The Nexus of Well-Being and Art

“The exhibition is a platform for curiosity around the theme of well-being and its visual embodiment.”

–  Anne Labovitz 

The Nexus of Well-Being and Art is a new body of work by noted international and Minnesota-based artist Anne Labovitz. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, installation, and public participatory works created specifically for the Rochester Art Center. These artworks are an examination and experimentation with light and color, and are underpinned by the concept of art connecting to well-being. Each work reflects extensive research and interviews with health professionals and is manifested through the materiality, intense mark-making, abstracted text, and precise and intuitive color selection.

The interconnection of health and art provides space for creativity and the opportunity for us to consider ideas of wellness and emotive responses. The artist assembled the exhibition to be an active place for creativity,  contemplation and conversation. Light, words, voices and text become mediums in the work. Key words gleaned from the research and interviews include:

Hope
Love
Rest
Resilience
Wellness

Connection
Community
Purpose
Peace
Calm

For decades, Labovitz has examined and engaged with the importance of human connection and its visual representations. Themes of connection, seeing one and other, community building, and relational exchange have been the driving force of her art practice. For Labovitz, color is a language, transforming the space in which it is viewed. “As an artist, I alter the atmosphere in a site. Creating a deep transformation of space, which then can change the way the visitor feels.”

The exhibition encompasses nearly 30 new artworks, including six 6 x 6 ft paintings that incorporate words from interviews and research in health and well-being, three large 6 x 6 feet light sculptures entitled LightWindows, an immersive 15 x 15 x 3 ft Tyvek® sculpture that hangs from the ceiling, and 16 small Tyvek® paintings between heavy panels of acrylic. In what has become a signature element of many of Labovitz’s exhibitions, you will be offered an opportunity to participate and contribute to the content of the exhibit. The participatory Well-Being Wall invites visitors to create their own artwork and exhibit it on the large grid wall.

As part of the larger exhibition, Labovitz will facilitate community workshops in the Rochester area with resident doctors at Mayo Clinic, participants at the Mayo Clinic 2023 Conference on Brain Health and Dementia Paths to Emotional Wellness In collaboration with AARP and the Alzheimer’s Association (2023).