Opioid: Express Yourself An artist-led exhibition investigates that targets the architects of opioid addiction

STAMFORD, CT — Every day it’s in the news. Overdose deaths on the rise says CDCOpioid makers paid millions to advocacy groups. And while lawmakers make veiled campaign rally promises to change the tide of citizens lost to drugs, the stigma of addiction means that here on the ground, we’re not doing enough. The Alvarez Gallery proudly presents a group show that aims to do more. Opioid: Express Yourself provides a platform for artists in a variety of mediums to confront the culprits of this epidemic. The gallery has given them the freedom to use its space and narrative as they choose.  This is an important platform of expression for each artist to send a message about the opioid epidemic, how it has affected them personally, professionally, and as a community. Part protest art, part individual activism, this artist-led exhibition is seeking to strike change in ways similar to the social movements spreading across the country. From abstract representations to deeply personal stories, the artists of Opioid: Express Yourself navigate their own histories and how the epidemic has affected their lives. The stigma of drug addiction and its aftermath is still a taboo subject — we applaud the addicts that have survived to become clean and sober, but the millions of individuals whose lives have been rendered to ruins by their drug use have been swept under the rug. We criminalize, persecute, condemn, and punish these individuals socially, economically, and politically. However, the individuals that caused the mass-marketing of opioids have museums, halls, performance arenas, and universities honoring their names. They are lauded for their generosity while we conveniently ignore the broken homes and broken lives that their wealth is built upon.  This group of artists is saying “no more”. In Opioid: Express Yourself, the Gallery provides artists a platform to put forward investigative work through performance, painting, sculpture, and activism. The exhibition opens at the Alvarez Gallery on Friday, June 22nd, 2018, and runs until July 30th, 2018. An opening on June 22 will run from 5 to 8 pm. Artists Participating Nathan Lewis, Clinton Deckert, Matthew Paul Cleary, Ben Quesnel, Antuan Rodriguez, Lee Tal, Domenic Esposito, John J. Bedoya, Jason Werner, and others. About the Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery The Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery opened in December 2009 in Stamford with the mission to build artists’ careers from the doors in and community from the doors out. Its influence extends internationally, having recently become the official sponsor of Joseph Kosuth’s exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. It also worked with the Tate Museum and Frieze Art Fair on their prestigious acquisition fund, the Frieze Tate Fund, as it was transitioned from Outset International to Frieze’s newest investor, Ari Emanuel of William Morris Endeavor. Recently, the Gallery launched a new non-profit, Clementina Arts Foundation, to build on its community mission. The Gallery also acquires and represents prominent estate collections including most recently acquiring the estate of Valerie Furth, Holocaust survivor turned important collector, painter, and author.  The collection includes Valerie’s work, her book depicting her experience in the Holocaust, and her important collection including artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Sean Scully, Robert Longo, Frank Stella, Louise Fishman, James Rosenquist, Helen Frankenthaler, and many other important artists. Other artists in the gallery’s stable include Jena Thomas, John J. Bedoya, Vincent Serbin, Rex Prescott Walden, Shelby Head, Joe Boginski, and Ben Quesnel.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]