New Now – Exhibiting in Covid-19

Artists John Martini and Carol Munder pretty much had perfect timing to be exhibiting their newest works in a show called, New Now during the current Covid-19 pandemic at Jag Gallery.  Their show of Martini’s new sculptures and monoprints and Munder’s new Photogravure Prints was set to open on March 20th and run through April 17th.  With numbers of coronavirus cases rising in the headlines, they continued to finish up their body of works during the beginning of March in the looming shadow of a possible Florida Keys lock-down.

Owner of Jag Gallery, Letty Nowak, along the side of Munder and Martini decided to install the exhibit in the gallery anyways and let the events unfold as needed for the island’s safety.  “As an artist myself, I know firsthand what it is like to make art for a gallery exhibit.  Months and sometimes years can go into thinking about the new body of work and then there is the total immersion and concentration of making the art for the show.  It tends to not only bring a lot of satisfaction, but also sacrifice, sleepless nights, hearing the roosters crow at 4 am when it feels like it’s only 8 pm in your studio as you pull all-nighters,” says Nowak.  “It is a chapter in your life an artist that feels good to create and it also important to get it up and shown to move on to the next chapter/body of work that is always brewing in the back of your mind – even if that exhibit has to be on-line like New Now did in this case.”

As for Martini and Munder’s new work, it is strong and even telling of the times, which could be coincidental.  Martini is best known for his polychrome, mostly figurative sculptures that hold a strong presence and can be seen all around Key West in private indoor and outdoor collections along with being installed at businesses.   In opposition to the labor-intensive process of the sculpture, Martini also is exhibiting monoprints stating, “the process (of monoprints) allows for an intuitive gesture which flows without excess thought or consideration, more or less direct from the heart or from whatever region intuition rests.”  Then, to add something new to his work, Martini is exhibiting bronze sculptures.  “I have recently revisited the bronze casting process after a many year sabbatical.  There are several bronzes in the show which speak to today’s issues although they were conceived in the last year or so.  The classic cartoon bomb image is one I have been working with for several years and I think it deals with underlying social and environmental issues which are now becoming apparent.  The gas mask bronze from last year became ever more relevant in several ways in the last few weeks and months.  The sculpture did not foresee these exact conditions but it certainly speaks to them,” says Martini.

Munder’s photogravure prints are started with Carol photographing her subject and then she moves to making a photogravure plate that is necessary to printing the image.  It can take the Munder a week to put the image together and then the photogravure plate requires many days to be complete.  She also handmade a captivating and delicate book in this body of work which is on display at the gallery.

New Now’s opening reception for March 20th was cancelled to ensure the safety of the community and to start the social distancing protocol.  The gallery closed it’s doors for the next 2 months on March 23rd as quarantine began with the exhibit perfectly installed.  Within that quiet time John Martini and Carol Munder retreated to Sugarloaf Key as Nowak and the Jag Gallery team worked towards trying to get New Now viewable online and improving their website, jaggallery.art for this purpose.  Photographer, Mark Hedden even made video interviews of the exhibit that can also be viewed on the site.

 “With the Florida Keys opening to tourists, we have extended New Now to June 20th to give this great exhibit the chance it deserves to be seen in person,” says Nowak.  Jag Gallery is open everyday from noon – 5 pm or by appointment.  Please email [email protected] or call 305-407-6202 for more information.