypnotic silver-lined formations that create a void, making the viewer question the concept of permanence in life.

Claire Schmalzried’s Game of Whispers, depict Tarot symbols to signify obstacles of the subconscious. Death as transformation and change, temperance as harmony, and the Devil as self-destructive desire.

M.J. Tyson’s 35 Norman Avenue explores the reincarnation of personal objects. Tyson took objects of deceased residents from 35 Norman Avenue in an estate sale and brought them together, by literally melding them into one sculpture, giving new life to them, considering the cycle of life and death.

Memento Mori runs Saturday, September 28, through Sunday, November 3, 2019. The opening reception will be Friday, October 11, 7 – 10 pm, with a Gallery Talk featuring artist comments at 8 pm. Target Gallery is open daily from 10 – 6 pm and until 9 pm on Thursdays.

About the Juror

Laura Roulet is an independent curator and writer, specializing in contemporary and Latin American art. She was one of five international curators chosen for the citywide public art project, 5 x 5, a major initiative sponsored by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2012. She has organized exhibitions in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. including at the OAS Art Museum of the Americas, American University Museum, Mexican Cultural Institute, Hillyer Art Space, WPA, Arlington Arts Center, VisArts, and the DC Art Center. She was a mentoring curator for DCAC and the first mentoring curator for VisArts in Rockville, MD in 2015. Roulet has written for Sculpture magazine, American Art, Art Journal, and Art Nexus, as well as many catalogue essays, encyclopedia entries, and the book Contemporary Puerto Rican Installation Art, the Guagua Aerea, the Trojan Horse and the Termite. She worked on the Ana Mendieta retrospective, organized by the Hirshhorn Museum in 2004, and contributed to that catalogue.