Besides Herring, the other Kingston-based artist participating in the show is Doug Van Nort, an experimental musician and digital music researcher who will collaborate with composer and musician Patrick Monte on a musical improvisation entitled “Disembodied Chat.” Herring connected with Van Nort through Pauline Oliveros, whose Deep Listening Space is a fellow tenant at the Shirt Factory. That kind of Kingston-Brooklyn collaboration is welcome, said Gal.
Community found
Gal, who moved to the U.S. from Europe in the mid 1980s, describes his art, which combines photography, film, language, and drawing and painting, as “a fusion of the conceptual and political that analyzes social history” — a philosophy that obviously served as a guiding principle in his selection of artists. “They experienced the financial meltdown when they are 18 or 9 and even though most don’t understand the mechanics of it, they understand intuitively how it defined a period in their lives,” he said.
Compared to large cities, smaller communities, such as Kingston, can be more productive venues for artists, Gal and Herring said. Besides her large, affordable studio and the free gallery space, Herring said getting articles in the local press was one advantage of being in Kingston. “It’s impossible to get people to pay attention in the city,” she said.
She’s also grateful for the help she’s received from individuals, including a music producer based in Saugerties who helped edit her videos for a very reasonable fee. “There is a community here, but you have to find it,” she said. (She acknowledged, however, that making a living here is difficult. To pay the bills, she runs a boutique ad agency from the loft during the day.)
Gal, who’s exhibited his work in Wales, Switzerland, Israel and other countries, said some of his most positive experiences occurred in smaller communities. “It’s amazing to show your work in these places, which are not saturated with endless cultural spectacles and the people aren’t jaded or skeptical. It’s very open and unique.”
