Arts Council of the Valley has rolled out another Smith House Galleries virtual exhibition – “Lingering,” a series of photographic works by artist Pato Hebert.
“Lingering” is the result of daily walks Hebert took in Los Angeles’ Elysian Park to repair his lungs while recovering from COVID-19.
The exhibition is available on facebook.com/acofthevalley, with support provided by ACV’s 2021 Cultivating the Arts Platinum Sponsors Matchbox Realty, Kathy Moran Wealth Group, and Riner Rentals.
The Smith House Galleries April exhibition sponsor is James Madison University School of Art, Design and Art History.
Hebert says Lingering functions as both a document of and allegory for the pandemic. The online exhibition will also be accessible through valleyarts.org/current-exhibition.
“When I first got infected, I had to stop making the paintings and sculptures that I was working on,” Hebert said. “As I walk and try to heal my body I make pictures with my mobile phone.
“This new series explores the marks that we and the pandemic have made on a large urban park. I notice fallen PPE, nature’s cycles, and the poetic gestures to be found in small details,” Hebert said.
The exhibition also features multiple videos of Hebert’s efforts to cultivate critical thinking about COVID-19 in the public sphere. These videos include an artist talk, documentation of a performance, a roundtable discussion and a pandemic public service announcement.
An artist, educator and organizer, Hebert explores the aesthetics, ethics and poetics of interconnectedness. His projects have been presented at Beton7 in Athens, PH21 Gallery in Budapest, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Quito, the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, -more-the Songzhuang International Photo Biennale, IHLIA LGBT Heritage in Amsterdam and the New Image Gallery at James Madison University.
Hebert has been a BAU Institute/Camargo Foundation Residency Fellow in Cassis, France and an artist-in-residence at PLAYA, and with the Neighborhood Time Exchange project in West Philadelphia. His work has been supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Creative Work Fund, the National Education Association and a Mid-Career Fellowship for Visual Artists from the California Community Foundation.
In 2008 he received the Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award from Center in Santa Fe. He teaches as an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Art & Public Policy at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, where his students have twice nominated him for the David Payne-Carter Excellence in Teaching Award.
He has also worked in community-based HIV prevention initiatives with queer communities of color since 1994.
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Chris Graham
