By Sanjeev Selvarajah

“I am not currently living off of my artwork, but I use my art skills to do art restoration to pay the bills,” says Holly Curcio, a contributor to The Nave Gallery Annex’s Who Might I Be exhibit, holding its opening reception this Friday, August 7.

This exhibit is curator Mara Brod’s venture into expressive portraits, studying the limits of cartoon and the digital frontier.

Harry Yu, another contributor, strikes gold towards his online brand: “I am offering my whimsical designs on t-shirts, shower curtains, tote bags, and art prints online at harryyu.com.” The honest conviction of Nancy Anderson sums it up: “I have built a fairly steady stream of commissions, but I’m not ready to give up my day job, yet”
“My first ‘art school’ experience was sitting around the kitchen table with my mother and my sister and brother doing art experiments. Playing with finger paint, paper mâché, wax, and so on. This was not just an introduction to art, it was an emotional and psychological refuge within a household infiltrated by alcoholism,” says the brilliant Anne Johnstone, whose clash of colors in Bubble 3 and Queen’s Chihuahua is composition enough to empty seats at the new-fangled cinemas that have claimed luxury as their hook. Hers is authentic three dimensions on paper. If you stare long enough at Bubble 3 you can see a 70s exploitation poster of the same high-end 3D extravaganzas that teased high school wallets back when. Rather than bust your budget on a date at the movies, for a walk to first base, you could always buy a print for your significant other, a print that puts food on the table for the local starving artist.

No embellishing, the arts are valuable and the hard work that goes into the result shouldn’t have to pit the artist against the crowds of interpreters and their fat wallets. Frame one of these beauties and present them to a significant other.

Oftentimes, the question of professional training can be deemed high-risk. But these dedicated few are not purposefully looking to hit it big. What they want is to find a way to combine the job that they love with the job that they do.
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Who Might I Be – Opening Reception. Friday, August 7, 2015 6:00–8:00 p.m. Nave Gallery Annex, 53 Chester St, Somerville, MA.