The works of about a dozen artists from the Living Museum, which is part of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, are currently on display at C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.
The Living Museum, which is located in Queens Village, is “a museum of art dedicated to, and created by individuals with a mental illness,” according to New York State’s Office of Mental Health.
Living Museum Director Dr. Janos Marton said that the museum already had a history with C.W. Post, and so the college knew about the exhibition “Divinity & Madness” being displayed at the Marian Gallery at Mount Mary College in Milwaukie. C.W. Post offered the Living Museum an “opportunity to show in another academic setting,” Marton said.
“The title of this exhibition, ‘Divinity & Madness,’ connotes an interrelationship among suffering, spirituality and the arts,” wrote Dr. Bruce L. Moon, Chair of the Art Therapy Department at Mount Mary College, about the exhibit. “In my view the arts have always dealt with the ultimate concerns of existence. Artists have always struggled with issues of meaning, isolation, death, and creative freedom for as long as there has been art.”
Moon was the person responsible for bringing the exhibition to Mount Mary’s Marian Gallery.
“Throughout history, the poet, playwright, and painter have abandoned pursuits of pleasure, wealth, and fame in search of values that go deeper than hedonistic materialism,” Moon continued. “Artists have a long tradition of seeking meanings in life, and, during their quest, they often suffer. The artworks in this exhibition offer poignant evidence of this historic connection.”
Alexandra Plettenberg, the curator of the Living Museum, wrote, “At the Living Museum, the art asylum for people with mental illness, members have created such powerful expressions of worship and personal bonding to their respective deity that it makes a spiritual dimension intensely visible and also influences the social sphere in an unexpected way. In their art work we discover a mysterious connection with the presence of God, which seems to inspire a reference for healing, changes the energy in the individual, the immediate community and the larger world.”
The exhibition, which has about 38 pieces by 12 artists, opened at C.W. Post on February 17 and will be on display for a month. All of the pieces were created at the Living Museum.
“I’m constantly in awe of what’s happening here,” Marton said.
Marton said that the Living Museum has been doing many exhibits lately. Along with the one at C.W. Post, it has one on display in Manhattan and just finished participating in the Outsider Art Fair.
“We exhibit on a regular basis and we always have an ongoing exhibit at the museum,” Marton said.
“Divinity & Madness” is on display at C.W. Post’s Tilles Center, which is located at 720 Northern Boulevard in Brookville.
