Hi everyone! I hope you’ve had a great week! If you read my post from about two or three weeks ago, you’ll know about Heckscher Museum. This is a museum on Long Island that I’ve been to many times throughout high school. It’s a wonderful museum, but not necessarily accessible to those who don’t live close enough. Fortunately, the museum recently began a new ongoing event to engage people online – The Emerging Artists Series. Starting February 10th, a new contemporary artist will take over their Instagram for a day every two weeks. It is scheduled through the end of the year, with 22 artists waiting to share their work and stories.
This week was the first Instagram take over, and it was Roz Dimon who pioneered the series. Roz has been painting in New York City for about 30 years. After 9/11, Roz found herself unsure of what to do. In an video posted during her Instagram take over, she describes how she felt lost after the tragedy. That is until a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art introduced her to Byzantine Iconography, which were meant to bring comfort and protection to those who needed it. Inspired by what she saw and learned, she began working in a new style, creating what she calls DIMONscapes.
As a digital artist, Roz layers images, which she refers to as icons, to make a whole piece. What I find most fascinating about her pieces is that they are interactive. Each images she includes is only part of a larger story. On her website, she narrates the story of many of her pieces as each image is added to the base layer.
This piece represents the emotion turmoil of a post 9/11 world, where New Yorkers struggled to feel at home when all felt lost. In the interactive video, Roz tells the story of a red-tailed hawk who made a journey to New York City and needed to adapt to the new surroundings. Roz wonders aloud if material items will fix her life, but realizes that the most important moments are those that connect us to each other. She advises that, like the bird, we rise above adversity.
What strikes me about Roz’s work is the stories. In my own work, I have always been drawn to the idea of a meaning. I like to use symbolism that tells my story, so every artistic decision I make has a reason. Although my own art may be different from Roz’s, I feel as though our journeys and hopes are similar. If you get the chance, check out her Instagram and website, where more of her art is featured, showcasing some of her different styles.
Discovering Roz Dimon was an amazing experience, and it’s all thanks to Heckscher! I’m looking forward to the other artists that will be taking over the Instagram in the coming months. Some of them look very interesting, so look out for more posts about new artists from the Emerging Artists Series! Be sure to look at Heckscher’s website for the schedule of upcoming artists and their Instagram for each take over.
