Alchemy: The Telenomic Process of the Universe, 1973. Oil, acrylic, ink and vinyl lettering on canvas, 73 ½ x 73 ½ in.

If you live in NYC—or anywhere near the city—there’s going to be a unique event tomorrow night that many Dangerous Minds readers will probably want to attend, a rare “evening with the artist” that will open a new retrospective survey of Paul Laffoley’s artwork at the Kent Fine Art gallery in Chelsea. The talk will take place Friday, January 4th, 6 to 9 p.m.
 

 

The Boston Visionary Cell, founded by Paul Laffoley in 1971, was based on the model of an artists’ guild. Although there have been numerous presentations of Laffoley’s work over the past decade, the Boston Visionary Cell has never been examined in the context of his life’s work. It is a crucial piece in understanding Laffoley’s methodology. As stated in its founding charter, it was created “to develop and advance visionary art”:

“We . . . believe that the evocation of the mystical experience by means of symbols, which has functioned as part of the intentioning process throughout the course of human history, is the intended direction of evolution that becomes most expressive through visual art during those periods in history that are characterized by rapid change, e.g., the twentieth century, which has seen a series of movements from the Modern era to the Post-Modern era, finally culminating in the Bauharoque era.”

Our current exhibition extrapolates on the mission of the Boston Visionary Cell as it has related to Laffoley’s production over the past forty years. An extensive online publication will accompany the exhibition.

That catalog in PDF format you can download here.

KENT FINE ART, 210 Eleventh Avenue, Second Floor, NYC (212) 365-9500
 

Xanatopia, 1995. Ink, gouache, vinyl lettering, and collage on board, 30 x 30 in.
 

Anthe Hieronymus Box Two, 1999-2003. Serigraph inks, aluminum, gold and copper wire, mahogany, blood, glass. No. 5 from and edition of 6, 25 x 25 x 3 in.
 

Below, in this extended clip from the Laffoley’s Odyssey documentary, you can see inside The Boston Visionary Cell, the one-room office space where Paul Laffoley lived and worked for three decades.