Workers of the World
November 6 - December 30, 2005
Opening Reception: Sunday, November 6, 3-6 pm

Holly Wong, "Restaurant Worker"

For our juried exhibition this year our curators selected the theme “Workers of the World,” and we received submissions from all over the country. Our jurors, Profs. Paul Von Blum and Sheila Pinkel, and Carol Wells, Director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, selected 53 works by 28 different artists. Media include painting, installation art and multi-media, assemblage art, textiles, photography, and prints, and range in subject matter from restaurant to agricultural to garment workers, women who work in mostly male professions, housewives, and more. Even an S&M dominatrix made it into the final cut.

Janet Essley’s paintings show women in three different countries sewing the garments we wear in America. Jari Havlena’s assemblage refers to the Ladies Shirtmakers Strike of 1909, a forerunner to the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire of 1911. Seymour Kaplan, deeply influenced by the Federal Arts Project in the 1930s, created a body of work in Mexico during the late 1940s and will be included in this exhibition. Several of the artists have been creating socially conscious work for years and A Shenere Velt Gallery has shown them before. We welcome them back!

One returning artist is the prolific painter and social theorist Mark Vallen. He writes: “To use the term ‘working class’ is to open a thorny, difficult, and often confusing discussion on the nature of work and life in a contemporary American society. For many reasons the issue of class in the U.S. has been obfuscated and distorted to the point where many working class Americans erroneously think of themselves as ‘middle class’ - a misnomer if there ever was one. The great majority of people in the U.S. belong to the working class, yet ‘working class’ has become a derogatory label indicating a crude and unsophisticated individual who engages in manual labor for a living. I suffer no such delusions. I want my paintings to help contribute to the reclamation of working class culture in America, instilling pride in and appreciation for the majority who actually create the world’s wealth.”

The 28 artists include: Nancy Abrams, Juanita Baldwin, Mariona Barkus, Linda Lee Boyd, Judy Branfman, Mariana Brooksmueller, Diane Bush, Pamela Calore-Cuddyer, Roma Devanbu, Corinne Diop, Janet Essley, Dick Green, Jari Havlena, Seymour Kaplan, Carmen Hay Kolodzey, Francisco Olazabal, Tony Ortega, Brendan Regan, Valeri Rose, Andrea Rosenthal, Eliza M. Schmid, Joan Shyers, Elin O’Hara Slavick, Michelle Talich, Mark Vallen, Larry Van Deusen, Holly Wong, and Norm Zareski.

Don’t miss the Opening Reception on November 6, when many of the artists will be present and you can hear their stories from them personally. Light refreshments will be provided. By all means, see this remarkable show while it is here in Los Angeles at our Gallery…one of the unique programs The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring brings to our community.

Regular Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 10-5; and Friday, 10-3. This is a great show to invite school and other groups to see together. For further information, call us at 310.552.2007.